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Global Sensations: The Top 10 Highest Grossing Actors
As a result of Avatar: Fire and Ash, released in December 2025, Zoe SaldaƱa jumped ahead of Scarlett Johansson as the highest-grossing actor in Hollywood.
Income is estimated as of January 14, 2026, as derived from the-numbers.com data on actors in leading roles and other sources.
Zoe SaldaƱa: $15.47 billion
As the actor behind Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy (2014ā23) and in the MCU, Uhura in the modern Star Trek films (2009ā16), and Neytiri in the Avatar franchise, Zoe SaldaƱa has starred in multiple high grossing movies and has become a recognizable face in pop culture and fandom. She also has the honor of being the first actor to star in four movies that have each grossed more than $2 billion dollars. During the 2025 Academy Award show, SaldaƱa won her first Academy Award for best actress in a supporting role for the musical Emilia PĆ©rez (2024). While SaldaƱa reached heightened stardom in 2009 thanks to her roles in Avatar and Star Trek, SaldaƱa states that her ābig breakā came from starring in a Burger King commercial.
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Scarlett Johansson: $15.40 billion
Scarlett Johansson has appeared in many recent classics from Lost in Translation (2003) to Marriage Story (2019). Her recurring role as Natasha Romanoff, a superhero spy, in the Avengers franchise has also made her highly recognizable with the public, leading to Black Widow (2021), one of the rare female-led Marvel movies. In 2025 she appears in two high-profile movies: the blockbuster Jurassic World Rebirth and Wes Andersonās newest venture, The Phoenician Scheme.
Samuel L. Jackson: $14.6 billion
Samuel L. Jackson is the longest-running actor on this list, and for good reason. Beyond his recognizable swagger and aura as the super-spy Nick Fury from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), heās a frequent Quentin Tarantino collaborator, starring in recognizable roles from Django Unchained (2012) to Pulp Fiction (1994), The Hateful Eight (2015), and more. Jackson has also starred as Mace Windu from the Star Wars prequel trilogy and voiced the superhero Frozone from The Incredibles franchise. Prior to Scarlett Johanssonās ascension to being the highest grossing actor in history, Jackson held the title starting in the early 2010s thanks to his Nick Fury role in the Avengers franchise and wider MCU. Jackson has won several awards over his long career, including six NAACP Image Awards.
Robert Downey, Jr.: $14.3 billion
Robert Downey, Jr. achieved international fame as Tony Stark, or Iron Man, in the Avengers franchise. In his eleven-year-run with Marvel, from starring in Iron Man (2008), the first-ever MCU movie released, to Avengers: Endgame (2019), he has become one of the most iconic faces of the Marvel universe. However, Downeyās acting is not confined to playing the āgenius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist,ā as Stark describes himself in Avengers (2012). He also appeared in drama films Zodiac (2007), about the Zodiac killer, and The Judge (2014), as well as the mystery franchise Sherlock Holmes. In 2024, he won the Academy Award for best supporting actor for his performance as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer (2023).
Chris Pratt: $14.1 billion
Chris Pratt is a more recent Hollywood man-of-action, having solidified that position with his roles as Peter Quill, or Star-Lord, in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and MCU, and as Owen Grady in the Jurassic World movies. However, he has voice acting chops from The Lego Movie (2014), The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), Onward (2020), and The Garfield Movie (2024). Pratt also starred in the hit television series Parks and Recreation (2009ā15) as Andy Dwyer.
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Tom Cruise: $12.7 billion
Tom Cruise has been one of the most well-known actors in Hollywood for more than 40 years, dating to his film debut in Endless Love (1981). Now in his 60s, Cruise has hardly slowed down, most recently reprising his leading role as Ethan Hunt in the latest installment of the wildly successful Mission Impossible franchise, Mission: ImpossibleāThe Final Reckoning (2025). His acting career has produced more than 60 awards, including three Golden Globes.
Chris Hemsworth: $12.2 billion
Chris Hemsworth may be best known to some as Thor, a Marvel superhero based on the Nordic god of thunder. Hemsworth has played the role since 2011, solidifying him as a key character in the renowned MCU. Years before that, Australian-born Hemsworth began his career on his countryās television programs Guinevere Jones and Home and Away in the early 2000s before moving to the U.S. to transition into a career in film.
Vin Diesel: $12.0 billion
Vin Dieselās career may be associated with shiny sports cars and red carpets nowadays, but Diesel strove to get here. He honed his difficult early experiences in the industry into a semi-autobiographical short film titled Multi-Facial about a biracial actor struggling to find roles, a project which later caught the attention of the critically acclaimed director Steven Spielberg; he went on to cast Diesel in his breakout role in Saving Private Ryan (1998). Three years later Diesel first appeared in The Fast and the Furious as Dominic Toretto, widely considered his most well-known character.
Chris Evans: $11.49 billion
Chris Evansās career as an action star started with his first superhero film, Fantastic Four (2005). Heās since taken his superhero status to starring roles, as he plays the titular character in the Captain America franchise, becoming a major player in the MCU. But Evans has expanded his acting repertoire across genres, starring in the popular mystery Knives Out (2019), and in 2025, he played one of Dakota Johnsonās love interests alongside Pedro Pascal in Celine Songās romance film Materialists.
Dwayne Johnson: $11.47 billion
Dwayne Johnson, or The Rock, is a professional actor and wrestler. His skills easily translated from his wrestling-match monologues to the movie screen in his first role in The Mummy Returns (2001). He quickly earned recognition in the action and family genres with the Fast and Furious franchise and films such as Journey 2: Mysterious Island (2012). He continues to land starring roles in these categories with later films such as Jungle Cruise (2021) and Disneyās animated film Moana (2016).