Acclaim doesn’t always follow the money in showbiz.
Certainly, the world’s highest-paid actors and actresses aren’t exactly wowing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. None of them were even nominated for an acting Oscar this year. In fact, only four of them have ever won an Oscar.
But earn they do. In the course of a single year, these 20 stars pulled down some $460 million combined, according to Forbes' annual listing of the World’s Most Powerful Celebrities.
Among this highly compensated group, Johnny Depp, who made $37 million, has come closest to winning the coveted 13.5-inch statuette in recent years. Last year, he was nominated for Best Actor for his performance in Finding Neverland. Close, but no statuette--the Oscar went to Jamie Foxx.
Depp has another chance this year, although not for Best Actor. Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, for which Depp provided the voice of Victor Van Dort, is up for Best Animated Feature Film. But don’t hold your breath, Depp hasn’t had much Oscar luck in the past. In fact, despite a lengthy list of critically acclaimed performances, the 42-year-old star has yet to win an Oscar for his acting.
Another Hollywood Hunk, Tom Cruise, has nothing to show for his millions either--at least in terms of gold-plated statuettes. Despite earning $31 million in a single year, Cruise has just three nominations and no statuettes under his belt. At 43, the War of the Worlds star will try again with Mission Impossible III, which hits theaters later this year.
In fact, the actors and actresses on our list have won more awards for their work on the television screen than on the silver screen. Four of the 20 stars have been nominated for their TV performances in the last two years, and three have Emmys to show for it.
Jennifer Aniston, as famous for her acting as she is for her love life, is among them. In 2004, the 37-year-old actress received her fifth Emmy nomination for her performance as Rachel Green on NBC’s Friends (she won in 2002). That may explain why the highly bankable star earned $18.5 million. While the hit sitcom, now in syndication, remains Aniston’s cash cow, she has parlayed her TV success into Hollywood stardom. With two recent films to her name — Derailed and Rumor Has It — and several more on the way, Aniston’s Emmy statuette may one day have an Oscar by its side.
Ray Romano and Patricia Heaton have both won Emmys for their leading roles in CBS’s sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. While the duo continue to cash in from the show--now in syndication--they have both moved on to new projects. Next up for Romano: the silver screen. The actor, who earned $36.5 million, will appear in the upcoming flicks Grilled and Ice Age II.
For Heaton, the next move is on the production side. She recently signed a mega-development deal with ABC Television and its sister studio, Touchstone TV, to produce long-form projects and series through her production company.
To determine the world’s highest-paid actors and actresses, we turned to the 2005 edition of the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, which ranks the most powerful actors, models, chefs and directors based on their media exposure (magazine covers, TV and radio mentions), Web presence (number of Google hits) and earnings.