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Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is now the 'highest-paid actor of all time'

Ben Arnold
·Contributor
Dwayne Johnson (Credit: Rex)
Dwayne Johnson (Credit: Rex)

Move over Robert Downey Jr… Dwayne Johnson is now the highest-paid actor of all time, according to Forbes magazine.

He earned a staggering $124 million (over £95 million) last year, the biggest annual haul by a single actor in the 20 year history of the magazine’s Celebrity 100 rich list.

To put into perspective, it was nearly double the $65 million he made last year, and it dwarfs the haul of last year’s best paid actor, Mark Wahlberg, who made $68 million in 2017.

Johnson has hit the top spot before, in 2016, when he made £48 million over the year.

But this is a truly staggering sum, particularly when you consider the ups and downs of his early career.

He named his production company Seven Bucks Productions because that’s how much he had in his pocket when he was binned from his contract with the Calgary Stampeders in 1995.

First listed in Forbes’ Top 100 Most Powerful Celebrities list in 2013, he’s been featured every year since.

On hearing the news, he took to Instagram, as he is wont to do.

🙏🏾 I work extremely hard but never anticipated (in my wildest dreams) I’d become the highest paid actor in Forbes’ history. I don’t have a Harvard MBA, but my business philosophy and acumen has been sharpened over time and thru failure. My goal when I was wrestling in flea markets for $40bucks per match (well before the bright lights of the @wwe) is still the exact same goal I have today – ALWAYS put my AUDIENCE FIRST. I have one boss – the world. Send you home happy, and I’ve done my job. I’m the dude who started w/ $7bucks. I’m grateful to the bone and hungry to the core. #MakingForbesHistory #AudienceFirstPhilosophy #FleaMarketDreams #HardestWorkerInTheRoom

A post shared by therock (@therock) on Jul 17, 2018 at 9:46am PDT

“I work extremely hard but never anticipated (in my wildest dreams) I’d become the highest paid actor in Forbes’ history,” he said.

“I don’t have a Harvard MBA, but my business philosophy and acumen has been sharpened over time and thru failure.

“My goal when I was wrestling in flea markets for $40bucks per match (well before the bright lights of the @wwe) is still the exact same goal I have today – ALWAYS put my AUDIENCE FIRST.

“I have one boss – the world. Send you home happy, and I’ve done my job. I’m the dude who started w/ $7bucks. I’m grateful to the bone and hungry to the core.”

He should be able to buy himself a pretty substantial snack with that $124 million.

That said, the disappointing debut of his latest movie Skyscraper has raised the possibility of Rock Fatigue.

It appeared at number three in the US box office chart on opening last weekend, and it’s thought that it may struggle to ultimately break even.

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