Emma Stone named 2017's highest-paid female actor with $26m

Emma Stone has been named Hollywood’s best-paid female actor in Forbes’ annual list of top earners.

The 28-year-old made $26m in the last 12 months, the majority of which was earned from her Oscar-winning performance in the musical romance La La Land. The film made over $445m worldwide.

She recently spoke out against Hollywood’s pay disparity, claiming that male co-stars had often taken cuts to ensure equality. “In my career so far, I’ve needed my male co-stars to take a pay cut so that I may have parity with them,” she said. “And that’s something they do for me because they feel it’s what’s right and fair. That’s something that’s also not discussed, necessarily: that our getting equal pay is going to require people to selflessly say, ‘That’s what’s fair.’”

She will next be seen alongside Steve Carell in Battle of the Sexes, a true-life tennis drama, and is currently filming a dark Netflix comedy, Maniac, with Jonah Hill.

Stone was closely followed by Jennifer Aniston with $25.5m, yet the majority of Aniston’s earnings have come from endorsements, such as SmartWater and Emirates airlines. Aniston was last seen with Jason Bateman in Office Christmas Party and was recently attached to a small-screen comedy series with Reese Witherspoon.

Last year’s no 1, Jennifer Lawrence, is in third place with $24m. It’s considerably down from her previous earnings of $46m but reflects her forthcoming slate of slightly smaller films, such as Darren Aronofsky’s horror Mother! and the spy thriller Red Sparrow. Like Aniston, Lawrence’s earnings include an endorsement, this time with Dior. Melissa McCarthy and Mila Kunis round out the top five.

In sixth position is Emma Watson, after her starring role in Beauty and the Beast which offset the poor showing of the cyber-thriller The Circle. She’s followed by Charlize Theron, Cate Blanchett, Julia Roberts and Amy Adams.

The year saw three women break through the $20m barrier, down from four in 2016. The earnings estimates are gathered from information available online as well as interviews with industry insiders.