2018: Forbes Releases List Of Highest Paid Actresses

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Move over Emma Stone, Tinseltown has a new highest-paid actress. Scarlett Johansson leads this year's ranking with $40.5 million in pretax earnings between June 1, 2017 and June 1, 2018, making her acting's top-earning female lead.

Playing Black Widow in Marvel's Avengers movies has become a lucrative role for Johansson, who quadruples her 2017 earnings to bump Stone from No. 1. She'll return onscreen for the fourth installment of the superhero conglomerate series in 2019.

"The percent of budget cost have certainly skewed heavy, particularly on the Avengers movies, to cast now, whereas maybe in the early ones it was more visual effects or below the line," said Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios President and producer last year. "But that's okay because [the actors] are the best effects."


Johansson edges Angelina Jolie (No. 2; $28 million) who returns to the ranking thanks largely to her upfront pay for Maleficent 2. Jennifer Aniston (No. 3; $19.5 million) still earns big bucks 14 years after the conclusion of Friends, making most of her money by endorsing the likes of Emirates airlines, Smartwater and Aveeno.

10. Gal Gadot
$10 million
9. Melissa McCarthy
$12 million
8. Cate Blanchett
$12.5 million
7. Julia Roberts
$13 million
6. Mila Kunis
$16 million
5. Reese Witherspoon
$16.5 million
4. Jennifer Lawrence
$18 million
3. Jennifer Aniston
$19.5 million
2. Angelina Jolie
$28 million
1. Scarlett Johansson
$40.5 million