10 Most Powerful Hollywood Actors
These are the most powerful actors of Hollywood to date who rule the industry by their extraordinary style and and extreme talent.
Johnny Depp
Whether he’s a mad hatter, a pirate or an animated chameleon, Depp’s presence in a movie guarantees a box office bump. Just look at Rango, an odd animated movie about a fish-out-of-water lizard. It grossed $240 million on an estimated budget of $135 million. His film The Tourist, in which he played an average fellow opposite Angelina Jolie, earned a healthy $280 million thanks in part to Depp’s international appeal. (Link)
Leonardo DiCaprio
This last year was a big one for DiCaprio. After a string of movies that failed to wow at the box office (like Body of Lies), he had big hits with Shutter Island and Inception. The latter grossed $825 million at the global box office making it the 6th highest grossing film of 2010. (Link)
Adam Sandler
One of Hollywood’s highest earners, Sandler is a reliable funnyman whose audience is undaunted by terrible reviews. Case in point: his recent film Grown Ups. The movie earned a horrible 10 out of 100 on movie review website Rotten Tomatoes but it brought in $271 million at the box office making it Sandler’s highest grossing movie to date. (Link)
Brad Pitt
Pitt has become as active a producer as he is an actor. His company, Plan B, was behind last year’s Kick-Ass and Eat Pray Love, which starred Julia Roberts. The actor hasn’t appeared on screen since 2009’s Inglourious Basterds (which earned a healthy $320 million at the global box office) but he voiced do-gooder Metro Man in DreamWorks Animation’s Megamind opposite Will Ferrell.. (Link)
Robert Pattinson
With the end of the Twilight franchise in sight, Pattinson is preparing himself for a post-vampire career. The romance Remember Me earned only $56 million but that’s not bad considering the film had a tiny budget of $16 million. Water for Elephants, costarring Reese Witherspoon, also performed decently at the box office proving that audiences are willing to accept Pattinson as more than an undead heartthrob. (Link)
Tom Hanks
Hanks hasn’t appeared in a movie since 2009’s Angels & Demons but his voice was one of the main attractions of 2010’s Toy Story 3 where he starred as head toy, Woody. Toy Story 3 was the highest grossing film of the year with $1 billion in box office revenue. Through his Playtone Productions Hanks also produces TV shows like the recently ended Big Love and the HBO movie version of the book Game Change. (Link)
Will Smith
Smith returns to our list this year thanks to the upcoming Men in Black III where he’ll reprise his role as Agent J. Smith had fallen off of our list in 2010 because he took time off to nurture the budding careers of his children Jaden and Willow. Jaden starred in a remake of The Karate Kid which Smith produced (the film earned $360 million). Smith helped Willow with her hit song “Whip My Hair.” The video for the song has been viewed 11 million times. (Link)
Robert Downey Jr
Downey continued his comeback this year with Iron Man 2. The sequel outearned its 2008 predecessor by $57 million bringing in $622 million globally. Downey’s non-franchise movie this year, Due Date, also impressed earning $211 million at the box office. But that doesn’t mean he’s giving up Iron Man or Sherlock Holmes. Expect plenty more of both. (Link)
Ben Stiller
With a 9 out of 100 rating on the Rotten Tomatoes movie review site, Little Fockers was among the worst reviewed movies of the year. No matter. It earned $310 million at the global box office. Much of that is due to Stiller’s everyman appeal. In 2010 he balanced out his big budget comedies with the low-key Greenberg which earned only $6 million, but rave reviews from the critics. (Link)
