Leonardo DiCaprio Is Industry’s Highest Paid Actor, Says Forbes

For the first time in his career, Leonardo DiCaprio tops Forbes’ annual list of Hollywood’s highest paid actors. Johnny Depp, last year’s number one, is now a not too distant second.

This is further confirmation that DiCaprio, thanks to a series of very smart career choices, is now the biggest player in the industry – that is, the most bankable actor working right now.

In the end, making it into the top 10 of Forbes’ highest paid actors is all a matter of smart choices, the magazine writes. Both DiCaprio and Depp are the best examples for that.

“The two men who top our list of Hollywood’s highest-earning actors are living proof of that. While Johnny Depp topped our list last year with $75 million, Leonardo DiCaprio jumps from fifth to first place to beat Depp for the first time,” Forbes says.

“Over the past year Depp earned $50 million to DiCaprio’s $77 million. Both actors have achieved wealth and fame by making some unusual choices with their careers,” the publication adds.

The turning point for DiCaprio came in 1997, after “Titanic.” Instead of choosing the obvious path (either a heartthrob for rom-coms or an action movie star), the actor waited until the right project came along: Danny Boyle’s “The Beach.”

“Few of his films were blockbusters, but they established DiCaprio’s reputation as someone who could work with the best directors on the planet,” Forbes says.

In 2010, he had two movies coming out, “Inception” and “Shutter Island,” which further consolidated his reputation as a solid actor – and his bank account.

Depp’s career followed a similar path, in the sense that he rarely, if ever, made the obvious choice, sticking instead to critically sound but commercially unfeasible projects for most of the time.

In 2003, he made it big when he first took on the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean,” a franchise that became more about his character than anything else with the latest installment.

It made Depp $50 million richer in May 2010 – May 2011, the time frame surveyed by Forbes.

Adam Sandler also brought home about $40 million this past year, becoming the third grossing actor in showbiz right now.

He’s followed by Will Smith with $36 million and Tom Hanks, with $35 million. More on that here.