Hollywood is still a boy’s town where the men earn a lot more than the women. But don’t cry for the top female stars: The 10 highest-paid actresses in Tinseltown earned a total $218 million between May 2010 and May 2011, by our estimation.
Tying at the top of our list are Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica Parker, who each earned an estimated $30 million.
Jolie has made a name for herself as an actress who can easily handle action, drama and even directing. She wrote and directed the upcoming film In the Land of Blood and Honey, a romance set against the backdrop of the Bosnian War. That film follows up her two big-budget 2010 action movies, Salt and The Tourist. The latter, which co-starred Johnny Depp, initially looked like it was going to be a flop after a paltry opening weekend box-office haul of $16 million. But thanks mostly to the overseas market, the film went on to earn $280 million, cementing Jolie’s appeal abroad.
Parker still makes most of her money off of Sex and the City. She earns big from reruns of the TV show thanks to her dual role as star and producer, and the second movie, which hit screens in 2010, performed pretty well. It wasn’t as big a hit as the first movie (which earned $415 million) but it brought in a respectable $290 million.
