Interesting: Just heard that Samuel L. Jackson....

[BlooInBloo]

... is the highest grossing actor in movie history. I assume to compute that, they just look at an actor's filmography and add up the amount each movie earned.

Where does he rank on the highest-paid-actor list? Anyone know offhand?

[951-Riverside]

1. Oh I thought you were going to say he's a mega Bush supporter

Grrrr

[Mrspeeker]

9. he prolly is

If you have ever listen to him talk about his life, he is totally self centered, which is definitely a quality of the President.

Dont think he pushing for taxing the rich and social services, but I could be wrong!

[madmom]

17. I did here him say when they where talking about the votes for

screen actors guild (I think) someone said something about the votes not counting and he said yeah,just like the other votes that didn't count (paraphrase here) could be taken either way.

[AllieB]

21. He's a Democrat

http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Samuel_L_Jackson.php

[GreenPartyVoter]

28. I have seen him on The Daily Show and he didn't sound lie a friend of **

to me, but he could have been considering his audience I guess.

Still, I will go with innocent until proven guilty.

[MadMaddie]

2. No way.....I find him to be a mediocre actor at best...

different movie same characters.....The Red Violen comes to mind...this movie had great potential but he mucked up the lead role....I was soooo not impressed!!

[TheBaldyMan]

7. he's a great actor but he does lousy films,

think of all the really great actors - they have all made howlers. Michael Caine springs to mind, one of the biggest films stars ever and he has also made some of the crappiest films.

[DS1]

3. If Star Wars counts, it's not difficult to imagine

Episodes 1, 2, and 3

[mattclearing]

8. But he wasn't the star in those.

A peripheral role in presumptively blockbuster movies does not say anything about an actor's draw.

[rinsd]

15. Throw in Jurassic Park ....

[Freddie Stubbs]

4. I wonder how well his upcoming movie,

Snakes on a Plane, will do?

[AllegroRondo]

5. I doubt its true

as there are actors who have been in literally hundreds of films, that put together would have "grossed" higher than the total Jackson has made.

As to highest paid, I believe Tom Hanks is on top right now.

[cynatnite]

13. I read Tom Cruise is getting $75 mil for Mission Impossible 3

:crazy:

[mattclearing]

19. Cruise might actually have grossed more money than Jackson, even with

this bogus criteria.

[mattclearing]

6. Is there a link for this assertion somewhere?

I'm willing to bet Schwarzenegger, DiCaprio, and a few others will have something to say about it.

[kstewart33]

10. Caine did alot of movies purely for $$ which he admits.

It looks like Jackson does the same. There's nothing wrong with that, but they've both been in a bunch of real stinkers.

[CBGLuthier]

24. Yeah, but he always gave his best effort

Insecurity from his early life of poverty made Caine take roles for money. Since he has returned to the graces of being considered a quality actor he has been more choosy about roles.

OK, he was in the Bewitched remake. But I bet on paper it looked like a good idea. :-)

[CBGLuthier]

11. According to imdb

3.6 billion.

Don't forget, he was in Jurrasic Park and The Incredibles as well as the last 3 Star Wars movies.

He also had a small role in Coming to America which grossed 128 million.

Of course, as one poster said, this list is probably bogus since there are actors who have been in a lot more movies and they may add up to more.

But he sure has been in some of the top grossing films.


True Dicaprio's film Titanic made 600 million plus but he hasn;t been in many mega-blockbusters since.

Arnold, sadly, is the highest paid actor. He got 30 mill for one movie.

At one time, James Coburn was cnsidered one of the best compensated because he got half a million for saying two words in a commercial.

Anyone remember what those two words were? :-)

[mattclearing]

16. Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, and Gangs of New York all did well.

And crediting Sam Jackson for his 40 seconds of screen time in Coming to America is laughable, even more so than the Star Wars thing. Jurassic Park is a stretch as well.

If you limit it to movies where he was billed in a starring role, he still comes off as very respectable.

But this basis isn't really a solid basis for judgement of his draw.

Nobody went to see Coming to America or Jurassic Park to see Samuel L. Jackson.

[CBGLuthier]

23. Well of course, it is all kind of silly

To me, the hands down winner is Harrison Ford. He was a star in six highly grossing movies.

And I don't think too many people saw the latest SW films just because Jackson was in them but I bet at least a few people did.

The movies you listed between them did maybe 300 to 400 million which still leaves Dicaprio a few billion light. :-)

That's just the nature of the super blockbusters.

Hell at one time Mickey Rooney was the top box office draw for a few years running. :-)

To me, there isn't a single movie on the all time top grossing list that is better than my own personal favorites.

Like some of the work of Hitchcock, Scorcese, P. T. Anderson, John Ford, Orson Welles, Chaplin, Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder and so on and so on.

[mattclearing]

25. Tom Cruise is probably another big one.

He might even challenge Ford.

I was careful not to say people didn't go to see Jackson, because outside of the movies being "Star Wars," he probably WAS the biggest draw.

[mockmonkey]

31. I agree

about Harrison Ford.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?id=harrisonford.htm

[FatDave]

20. Schlitz...light?

It was some 70's beer, I wanna say Schlitz, but could be wrong.

[CBGLuthier]

22. You are correct.

Good pay if you can get it eh. :-)

[BlooInBloo]

36. Hm... the imdb i see says 3.8 billion....

"As of January 2005, his films have earned over $3.8 billion worldwide at the box office. This makes him the highest-grossing actor in movie history, surpassing the total combined grosses of Harrison Ford."

Lost the link - will go back n get it if pressed...

[BlooInBloo]

29. I saw it on The View this morning....

Star (please put the weight back on - you look like a freak!) Jones told Sam L that to his face, reading from her cue card.
I have no idea where she got her information from. I'm inclined to think though that one wouldn't tell Sam L something like that to his face unless it were true {grin}

[mattclearing]

32. See our discussion of it above...

...it is likely because of bit parts in Jurassic Park, Coming to America, and the Star Wars prequels, none of which he can really claim credit for.

[BlooInBloo]

33. I didn't say anything about "claiming credit"....

... I only mentioned one possible way of computing, viz the actor's filmography.

You prefer another way of computing the number? Fine. That's not the way I heard used. That's all.

[RandomKoolzip]

12. SNAKES ON A PLANE!!

[mattclearing]

18. LOL.

It has to be said.

[xmas74]

34. Beat me to it!

It's coming. Will you be there opening night?

[CBGLuthier]

14. To answer your question

He got 10 million for Shaft.

No current figures available but he probably gets between five and ten million depending on the movie.


Highest paid actor is supposedly Arnold however you spell his last name at 30 million.

[Kai]

26. Highest Grossing, Not Highest Paid

Jackson works constantly and the films he is in make money. Over two billion dollars to date.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Actor&id=samuelljackson.htm

[CBGLuthier]

27. The OP asked what Jackson's salary was

Where he was in the salary club.

That is the question I was trying to answer. :-)

[BlooInBloo]

30. Thanks NMP!

[Tyrone Slothrop]

35. I don't know about that

But I do know that he supposedly appeared in more films during the 90's than any other actor.

(It was a question at the pub trivia that I sometimes go to.)

By virtue of that alone, it would probably put him pretty close to the top of the list.

[ProfessorGAC]

37. Also, Remember

They don't adjust for inflation. That's why there's a "highest grossing movie ever" winner every few years! I think that if adjusted for inflation, GWTW and Star Wars are still 1 and 2. I don't know about the money per actor thing you asked about, but i think he's plenty smart enough to ask for points.
The Professor

[Love Bug]

38. What about Hugo Weaving?

3 Matrix movies and 3 Lord of the Rings. Maybe not in Harrison Ford territory, but up there.