Leonardo DiCaprio is highest paid Hollywood actor

Leonardo DiCaprio has topped Forbes magazine's annual list of the highest earning male Hollywood actors with estimated earnings of $77m (£47m) over the last year.

It's the first time DiCaprio has made it to the No 1 spot, and follows the blockbuster success of his films Inception and Shutter Island last year. The actor replaces Johnny Depp, who slips to No 2 with $50m earned through his roles in the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film and animated adventure Rango.

Third place goes to Adam Sandler, with estimated earnings of $40m in the past 12 months. The critics are rarely kind, but Sandler remains a shoo-in for box office glory. His most recent film, Just Go With It, took $214m across the globe despite damning reviews. Will Smith is in fourth place, with an estimated $36m in earnings over the past year. He was reportedly paid a large upfront fee after signing on for a third Men in Black film, due for release next May. Tom Hanks grabs fifth place, with $35m, thanks largely to the success of Pixar's Toy Story 3, in which he once again provided the voice of Woody.

Ben Stiller lands further down the list at No 6 with $34m, Robert Downey Jr is seventh with $31m and Mark Wahlberg grabs eighth with $28m. Tim Allen is in ninth place with $22m, due once again to the success of Toy Story 3 (he voices Buzz Lightyear), and Tom Cruise is 10th (also with $22m). If anything, the latter's fading star may be the most notable talking point of the list: it wasn't so long ago that Cruise could command more than $22m for each film he starred in.

The familiarity of the names on the men's list is in relative contrast to the women's equivalent, published by Forbes last month. While established stars such as Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica Parker (both $30m) ruled the roost, the top 10 also featured relative newcomers Kristen Stewart and Katherine Heigl. Had gender not been taken into consideration, Jolie, Parker and Jennifer Aniston ($28m) would all have made the top 10.