SANDRA
BULLOCK is the world's highest paid actress this year,
according to Forbes. Despite a perception that roles
for women in Hollywood become less plentiful and less interesting
as they age, six of the top 10 are over 39 - including Bullock who
turned 50 last month - and only two of the 10 are in their
twenties.
Starring in the critically-acclaimed and box-office-smashing
Gravity last year is the major reason for Bullock's
impressive $51 million earnings. Jennifer
Lawrence - who won a raft of awards for her role in
American Hustle earlier this year, and who receives a
share of profits from the Hunger Games franchise - came
second, earning $34 million, while Jennifer
Aniston made $31 million.
Among the seemingly good news for equality comes a few footnotes
however. Firstly, the earnings as published by Forbes also
take in endorsements - for beauty and fashion companies, for
example - as well as the amount paid to actresses for actually
acting. Secondly, pay equality is not yet a reality when the ten top earning actors (Robert
Downey Jr, Dwayne Johnson and Bradley Cooper among them) made a
combined $419 million, while the top ten actresses made
almost half that: $226 million.
