Akshay Kumar Beats Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise; Becomes Only Indian to Feature on Forbes 2020 List Of 100 Highest-Paid Celebs

Delivering back-to-back hits last year with films like Kesari, Mission Mangal, Housefull 4 and Good Newwz, Akshay Kumar has featured in the list of highest-paid celebs in the world of Forbes 2020. He is the only Indian to have his name in this list. The actor lands at No. 52 on this year’s Celebrity 100 with pretax earnings of $48 million and has out-earned some Hollywood stars like Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. 

Akshay has also left behind Hollywood biggies such as Will Smith, ranked at #69 with earnings of $44.5 million, and Angeline Jolie ranked at #99 with $35.5 million. Khiladi Kumar is also ahead of pop stars such as Rihanna (#60), Katy Perry (#86), Lady Gaga (#87) and Jennifer Lopez (#56).

“I just wanted to earn around 1 crore rupees, that's it. But I'm a human being, and when I made my first, I thought, why can't I make 100 crores. To be honest there was no stopping me”, he shares.

The actor feels one has to change with time, “From screenplays and scripts to technology and the way of shooting and the audience. The zeros in my check have changed. Everything has changed.”

Forbes listing puts Akshay's collaboration with the streaming giant Amazon Prime Video for the actor's digital debut series The End as one of the reasons for him being in the list of highest-paid celebrities this year.

Model-entrepreneur Kylie Jenner with $590 million tops the 2020 Forbes 100 list while American rapper Kanye West, tennis champ Roger Federer, football stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi take up the next few spots. Tyler Perry, Neymar, Howard Stern, Lebron James and Dwayne Johnson find a slot under the top 10. 

Meanwhile, during the lockdown, Akshay Kumar is keeping himself busy by binge-watching TV shows and spending time with his family.