I realize we aren’t quite halfway through, but the richest actor in 2025 has been announced.
Last year, Dwayne Johnson came in first, but this time he’s second behind a superstar who hasn’t been in a film in half a decade but is still estimated to be worth $1.1 billion.
Other prominent names in the top five include Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, Tom Cruise from Mission: Impossible, and George Clooney, former co-owner of Casamigos Tequila.
According to Esquire, film stars earn more money from their side projects in addition to their big-screen appearances, with Arnold Schwarzenegger securing the top spot this time.
Forbes announced this April that the Conan actor had become a millionaire.
Arnie is a multifaceted individual, and his involvement in the film industry took a backseat when he was elected Governor of California.
But only weeks after leaving office, he declared in January 2011 that he was examining many new film projects.
Despite returning to the movies, his most recent feature appearance was as T-800 in 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate.
Schwarzenegger was intended to feature in Kung Fury 2, but the film’s release has been significantly delayed. He will, however, return to our screens this Christmas as Santa Claus in the film The Man with the Bag.
It will be more than a half-decade since he appeared in a new film.
His fortunes have undoubtedly been good without the silver screen, since it has been said that most of his riches stem from his investing his profits in real estate since his early acting career.
According to reports, Schwarzenegger now controls a massive real estate empire and a 5% share in one of the world’s largest financial corporations.
It’s almost difficult to remember that the actor struggled to find work in the United States when he first arrived in 1968 due to his heavy Austrian accent.
According to Forbes, he produced over 50 films and earned $5.5 billion at the box office.
It is estimated that he made $500 million from his films, which was due in part to the manner in which he structured his arrangements. When he starred in Twins, he decided to forego a salary in exchange for over 20% of gross profits, resulting in a total of over $35 million—significantly more than he would have received up front.
“It became such a historic deal that the studio would never, ever make that deal again,” according to him in 2016.
Schwarzenegger has also made money from Super Bowl advertising and investments, including Starbucks and Google’s Series A.
However, having spent much of his extra revenue shortly after coming to America, he claimed to be a billionaire before landing any significant parts in the 1970s due to his real estate side hustles.