Oscar winner Emma Stone has toppled Jennifer Lawrence to be named Hollywood’s highest-paid actress. The La La Land star topped Forbes’ annual list of best paid stars by earning 26 million US dollars (£20.2 million) in the last 12 months, mainly due to the success of the Hollywood musical. She saw a 160% increase on her earnings in 2016, when she made 10 million US dollars (£7.75 million). Stone recently spoke out about the gender pay gap in Hollywood, revealing her male co-stars had taken pay cuts so they could earn the same. Jennifer Lawrence, who topped the list in 2016, came third with 2017 earnings of 24 million US dollars (£18.6 million), just over half of the money she made the year before.
Jennifer Aniston took second place with earnings of 25.5 million US dollars (£19.8 million), which mainly came from her endorsements for Smartwater, Aveeno and Emirates. Harry Potter star Emma Watson made the list for the first time and is the only British star to feature in the top 10. She landed in sixth place with earnings of 14 million US dollars (£10.8 million), mainly from her leading role in Beauty And The Beast. 
Melissa McCarthy, Mila Kunis, Charlize Theron, Cate Blanchett, Julia Roberts and Amy Adams also featured in the top 10 highest earners. Only Stone, Lawrence and Aniston made it past the 20 million US dollars (£15.5 million) benchmark in 2017, compared to four women in 2016. Missing from the list was Scarlett Johansson, who failed to make more than the 11.5 million US dollars (£8.9 million) cut off, Forbes said.