Guess who is the world's highest paid actress? Clue: she'll never go hungry again...

Laughing all the way to the bank: Melissa McCarthy

WITH earnings of $52 million, Hunger Games actress Jennifer Lawrence has topped Forbes' annual list of the highest paid actresses in the world, beating Scarlett Johansson, Julia Roberts and Angelina Jolie.

 

Jennifer Lawrence will never go hungry or need to find a silver lining in any cloud.

Thanks to an endless run of successful films like Silver Linings Playbook, The X-Men franchise and American Hustle, not to mention the enormously lucrative Hunger Games series, the 25-year-old is sitting pretty at the top of Forbes Magazine's annual rich list of highest earning female film stars.

With excitement reaching fever pitch after the release of the latest Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 trailer, her star is only set to rise even further.

 

J-Law trounced her nearest rivals, with second place Scarlett Johansson bringing in $35.5 million (£22.6 million).

Funny woman Melissa McCarthy may not be a favourite with the critics but she is laughing all the way to the bank in third place with $23 million (£14.6 million).

SCROLL DOWN FOR THE FULL LIST

 

The only non-Hollywood star is Chinese actress Bingbing Fan in fourth with $21 million.

She is followd by a host of familiar and predictable names like Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts and Reese Withespoon.

More of a surprise is the slide from last year's first position to 15th place for Sandra Bullock.

But the greatest shock is how far the ladies still lag behind their male counterparts.

 

Robert Downey Jr is out front yet again, raking in a cool $80 million (£51 million).

The top six men earned over $40 million each and all ten made comfortably more than $30 million, dwarfing the women's top earners.

In fact, the combined earnings of the Top 18 men is more than THREE times the amount earned by the Top 18 women.

Such is the established disparity in pay netween the sexes that shock was actually expressed when it was revealed that Jennifer Lawrence will be earning more than Jurassic World star Chris Pratt in their new film, Passenger.

Scroll down for the full list of Forbes highest earning actresses in the world.

 

FORBES MAGAZINE'S TOP 10 HIGHEST EARNING FILM ACTRESSES:

1. Jennifer Lawrence - $52,000,000
2. Scarlett Johansson - $35,500,000
3. Melissa McCarthy - $23,000,000
4. Bingbing Fan - £21,000,000
5. Jennifer Aniston - $16,500,000
6. Julia Roberts - $16,000,000
7. Angelina Jolie - $15,000,000
8. Reese Witherspoon - $15,000,000
9. Anne Hathaway - $12,000,000
10. Kristen Stewart - $12,000,000