Jackie Chan No. 2 on world's highest-paid actors list

Jackie Chan No. 2 on world's highest-paid actors list

New York - Gongfu star Jackie Chan is the world's second highest-paid actor after Hollywood's Robert Downey Jr, according to Forbes magazine.

On Forbes' 100 Highest-paid Celebrities 2015 list released on Monday, he holds the No. 38 spot, behind golfer Tiger Woods, by earning US$50 million (S$67.3 million) over the past 12 months.

Downey Jr, 50, was at No. 8 with US$80 million and boxers Floyd Mayweather (US$300 million) with Manny Pacquiao (US$160 million) topped the list.

Forbes says Chan's movie Dragon Blade (2015) grossed US$120 million in China and he, the film's lead, cut himself a back end deal that likely made him more than US$10 million.

It says his empire includes a line of Chan-branded merchandise, a Segway dealership and an eponymous cinema chain, including the Jackie Chan Yaolai International Cinema multiplex, which would expand by 37 theatres.

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Forbes estimated his net worth at about US$350 million, a figure Chan, 61, would not comment on.

He is also expanding his J.C. Stunt Team into a film services company that matches American studios with bilingual crew members in China.

"I want to slowly build a William Morris," he said in an interview with Forbes in Beverly Hills, referring to the Hollywood entertainment talent agency, now known as William Morris Endeavor.

The star is famously frugal, however. He showed the interviewer a worn bar of soap taken from a Macau hotel which he kept in a plastic bag.

"This soap follows me around the world," he said.


This article was first published on July 2, 2015.
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