Will Smith, Johnny Depp and Eddie Murphy were the best paid Hollywood actors in the past year, according to Forbes magazine's special issue 'Entertainment All Stars'.

Smith (39) made $80-million between 1 June 2007 and 1 June 2008, thanks to blockbusters like 'I Am Legend', 'Hancock' and 'The Pursuit of Happyness', for which he was nominated for best actor in the 2007 Oscars.

Depp (45), who straddles both commercial movies — including the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' series — and more challenging, independent roles, earned $72-million in same period. Director Tim Burton's favorite actor, Depp was also nominated to the 2007 Oscars for his starring role in 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'.

Murphy (47), despite his often criticised lowbrow style of humour, is still highly marketable, earning $55-million in the past 12 months, mostly from the films he starred in, but above all for being Donkey's voice in the animated 'Shrek' series of films and videogames.

'Shrek the Third' also made Canadian actor Mike Myers — the green ogre's voice — the third top Hollywood moneymaker, along with Murphy at $55-million, despite his recent comedic flop 'The Love Guru'.

And also thanks to 'Shrek' and the voice of princess Fiona, Cameron Diaz was not far behind in earnings, with $50-million.

She was followed by Leonardo DiCaprio with $45-million, Bruce Willis with $41-million, comedian Ben Stiller with $40-million and Nicolas Cage with $38-million, according to Forbes.

AFP