Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Downey Jr are world's best-paid actress and actor

But Forbes’ lists of the film industry's biggest earners shows a chasm between pay for men and women

Jennifer Lawrence is the highest-paid female actress in the world today, banking $52 million in the last 12 months,
according to Forbes’ latest list of the world’s highest paid movie stars. A parallel list of male actors is topped by Iron Man's Robert Downey Jr, who earned $28 million more than Lawrence in the same time-frame.

Downey Jr’s Avengers: Age of Ultron co-star Scarlett Johansson came second on the female list, with $35.5 million, while the second ranked male was Jackie Chan, with $50 million.

Melissa McCarthy, Bingbing Fan and Jennifer Aniston complete the top five highest female actresses, while Downey Jr and Chan are followed by Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper and Adam Sandler, despite the latter's string of recent flops.

Most striking is the the fact that the male actors on the list made considerably more than their female counterparts. While only four women made more than $20 million in the past 12 months, 21 men reached that figure.

Melissa McCarthy is the third highest-paid actress in the world this yearCredit: Larry Horricks

Despite the list taking into account international movies for the first time (rather than including foreign actors starring in American films), only one non-American female made the list: Chinese actress Bingbing Fan, who is best known by Western audiences for her role as Blink in X-Men: Days of Future Past. No British actresses made it onto the list.

In the male list, the UK was represented by James Bond actor Daniel Craig and Taken star Liam Neeson. The male list also had more entrants from outside the USA, with 12 Bollywood actors making an appearance. Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Ashkay Kumar all made it into the top 10.

The full Forbes lists are below:

The World’s Highest-Paid Actresses 2015

1)    Jennifer Lawrence, $52 million
2)    Scarlett Johansson, $35.5 million
3)    Melissa McCarthy, $23 million
4)    Bingbing Fan, $21 million
5)    Jennifer Aniston, $16.5 million
6)    Julia Roberts, $16 million
7)    Angelina Jolie, $15 million
8)    Reese Witherspoon, $15 million
9)    Anne Hathaway, $12 million
10)  Kristen Stewart, $12 million
11)  Cameron Diaz, $11 million
12)  Gwyneth Paltrow, $9 million
13)  Meryl Streep, $8 million
14)  Amanda Seyfried, $8 million
15)  Sandra Bullock, $8 million
16)  Emma Stone, $6.5 million
16)  Mila Kunis, $6.5 million
18)  Natalie Portman, $6 million

The World’s Highest-Paid Actors 2015

1)    Robert Downey Junior, $80  million
2)    Jackie Chan, $50 million
3)    Vin Diesel, $47 million
4)    Bradley Cooper, $41.5 million
5)    Adam Sandler, $41 million
6)    Tom Cruise, $40 million
7)    Amitabh Bachchan, $33.5 million
7)    Salman Khan, $33.5 million
9)    Ashkay Kumar, $32.5 million
10)  Mark Wahlberg, $32 million
11)  Dwayne Johnson, $31.5 million
12)  Johnny Depp, $30 million
13)  Leonardo DiCaprio, $29 million
13)  Channing Tatum, $29 million
15)  Chris Hemsworth, $27 million
15)  Daniel Craig, $27 million
17)  Matthew McConaughey, $26.5 million
18)  Shah Rukh Khan, $26 million
18)  Will Smith, $26 million
20)  Matt Damon, $25 million
21)  Hugh Jackman, $23 million
22)  Ben Affleck, $19.5 million
23)  Liam Neeson, $19.5 million
24)  Chow Yun-fat, $18 million
25)  Russell Crowe, $18 million
26)  Seth Rogen, $17 million
27)  George Clooney, $16.5 million
28)  Brad Pitt, $16 million
28)  Jonah Hill, $16 million
30)  Will Ferrell, $15 million
30)  Ranbir Kapoor, $15 million
32)  Chris Evans, $13.5 million
33)  Chris Pratt, $13 million
33)  Andy Lau, $13 million