Editor’s note: For the most part, celebrities in China seem to enjoy a more sheltered life than their Hollywood counterparts; very rarely do you get to see glimpses of their lavish living quarters or profound wealth a la MTV Cribs or some other reality show. However, we all suspect that they live like emperors and now the proof, or at least an indication of just how loaded they are, is finally out. This translated article from ifeng.com dishes the dirt on how much China’s wealthiest actors and actresses get paid (be warned though that there is no information on how the mysterious netizen who “leaked” the figures even got the info and how accurate it is – not exactly an example of Chinese reporting at its finest!).
In China, acting has got to be the job sector with the fastest rate of pay increases. This is especially the case for those already established; actors who do well will see their pay increase two-fold or more overnight and, depending on their caliber, enjoy annual salaries in the 10 million RMB range, much to the envy of the hardworking souls in other industries. On October 14, Weibo user “烂片通缉令” exposed the paycheck of China’s most famous actors: Jet Li earns 60 million RMB per flick while Zhang Ziyi takes the lead for female actresses with 10-12 million RMB per movie. In fact, even some of those in the television industry can take home paychecks in the millions.
Top earning male actors; only a few surprises
The top earners in the male category weren’t that surprising with Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-fat and Ge You taking the top spots. What was surprising though was that actor Nicky Wu earned as much per movie as he does per TV show, an amount estimated at around 800,000 RMB. The biggest source of contention among netizens, however, was Liu Ye’s four million RMB paycheck, a sum many deemed “too high”.
Male Actors | Movie Paycheck (RMB) | TV Shows |
Jet-Li (李连杰) | 60 million |
|
Jackie Chan (成龙) | 45-50 million |
|
Chow Yun-fat (周润发) | 30-35 million |
|
Ge You (葛优) | 30 million |
|
Donnie Yen (甄子丹) | 30 million |
|
Liu Dehua (刘德华) | 20-25 million |
|
Tony Leung (梁朝伟) | 20-25 million |
|
Nicholas Tse (谢霆锋) | 12-15 million |
|
Jay Chou (周杰伦) | 12-15 million |
|
Huang Bo (黄渤) | 12-15 million | 0.6-0.7 million |
Louis Koo (古天乐) | 12 million |
|
Daniel Wu (吴彦祖) | 10 million |
|
Xu Zheng (徐铮) | 10-12 million |
|
Wen Zhang (文章) | 10 million | 0.8 million |
Aaron Kwok (郭富城) | 8 million |
|
Huang Xiaoming (黄晓明) | 8 million | 0.6-0.7 million |
Aloys (陈坤) | 8 million | 0.7-0.8 million |
Sun Honglei (孙红雷) | 7 million |
|
Chang Chen (张震) | 5-6million |
|
Sean Andy (刘青云) | 5-6million |
|
Super (吴秀波) | 5 million | 0.8 million |
William Feng (冯绍峰) | 5 million | 0.6 million |
Mark Zhao (赵又廷) | 4-6million |
|
Liu Ye (刘烨) | 4 million | 0.5-0.6 million |
Kai Ko (柯震东) | 4 million |
|
Eddie Peng (彭于晏) | 3-4 million |
|
Deng Chao (邓超) | 3-4 million | 0.5 million |
Peter Ho (何润东) | 3 million | 0.5 million |
Shawn Yue (余文乐) | 3 million | 0.5 million |
Ethan (阮经天) | 2 million |
|
Tong Dawei (佟大为) | 2-3 million | 0.5 million |
Huang Haibo (黄海波) | 1.5-2 million | 0.5-0.6 million |
Kenny (林更新) | 1-1.5 million | 0.2 million |
Zhang Guoli (张国立) | 1.5-2 million | 0.5-0.6 million |
Wang Xueqi (王学圻) | 2 million | 0.4 million |
Lu Yi (陆毅) | 1 million | 0.4 million |
Li Xuejian (李雪健) | 1 million | 0.3-0.4 million |
Nicholas Wu (吴奇隆) | 0.8-1 million | 0.7-0.8 million |
Hu Ge (胡歌) | 2 million | 0.5 million |
Chen Jianbin (陈建斌) | 0.5-1 million | 0.5 million |
Hans zhang (张翰) | 0.5 million | 0.25 million |
Wallace Huo (霍建华) | 0.5 million | 0.3 million |
Chen Xiao (陈晓) | 0.5 million | 0.2 million |
Pan Yueming (潘粤明) | 0.5 million | 0.5 million |
Du Chun (杜淳) | 0.3-0.5 million | 0.4 million |
Zhang Tielin (张铁林) | 0.3-0.5 million | 0.5 million |
Edison Chen (陈冠希) | 封杀 |
|
Top earning female actors
Zhang Ziyi snagged the number one spot with her 10-12 million RMB paychecks, surpassing acting heavy-weight Gong Li. Close behind were Shu Qi and Fan Bingbing (80 million per movie). In recent years, major blockbusters have secured Zhou Xun paychecks up to 7 million RMB, and Zhao Wei’s checks have also begun to close in the gap. A major surprise in this category was Xie Na’s fat paycheck of 500,000 RMB per movie and another 100,000 RMB for her television roles.
As the Chinese film and television industry contains to flourish, China’s acting elite will continue to see bigger paychecks flying their way. For example, actress Cecilia Cheung has seen her paycheck swell to 10 million RMB, a four-fold increase for the Hong Kong actress/singer.
Female Actors | Movie Paycheck | TV Shows |
Zhang Ziyi (章子怡) | 10-12 million |
|
Gong Li (巩俐) | 10 million |
|
Hsu Chi (舒淇) | 8 million |
|
Fan Bingbing (范冰冰) | 8 million | 0.6-0.7 million |
Vicki Zhao (赵薇) | 7-8 million |
|
Zhou Xun (周迅) | 7 million | 0.8-1 million |
Li Bingbing (李冰冰) | 5 million |
|
Angela Baby (杨颖) | 4 million | 0.5 million |
Chiling Lin (林志玲) | 3-4 million |
|
Yao Chen (姚晨) | 3 million | 0.5 million |
Yang Mi (杨幂) | 3 million | 0.5 million |
Sun Li (孙俪) | 2-3 million | 0.7-0.8 million |
Gao Yuanyuan (高圆圆) | 2.5 million | 0.3-0.4 million |
Yan Ni (闫妮) | 2 million | 0.4-0.5 million |
Michelle Chen (陈妍希) | 1.5-2 million |
|
Zhou Dongyu (周冬雨) | 1.5-2 million |
|
Zhang Jingchu (张静初) | 1-1.5 million |
|
Ni Ni (倪妮) | 1million | 0.2 million |
Joe Chen (陈乔恩) | 1million | 0.3-0.4 million |
Christina (海清) | 0.7-1 million | 0.5 million |
Ruby Lin (林心如) | 0.7-1 million | 0.5 million |
Jacqueline (李小璐) | 0.5-0.8 million |
|
Cecilia Cheung (张柏芝) |
|
|
Huo Siyan (霍思燕) | 0.5 million | 0.25-0.3 million |
Tiffany Tang (唐嫣) | 0.5 million | 0.3 million |
May (王珞丹) | 0.5 million | 0.3-0.4 million |
Qin Lan (秦岚) | 0.5 million | 0.3 million |
Shu Chen (陈数) | 0.5 million | 0.3 million |
Yuan Li (袁立) | 0.5 million |
|
Cecilia (刘诗诗) | 0.5 million | 0.3-0.4 million |
Ada (柳岩) | 0.5 million | 0.1 million |
Nana (谢娜) | 0.5 million | 0.1 million |
Zanilia (赵丽颖) |
| 0.7-1 million |
Source: ifeng.com
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Keywords: China’s wealthiest actors top earning actors China
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I would rather be their counterparts in countries where everyone in my family (including my dog and plants) are breathing clean air, drinking uncontaminated water, and taking real medicine when sick.
Nov 21, 2013 13:44 Report Abuse
the ecity is under the Big Brother eyes, so this is one of the allowed article :P
Nov 21, 2013 14:18 Report Abuse
Gee...I have to get out more. Apart from the top 3 male actors I have never heard of or seen in a movie any of the others mentioned. Sorry about that.
Nov 21, 2013 07:02 Report Abuse
Yeah, you do :P Donnie Yen? Ip Man? Awesome movie, and I think his kung fu is a lot better than the top 3 listed. On the girls side, the top 3 have been in movies released in the US, so they're at least somewhat known. You haven't seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Zhang Ziyi), Miami Vice (Gong Li), or Transporter (Hsu Chi)? Go watch them, now :P
Nov 21, 2013 08:13 Report Abuse
Don't worry, 'famous in China' is enough for most of them. Or would anyone really think they could conquer the world under the name 'Super'? 'Ethan'? 'Kenny'? Or the ladies: 'Angela Baby', 'May', 'Ada', 'Nana'... safe & sound forever behind the wall.
Nov 21, 2013 10:54 Report Abuse