The actors who bring in the most money for their movies are usually the ones who get paid the most-- Johnny Depp, Will Smith, Tom Cruise and the like get paid the big bucks because their faces on a poster will sell a ton of tickets. But sometimes through chance and good choices, you can find yourself in a string of high-grossing movies that do well only partly because of you. And that's how you learn that Samuel L. Jackson, of all people, has recently been named the highest-grossing actor of all time.
The honor comes from no less an organization than the Guinness Book of World Records, and according to The New York Daily News Jackson's films have grossed $7.42 billion over the course of his career. Of course, there's pretty much just one title the accounts for that: Star Wars. Jackson played just a supporting role as Mace Windu in the three Star Wars prequels, but each grossed more than half a billion worldwide. Factor in a handful of other hits like A Time To Kill, XXX, The Incredibles and then the Iron Man movies, and you start seeing a pattern that adds up to a lot of cash.
So next time Nick Fury shows up for a half second in a Marvel movie or you see Samuel L. Jackson making six movies in a single year for some reason, just remember-- this guy now has a world record to his name, and he's got to keep working if he wants to hang on to it. Luckily with The Avengers and Iron Man 3 on their way, he's probably going to continue being well ahead of the pack.
