Forbes list : Akshay Kumar world's 7th highest paid actor, Salman in 9th place

Akshay Kumar has emerged as the seventh highest-paid actor in the world by earning $40.5 million in 2018, according to Forbes magazine. The "Gold" actor is closely followed by his contemporary Salman Khan in the ninth place, raking in $38.5 million.

Kumar and Khan are the only two Bollywood actors to make it to the top 10 highest paid actors list, compiled by the publication.

Kumar, who came in 10th last year, upped his game by $3 million. Khan stayed at his ninth rank, but with an increase of $1.5 million this year.

Shah Rukh Khan, who was at the eighth spot on the 2017 list, did not find a place in 2018.

The list has been topped by Hollywood star George Clooney, who scored a career-high pre-tax paycheque of $239 million between June 1, 2017 and June 1, 2018.

Clooney was followed by Dwayne Johnson, who banked $124 million pretax to rank. "Avengers: Infinity War" star Robert Downey Jr, earned $81 million to book the third place. His co-star, Chris Hemsworth came in at number four with $64.5 million earnings.

The combined earnings of world's 10 highest-paid actors come at a total $748.5 million between June 1, 2017, and June 1, 2018, before fees and taxes - USD

The figure overshadows the salaries of the world's highest-paid actresses, who earned a cumulative of $186 million in the same scoring period. Scarlett Johansson topped the list with $40.5 million - the exact amount pocketed by Kumar in the actor's list.

International action star Jackie Chan came in fifth 45.5 million and Will Smith followed in at number six with $42 million. Adam Sandler and "Infinity War" star Chris Evans were in eighth and tenth positions with $39.5 million and $34 million respectively.

Last year's numero uno, "Transformers" actor Mark Wahlberg, did not make it to the list.