Deepika Padukone attends the opening ceremony of the 13th Marrakesh International Film Festival on November 29, 2013 in Marrakech, Morocco. (Photo : Getty Images / Dominique Charriau)
Indian female star Deepika Padukone debuted in the list of 2016 World's Highest Paid Actresses with $10 million. She is the only newcomer to the list and the only one from India to make it. Her name is already big in Bollywood, starring in films like "Piku" and "Bajirao Mastani."
Out of the names in the 2016 World's Highest Paid Actresses, 30 percent are from outside the United States, including Padukone. South African-American actress Charlize Theron returns to the list since 2013 while Chinese actress Fan Bingbing makes it for the second time in a row.
After her big break in the 2007 "Om Shanti Om," the 30-year-old Bangladore native has starred in several movies which have succeeded in India's box office by crossing the $150 million or 100 crore mark. The actress has lucrative endorsements and is among the country's style icons, with her own label "All About You" for Myntra, an Indian online shopping.
Bollywood female artists earn less than male stars. For instance, a top Indian male actor can earn nearly $5 million per movie, while an A-list actress rarely earns a million per film. In fact, four Bollywood actors have made it to the list of the 2016 World's Highest Paid Actors compared to just one, Padukone in the 2016 world's highest paid actresses list.
Padukone has endorsed big brands like Coca-Cola, Vogue, Van Heusen, Nike, Kellogg's, Tanishq, Tissot and Axis Bank. The actress has also signed on as a brand ambassador of Indian domestic airline, Vistara, becoming the first to promote an airline, according to The Indian Express.
The big gap in earnings between male actors and actresses is likewise common in Hollywood. The 10 highest paid actresses in the world have a combined $205 million earnings from June 1, 2015 to July 1, 2016, which is far less than the cumulative total of male actors' earnings. Padukone will star alongside Vin Diesel in "xXx: Return of Xander Cage" in 2017, which will be her Hollywood debut.
This year's list gives more accurate representation of the acting's earning elite. Estimates of earnings are based on data from IMBDB, Box Office Moji, Nielsen, and from interviews of managers, lawyers and agents, according to Forbes.
Watch the thriller of Padukone's upcoming "xXx: Return of Xander Cage" below.
