Oprah Winfrey, Michael Bay, and Steven Spielberg are the top-earning celebs. (FilmMagic, Getty Images)
No Canadians were fortunate to make Forbes' annual list of highest-paid celebrities this year. (Nope, not even James Cameron or Celine Dion).
For the fourth year in a row, Oprah topped the 20-strong list with earnings of a staggering $165 million in the past year. Runner-up was "Transformers" director Michael Bay, who missed the top spot by a mere $5 million. In distant third was another filmmaker, Steven Spielberg, whose residuals (see "Indiana Jones," "Jurassic Park," "E.T." etc.) reportedly earned him $130 million between May 2011 and 2012.
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Rounding out the Top 5 were producers Jerry Bruckheimer at $115 million ("Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides " was one of last year's highest-grossing films), and Dr. Dre with $110 million. Most of Dre's fortune was reportedly earned from selling a 51 per cent stake in the headphone company Beats by Dr. Dre, which he co-founded in 2006, to HTC for a cool $300 million.
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Another filmmaker, Ontario native James Cameron, was conspicuously absent this year. The Canadian "Avatar" director, whose net worth is reportedly $650 million, took the No. 17 spot on Forbes' 2011 list after earning $70 million from his various franchises. In the past year, though, he has been more focused on diving than filmmaking, which may explain his absence from the 2012 roundup.
Forbes' Top 20 Highest-Paid Celebrities of 2012
1. Oprah Winfrey, $165 million
2. Michael Bay, $160 million
3. Steven Spielberg, $130 million
4. Jerry Bruckheimer, $115 million
5. Dr. Dre, $110 million
6. Tyler Perry, $105 million
7. Howard Stern, $95 million
8. James Patterson, $94 million
9. George Lucas, $90 million
10. Simon Cowell, $90 million
11. Glenn Beck, $80 million
12. Elton John, $80 million
13. Tom Cruise, $75 million
14. Dick Wolf, $70 million
15. Rush Limbaugh, $69 million
16. Manny Pacquiao, $67 million
17. Dr. Phil McGraw, $64 million
18. Donald Trump, $63 million
19. Ryan Seacrest, $59 million
20. Britney Spears, $58 million