Forbes: Leo DiCaprio top-grossing actor

LOS ANGELES — 2010 has been a banner year for Leonardo DiCaprio. Two of his films, Shutter Island and Inception, were among the 15 highest-earning movies at the global box office. Inception managed to rank third with $825 million US. And that's without the benefit of high-priced 3D tickets inflating the take.

So far his box office this year hasn't been followed up with award nominations. But DiCaprio can laugh all the way to the bank. He tops our list of 2010's Top-Grossing Actors, with his movies making $1.1 billion at the global box office.

Those box office riches will also line the actor's pockets. DiCaprio will earn at least $50 million for his work on Inception alone (and likely more now that the film is selling on DVD) courtesy of a deal he struck for a share of first-dollar gross points.

For the sake of this list, we're only looking at box office gross. We looked at the earnings for the top films of the year and credited each star the entire box office. So if an actor starred in two big movies (like DiCaprio did) he got credit for both. We did not include animated films, although they were some of the top-earning of the year, because the stars aren't really the big draw for those films.

Tying for second place, behind DiCaprio, is the big surprise on our list: newcomer Mia Wasikowska. Wasikowska was lucky enough to star as Alice in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. And while there's no way she was the primary driver of ticket sales for the film (co-star Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton were much bigger draws), she did appear in almost every scene of the film, and can't be fairly dismissed. After all, Wonderland was the second-highest-earning movie this year, with $1.03 billion at the box office.

Just as surprising, she ties Depp in our ranking thanks to her other movie this year, The Kids Are All Right. That film has earned $29 million at the global box office, a healthy return considering the estimated $4 million production budget.

As of the time this story was written, Depp's other movie this year, The Tourist, had earned $29 million (after only one week, but on a budget of $100 million). Wasikowska's breakthrough year at the box office helped land her as one of our Stars to Watch for 2011. The young star will next appear in a new version of Jane Eyre. Depp's next role is as the voice of a lost chameleon in the animated film Rango.

Robert Downey Jr. ranks fourth with $808 million thanks to Iron Man 2 and the comedy Due Date. Iron Man 2 was the seventh-highest-grossing film of the year with $622 million. Due Date has so far performed decently for a comedy, earning $186 million at the global box office.

In fifth place: Daniel Radcliffe. Who knows where the actor's career will go once the Harry Potter franchise ends. But for now, his movies are big earners. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, which only opened a month ago, is already the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2010 with $780 million at the global box office. When the second installment opens next summer, it's likely to rake in even more.