--- title: Eddie Murphy Most Overpaid Actor in Hollywood description: Earning a spot on a magazine's annual year-end top-10 list can be great news for an actor—like the two French stars who topped TIME's list... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7120426/the-most-overpaid-actor-in-hollywood-eddie-murphy/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-12-05T17:00:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-25T05:57:36.332Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: The Most Overpaid Actor in Hollywood? Eddie Murphy og:description: The star earned the dubious honor on Forbes' annual list og:url: https://time.com/archive/7120426/the-most-overpaid-actor-in-hollywood-eddie-murphy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47f0838547edcf69/698a8f62b3fce357b50d2c3d/murphy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Eddie Murphy, Best Actor in a Supporting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Most Overpaid Actor in Hollywood? Eddie Murphy twitter:description: The star earned the dubious honor on Forbes' annual list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47f0838547edcf69/698a8f62b3fce357b50d2c3d/murphy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) # The Most Overpaid Actor in Hollywood? Eddie Murphy by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Dec 5, 2012 5:00 PM UTC  Los Angeles, UNITED STATES: Eddie Murphy, Best Actor in a Supporting role poses with the award he won for his role in "Dreamgirls", at the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, 28 January 2007 in Los Angeles, California. AFP PHOTO/GABRIEL BOUYS (Photo credit should read GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images) Los Angeles, UNITED STATES: Eddie Murphy, Best Actor in a Supporting role poses with the award he won for his role in "Dreamgirls", at the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, 28 January 2007 in Los Angeles, California. AFP PHOTO/GABRIEL BOUYS (Photo credit should read GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)AFP/Getty Images—2007 AFP by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Dec 5, 2012 5:00 PM UTC Earning a spot on a magazine’s annual year-end top-10 list can be great news for an actor—like the two French stars who topped TIME’s list of [the year’s best movie performances](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/12/04/top-10-arts-lists/slide/jean-louis-trintignant-and-emmanuelle-riva-as-georges-and-anne-in-amour/)—but it can be a dubious honor. The latter is the case when the list in question is [_Forbes_‘ run-down](http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2012/12/04/eddie-murphy-is-the-most-overpaid-actor-in-hollywood/) of the most overpaid actors in the business. This year, comedy veteran Eddie Murphy took home the title. The list compares actors’ earnings to the budgets and grosses of the last three major movies in which they appeared; the list narrowed down those movies to only releases in the last three years, eliminating actors who are less overpaid than they are underemployed. Based on those calculations, _Forbes_ figures that Murphy’s last three performances only made producers $2.30 for every dollar they paid him. (**MORE**: [How Dr. Dre Became the World’s Highest-Paid Musician](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/11/30/dr-dre-is-worlds-highest-paid-musician-yes-it-was-the-headphones/)) The most overpaid actress, at number two, is Katherine Heigl, star of one of TIME’s [worst movies of the year](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/12/04/top-10-arts-lists/slide/one-for-the-money/) honorees, _One for the Money_, which raked in less than $37 million but cost $40 million to make. Looking at the list as a whole, a pattern is clear. Out of the top ten, eight—or seven and a half, depending on which part of the Reese Witherspoon oeuvre you look at—of the honorees are best known for their comedic chops. Sandra Bullock, Jack Black, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller and Sarah Jessica Parker all made the list. The only actors on the list who are best known for their dramatic work are Nicolas Cage and Denzel Washington. Clearly, the money wasted on funny people is no laughing matter. (**MORE**: [Do You Still Love Eddie?](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,975919,00.html)) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7120426/the-most-overpaid-actor-in-hollywood-eddie-murphy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7120426/the-most-overpaid-actor-in-hollywood-eddie-murphy/"},"headline":"The Most Overpaid Actor in Hollywood? 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