Will Smith, Johnny Depp and Eddie Murphy were the best paid Hollywood actors in the past year, according to Forbes magazine's special issue, 'Entertainment All Stars'.

Smith, 39, made $US80 million ($A82.42 million) between June 1, 2007 and June 1, 2008, thanks to blockbusters like I Am Legend, Hancock, and The Pursuit of Happyness, for which he was nominated for best actor in the 2007 Oscars.

Depp, 45, who straddles both commercial movies - including the Pirates of the Caribbean series - and more challenging, independent roles, earned $US72 million ($A74.18 million) in the same period. Director Tim Burton's favourite actor, Depp was also nominated to the 2007 Oscars for his starring role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Murphy, 47, despite his often criticised aggressive style of humour, is still highly marketable, earning $US55 million ($A56.67 million) in the past 12 months, mostly from the films he starred in, but above all for being Donkey's voice in the animated Shrek series of films and videogames.

Shrek the Third also made Canadian actor Mike Myers - the green ogre's voice - the third top Hollywood moneymaker, along with Murphy at $US55 million, despite his recent comedic flop, The Love Guru.

And also thanks to Shrek and the voice of princess Fiona, Cameron Diaz was not far behind in earnings, with $US50 million ($A51.51 million).

She was followed by Leonardo DiCaprio with $US45 million ($A46.36 million), Bruce Willis with $US41 million ($A42.24 million), comedian Ben Stiller with 40 million and Nicolas Cage with $US38 million ($A39.15 million) according to Forbes.