JK's magical £150m eclipses Hollywood stars

Published on Wednesday 23 July 2008 21:54

HARRY Potter author JK Rowling's earnings have dwarfed those made by Hollywood's biggest stars, it emerged yesterday.

The Edinburgh-based writer made 150 million in the last year, ahead of talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, who earned 137.5 million.

Her books about the boy wizard have sold 375 million copies worldwide and the final instalment, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, has sold 44 million copies alone since it came out last July.

New "rich lists" published by Forbes magazine have revealed that Will Smith was Hollywood's top-earning actor, with 40 million last year.

Cameron Diaz, with 25 million, was the top-earning actress. Second place went to British actress Keira Knightley, who earned 16 million with the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel At World's End and war-time drama Atonement.

The top male sports star was Tiger Woods, who earned 57.5 million, ahead of footballer David Beckham, with 25 million, while Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova topped the list of female sports stars with 13 million.

The TV chef Gordon Ramsay and supermodel Kate Moss earned 3.75 million each. The Police earned 57 million, while fellow musicians Genesis racked up 15.5 million in earnings.

Mark Burnett, the television producer responsible for hit series Survivor and The Apprentice, earned 30 million last year.