The Forbes highest-paid actors list is out and to everyone's surprise actor Robert Downey Jr has crashed to the ninth position in the coveted list. The Iron Man actor wore the top-paid actor's crown for three consecutive years. But this year he earned merely $33m (£24m) to slip directly to the ninth position.

Dwayne Johnson is the highest paid actor according to the Forbes list and the wrestler-turned-actor jumped 10 positions to achieve the feat. The Rock earned a staggering $64.5m in 2015 to crush Downey's three-year reign. The Fast And Furious actor was at number 11 last year with around $31m.

The 44-year-old former WWE star's rise to the top position is attributed to the success of his movies San Andreas and Central Intelligence, and the HBO show Ballers, besides his fees for Baywatch. The actor, who is also giving the voice-over for the movie Moana, took to Instagram to express his excitement soon after the rich list was out.

"Luv y'all and I'm grateful to the bone to have what we got. Strip it all away and you already know I ain't that hard to find. Let's keep puttin' in that work and earning that respect daily."

The Avenger actor was at number one in the 2015 Forbes list with a whopping $80m. But this year, he could only manage to equal his earnings with top Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan. Jackie Chan maintained his number two position from last year while Matt Damon elbowed Vin Diesel to become the third highest-paid actor for 2016.

Another Bollywood actor who made it to the list is Akshay Kumar ($31.5m). He shared the tenth position with top Hollywood actor Brad Pitt. Tom Cruise ($53,000,000), Johnny Depp ($48,000,000) and Ben Affleck ($43,000,000) are in fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively in the list.

Earlier, Forbes released the highest paid actresses' list and Jennifer Lawrence ruled the chart. She was crowned the world's highest-paid actress for the second consecutive year with an earnings of $46m between June 2015 and 2016.

Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr was the highest-earning actor in the world for three consecutive years Ian Gavan / Getty