Mark Wahlberg crowned highest-paid actor of 2017 as pay cheque dwarfs highest-paid actress Emma Stone

Mark Wahlberg has taken the title of the highest-paid actor of 2017, dwarfing his female counterpart, Emma Stone's earnings.

Wahlberg, 46, earned his biggest pay cheque to date, taking home an impressive $68 million thanks to Transformers: The Last Knight and his upcoming comedy, Daddy’s Home 2.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson was elbowed in to second position on Forbes’ annual list with earnings of £65 million after appearances in the Baywatch film and his HBO comedy, Ballers.

His Fast and Furious co-star Vin Diesel jumped up from eighth to return to third – a position he earned in 2015 – after pocketing $54.5 million.

Adam Sandler took fourth place with earnings of $50.5 million thanks to his lucrative Netflix deal, while Jackie Chan rounded off the top five with a pay cheque of $49 million.

Robert Downey Jr and Tom Cruise took sixth and seventh position, while Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar rounded off the top ten.

Chris Hemsworth - who is the biggest per cent gainer thanks to Marvel which has helped his earnings shoot up 250 per cent over last year’s - also made the top 20 along with newcomers Ryan Reynolds, Ryan Gosling, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo.

The world’s 20 highest-paid leading men earned a combined $720 million, up from $703.5 million cumulatively last year.

Their salaries dwarf those of their female counter parts who took home considerably less money.

Wahlberg’s pay cheque is nearly three times more than that of Stone, who topped the highest paid actress list with $26 million.

Stone, who won the Best Actress gong at the Oscars for her performance in La La Land, would rank 15th on the highest-paid actors list.

Only three actresses made more than $20 million in 12 months compared to 16 actors who surpassed the mark.