This year seemed to have been pretty good for Latino singers, athletes, and actors, at least according to Forbes. Forbes Magazine released their yearly list of highest-paid Latino celebrities, and some of them are rolling in money.
The FC Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi signed a new contract that will keep him with the team until the 2020-21 season. If he receives that money during this season, he’ll be $130 million richer by the end of this current campaign, surpassing Christiano Ronaldo to be the highest-paid soccer player in 2018.
Messi’s place as the highest-paid soccer player is uncertain, but he’s already first place in the highest-paid Latino celebrity, accumulating $80 million in 2017. He ranked 14 overall on Forbes’ Celebrity 100 for the 100 highest-paid stars in the world.
Latinos on the list include natives or inhabitants of Latin America and also those of Latin American origin who live in the United States. The ten highest-paid Latino celebrities earned a combined $404.3 million in 12 months before taxes.
In second place is Louis C.K., who earned $52 million in 2017. C.K. was born in Washington but moved to his father’s home country, Mexico, when he was only one and did not get back to the States until age 7.
“I was a little kid, so all I had to do was completely reject my Spanish and my Mexican past, so I just became an American kid, which is a whole lot easier because I’m white with red hair,” C.K. told Rolling Stone. Louis C.K. still has a Mexican citizenship.
Coming in third place is Modern Family’s Colombian star, Sofía Vergara. Vergara, however, makes most of her money from deals and endorsements, earning $41.5 million this year to beat Big Bang Theory actor, Jim Parsons, as the highest-paid TV persona.
Other celebrities on the list are Jennifer Lopez, Venezuelan baseball player Miguel Cabrera, and Bruno Mars, who is of Spanish and Puerto Rican descent.
This article was inspired by Forbes // Highest-Paid Latino Celebrities Of 2017