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As of November 2025, Samuel L. Jackson was the highest-grossing leading actor in the United States and Canada, which combined are known as the North American movie market. Movies featuring Jackson as a protagonist collectively amassed 5.85 billion U.S. dollars domestically. Scarlett Johansson followed as her filmography grossed 5.68 billion dollars at the North American box office, while Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Pratt followed as their filmographies grossed 5.47 and 5.36 billion dollars, respectively. Meanwhile, the list of top-grossing film directors of all time included Steven Spielberg and the Russo brothers.

Acting in Hollywood: who leads the way?

One of the most influential film industries worldwide has seen an increasing percentage of women and people of color among its protagonists. The share of non-white lead actors in American cinema went from less than 11 percent in 2011 to about 22 percent a decade later. The gender distribution in Hollywood followed a similar pattern. In 2011, women accounted for roughly one-fourth of the lead roles in films in the U.S. In 2024, the share stood above 48 percent.

Diversity at the Oscars

Historically, the most prestigious ceremony in the U.S. film industry does not always reflect the reality of the movie-making sector or the country's population in general. For instance, 25 percent of Academy Award-winning movies in 2020 had female lead actors, the lowest percentage since 2016. Also in 2020, over 62 percent of Oscar-winning films had non-white directors – all the moviemakers rewarded at the 2011 ceremony were white.