GerardDepardieu, Jean Reno and Christian Clavier were France's highest paid actors for 2005according to a report in Monday's LeFigaro newspaper.

Depardieu,who had roles in such films as Gerard Jugnot's Boudu and Bertrand Blier'sHow Much Do You Love Me', earned $3.8m (Euros 3.2m) in 2005 despite a downturnin the box-office of his films. With $2.7m (Euros 2.3m), Jean Reno is in secondplace following work in films like Roberto Benigni's TheTiger And The Snow and Chris Nahon's EmpireOf The Wolves. In third place, Christian Clavier took home $2.23m (Euros1.87m) for his turn in Vincent de Brus' L'Antidote among others.

The year'shighest paid actress was Josiane Balaskowho scored $1.1m (Euros 1m) for her role in the self-directed L'Ex Femme De Ma Vie. Women, it turns out arepaid an average three times less than men. LeFigaro said the difference is down to a dearth of leading roles for womenand tough competition brought on by the arrival of new actresses each year.

Among theother actors on the list are Jean Dujardin - who starredin France's biggest local hit of the year, Brice De Nice - with $1.92m (Euros 1.61m), Daniel Auteuil , Gerard Lanvin, Benoit Magimel and comedians Gad Elmalehand Michael Youn.

Top paidactresses also include Karin Viard, Mathilde Seigner, Catherine Frot, Sophie Marceau, Valerie Lemercier, Nathalie Baye,Charlotte Gainsbourg, Vanessa Paradisand Juliette Binoche.

Le Figaro opines that several actors were overpaid in2005 bringing home substantial pay packages for films that did notproportionately speaking sell a lot of tickets. An example being Jean Reno atnumber two despite his highest-profile film, Empire Of TheWolves, garnering only 714,000 admissions.

Stars maybe on their way out; according to LeFigaro which writes that producers will start, "betting on the generationthat is climbing, slowly but surely, towards stardom." These names includeMichael Youn, currently seen in RaffyShart's Incontrolable;Clovis Cornillac who took home a Cesar for Best SupportingActor last year for Laurent Tirard's Mensonges Et TrahisonsEt Plus Si Affinites'; Romain Duris, this year'sfavorite for the Best Actor Cesar for Jacques Audiard'sThe Beat That My Heart Skipped; Catherine Frotnext seen in Denis Dercourt's La Tourneuse De Pages; Karin Viardrecently seen in Danis Tanovic'sL'Enfer and Jean Dujardincoming up in Gaumont's spy spoof OSS 117.