The Top-Earning Actresses In Hollywood Are . . . . Wait, This Can't Be Right . . . .

I'm not exactly sure how this happens.

How the business works, that part's obvious. Men and women and children get paid to stand in front of cameras and say things and make faces and do things that are supposedly entertaining. I'm just trying to figure out what Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica Parker have done between May 2010 and May 2011 that was worth $30 million for each actress.

Still, Forbes doesn't exactly lie. And they say that Jolie and Parker earned more money during that 12-month stretch than any other actress in Hollywood. Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon came in just below with $28 million earned a piece.

After that, in order: Julia Roberts and "Twilight" darling Kristen Stewart earned $20 million each; Katherine Heigl earned $19 million; Cameron Diaz pulled in $18 million; "The Blind Side" Best Actress Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock earned $15 million; and the legendary Meryl Streep made $10 million.

Here's where I get lost.

Jolie's biggest movie during that run was "Salt" in 2010, which got generally favorable reviews from critics and grossed $293 million worldwide. Likewise, "The Tourist" made $268 million worldwide. Those are good numbers, even if I still say that calling her a talented actress is a stretch using either word. If you saw either "Tomb Raider" movie, "Taking Lives" or "Original Sin," you know this isn't an exaggeration. But at least she earns some bank.

Then there's Sarah Jessica Parker.

Her biggest movie during that stretch? "Sex and the City 2." As, Razzie Award-winner for Worst Actress shared with the entire cast. As in, cost $100 million to make, grossed just over $300 million, earned a 16% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score and the nicest thing Roger Ebert could say about it was that he was "gob-smacked" by all the "delightful cleavage" on display at the premiere.

She earned more than double what two Best Actress Academy Award-winners (Bullock and Streep) earned.

Can someone get that money back from her? Because I don't know if I can take truth that is this much stranger than fiction.