Jennifer Lawrence is highest paid Oscar nominee

Actress Jennifer Lawrence has topped a new rich list. Photo / Getty

Actress Jennifer Lawrence has beaten out Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon to top a new rich list of Oscar nominees.

The 25-year-old, who is up for the Best Actress honour at Sunday's 88th Academy Awards for her work on biographical movie Joy, earned more than any other 2016 hopeful on the new Forbes magazine countdown.

Lawrence took an estimated US$52 million (A$72.16 million), pre-tax, between June 2014 and June 2015, giving her the salary edge over DiCaprio and Damon, who are both nominated in the Best Actor category for their roles in The Revenant and The Martian, respectively.

Leonardo, 41, raked in US$29 million, while Matt earned US$25 million during the same period. The three stars were the only nominees to make the magazine's list of highest paid actors.

The list, published on Wednesday, comes just months after The Hunger Games star Lawrence attacked Hollywood studio bosses for paying female stars considerably less than men.

That fact became apparent during the 2014 Sony database hack, when cyber terrorists released confidential information, including the salaries of stars.

Lawrence discovered she was paid significantly less than her male co-stars in American Hustle.

"When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with d**ks, I didn't get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself," she wrote in an essay for friend Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter newsletter.

"I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn't want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don't need."

Lawrence, who previously won a Best Actress Oscar for her role in Silver Linings Playbook in 2012, will be up against Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Rampling, Saoirse Ronan and Brie Larson at the Academy Awards on Sunday.

- WENN