Hopkins with Silence of the Lambs co-star Jodie Foster

According to latest research, the Silence of the Lambs star earned £15m last year - but it was £6.5m less than in the previous year.

Port Talbot-born Hopkins, commands $20m a film, and his earnings in the past year were largely derived from his latest outing as the cannibal doctor Hannibal Lecter in Red Dragon.

Despite his wealth, however, he only makes the 48th spot in the Sunday Times Pay List, which is published this weekend.

The list differs from the Sunday Times Rich List because it is based on wages or other earnings as opposed to accumulated or inherited wealth.

Wealthiest Welsh Sir Anthony Hopkins (actor)£15m Andrew Vicari (artist)£10m David Sullivan (publisher)£5.8m David McLean (property and construction) £5.6m Gwenan Williams (lottery winner) £5.5m Catherine Zeta Jones (actor) £5m Ryan Giggs (footballer) £3.95m Peter Cohen (businessman) £2.06m Craig Bellamy (footballer) £1.75m

This year's top-earner is Sir Paul McCartney, who grossed £44m.

Runner-up to Hopkins in the Wales list is another Port Talbot-born multi-millionaire, with earnings of £10m.

Artist Andrew Vicari who has made most of his money in Saudi Arabia, where he has been the official painter to the royal family since 1974. He is still largely unknown in Britain as he has lived in Monte Carlo for the past 25 years.

He has homes in Paris, Riyadh, London and Cannes and Picasso's old villa in the south of France, which he bought for £3m.

His earnings have also decreased from last year, although with sketches priced at £100,000 at a recent exhibition in Wales he will not be feeling the pinch.

Catherine Zeta Jones' income has dropped significantly from last year's £20m to £5m, following the birth of her Carys, her second child, in April, when she reduced her workload.

She now ranks at 6th place in Wales' top earners. The Oscar-winning actress still retains her $2m-a-year contract with Elizabeth Arden and she has a $1m advertisement deal with T-mobile.

Overall top earner : Mc Cartney

Although the film she had planned to make with her husband, Michael Douglas, never got off the ground, she will have pocketed a very healthy signing-on fee for the Steven Spielberg film Terminal, which stars Tom Hanks, and began shooting in September.

Labelled "the new George Best" in 1991, Manchester United's Ryan Giggs has firmly established himself in his own right in the ensuing decade.

He increased his earnings to £3.95m this year, swelled by income from his six-year deal with Reebok, from which he stands to earn £6.5m in total.

Giggs earns £50,000 a week (£2.6m a year) from Manchester United and has been instrumental in carrying Wales to the brink of the finals of Euro 2004.

Other endorsements, which include his recent appearance in the Pepsi Gunfight at the OK Corral shoot-out commercial, push his income up to £3.95m.