Ashton Kutcher got a pretty sweet salary to take over for Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men. Specifically, a reported $700,000 per episode, which made him the highest-paid sitcom actor on television by 2013.
For the first three seasons of The Big Bang Theory, Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, and Kaley Cuoco each made $60,000 per episode (or about $3.7 million per season). But as the show’s popularity grew, so did their salaries. In season 4, the trio renegotiated their salaries to $200,000 per episode ($4.8 million per season) and then went on to make $250,000 per episode in season 5 ($6 million total), $300,000 per episode in season 6 ($7.2 million total), and $350,000 per episode in season 7 ($8.4 million total).
We can all agree this is a lot, but we’re not done yet! Heading into season 8, the core cast renegotiated to $1 million per episode for the next three seasons ($72 million total). But interestingly, they then took a pay cut from $1 million to $900,000 per episode to help secure their costars’ raises. Love to see some collective bargaining.
Kunal Nayyar and Simon Helberg earned $800,000 per episode of The Big Bang Theory at their peak, meaning they were some of the highest-paid actors on TV despite not being the show’s “leads.”
Soooo, Drew Carey got a reported $750,000 per episode for The Drew Carey Show. Who knew! The ’90s were wild! Oh, and let’s not forget that Drew also hosted The Price Is Right, which he reportedly got $12.5 million per year for. A TV show title has never been more accurate.
During the first season of the show, the cast of Friends made “just” $22,500 per episode (emphasis on those quotes). Obvi, the show became super popular and the cast renegotiated their salaries—to the tune of $1 million per episode for the last couple seasons.
Kelsey Grammer wasn’t the only one making $$$ from Frasier. His on-screen brother, David Hyde Pierce (a.k.a. Niles), also negotiated himself $1 million per episode for the final two seasons, or about $44 million total.
’90s kids grew up with Home Improvement lurking in the background, and Tim Allen made major money to play Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor. Specifically, $1.25 million per episode at Home Improvement‘s peak of popularity in 1997, likely making him the highest-paid actor on TV at the time.
Can’t talk about overpaid ’90s sitcom stars without bringing up Ray Romano, who was making $800,000 per episode by season 5 of Everybody Loves Raymond—and a reported $1.75 million per episode for the last two seasons of his show. So, yeah, he’s easily one of the highest-paid (if not the highest paid?) actors of all time.
Jerry actually wasn’t earning top-tier TV income until around season 4 of Seinfeld, when he started getting $100,000 per episode. And it only went up from there. He got $500,000 an episode for seasons 7 and 8 and hit the $1 million per episode mark for season 9.
Another star who benefited from the super-high salaries of pre-streaming sitcoms in the ’90s? That’d be Roseanne Barr, who was making a reported $875,000 per episode during her show’s final season. The Roseanne reboot premiered in 2018—11 years after the original series finale—only to be canceled by ABC months later, after the titular star posted a racist tweet.
Time for a quick pivot away from rich TV stars! Julia Roberts is one of the highest-paid actors around and is being paid a whopping $25 million to star in the upcoming Netflix family drama Leave the World Behind—giving her one of the highest movie star salaries of 2021.
Tom Cruise was the highest-paid actor of 2022 thanks to Top Gun: Maverick, which has earned him $100 million. Though a lot of that was thanks to backend points!
Jim Carrey took home $20 million for The Cable Guy in 1996, which “stunned Hollywood,” according to Variety.
Wondering what Netflix paid Daniel Craig to star in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (which is streaming now, BTW) and the upcoming third installment? Oh, a casual $100 million, or $50 million per film. Normal stuff.
The Rock is getting $30 million to star in Amazon’s Red One alongside Chris Evans, though Variety says this could increase to $50 million when his backend is finalized.
Kay, so Leo got a reported $30 million for Don’t Look Up …
And J.Law got $25 million. And though a lot of money, it’s a pretty notable pay discrepancy.
However! J.Law was asked about it and had this to say: “Look, Leo brings in more box office than I do. I’m extremely fortunate and happy with my deal. But in other situations, what I have seen—and I’m sure other women in the workforce have seen as well—is that it’s extremely uncomfortable to inquire about equal pay. And if you do question something that appears unequal, you’re told it’s not gender disparity but they can’t tell you what exactly it is.”
Denzel got a cool $40 million to star in The Little Things, earning one of the top movie salaries of 2021.
Netflix went ahead and forked over $20 million to Ryan Gosling for The Gray Man (a lot more than the $12.5 million he’s making for Barbie, BTW).
Meanwhile, Will Smith made $40 million to star in King Richard, another top salary of 2021!
Interestingly, Mark Wahlberg is still commanding more than Ryan Gosling. He was in 2021, at least, when he took home $30 million for Spenser Confidential—a movie I’d never heard of until this moment.
Try not to start screaming into the nearest void, but RDJ made a reported $75 million for Iron Man 3. That’s all.
Adam Sandler is probably making more money from Netflix than anyone else. His original four-movie deal earned him $250 million, and he recently signed another contract to extend the deal for an undisclosed amount.
So, Sandy earned $20 million upfront for Gravity, but apparently, her backend salary was where she really made money. The Hollywood Reporter claims that at the end of the day, she probably made more like $70 million on the film.
MBB made $10 million for Enola Holmes 2, which isn’t as much as some actors on this list, BUT—according to the Daily Mail—is the highest upfront salary an actor under 20 has taken home.
Johnny got $35 million upfront for starring in Stranger Tides, which even he admitted was probably too much.
Jennifer Aniston makes $2 million per episode to appear on The Morning Show, which, as we know, is literally double her Friends salary in the later seasons.
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