mindy-kaling
When it comes to television, streaming services and premium channels (like HBO or FX) are increasingly taking up more and more of our attention, as regular networks tend to churn out safer, less experimental content for the masses. However, even as our attention gravitates toward this more hard-hitting, risqué television, there is still serious money in network shows. Networks offer one of the most sought-after things in any job in any industry: stability.
Comedies like The Big Bang Theory (CBS) or Modern Family (ABC) stay on the air with 24-episode long seasons for years and years, with a relatively healthy audience. This equals stable advertisers, and therefore some pretty sweet paychecks. These two TV shows, along with other tried and tested formulas like Law & Order or NCIS tend to have a cast of starring actors with the highest salaries: not only do these actors have the leverage to ask for more money, but the TV networks feel secure enough to sign off on the multi-million dollar packages.
Plus, in this day and age, most of these mega-stars have more than one source of income. If you’re a truly savvy celebrity, you’ll parlay the sizable platform and audience you’ve acquired from starring in a TV network show and score licensing deals or endorsements, or even start your own company.
This list isn’t without its shortcomings, though. You’ll notice that while there are plenty of women on here, their combined earnings come in at around $156.5 million, while the combined earnings of the men comes in at $185 million. TV actresses like Sofia Vergara, Kaley Cuoco, and Julie Bowen have healthy paychecks and earn as much as their counterparts, but that says more about the power they wield in their specific positions than about the state of women in the industry—not to mention that there are just five actors of color on this list.
The numbers seen in this list are based on the period from June 2016 to June 2017. Forbes takes a number of factors into consideration to come up with these numbers: salary estimates from Nielsen, Box Office Mojo, and IMDB, as well as interviews with industry insiders. Note that these figures are pre-tax, and any fees for agents, managers, lawyers, or anything else have not been deducted.
Without further ado, here are the highest paid TV actors.
20. Pauley Perrette
Salary: $8,500,000
Show: NCIS
Role: Abby Scout
Although $8.5 million isn’t exactly chump change, it’s telling that there’s such a huge difference between Pauley Perrette’s salary and that of her NCIS co-star, Mark Harmon. There are still plenty of equality strides to be made on a show that’s been around since before the iPhone and Facebook.
19. Robin Wright
Salary: $9,000,000
Show: House of Cards
Role: Claire Underwood
Wright was always the true star of House of Cards. With that said, we sincerely hope that Wright’s salary has shot up now that Kevin Spacey has been removed from the show. Claire will finally be the official queen of the Netflix political drama’s final season, and we sure hope her paychecks reflect not just her increased role, but Netflix’s regret for not doing this sooner.
18. Priyanka Chopra
Salary: $10,000,000
Show: Quantico
Role: Alex Parrish
Priyanka Chopra became the first South Asian actor to headline an American network drama series when she signed on to star in ABC’s Quantico. That accounts for a chunk of her salary, but she’s also kept busy with a series of other projects, both in Hollywood and her native Bollywood. In India in 2016, Chopra starred in Jai Gangaajal and produced Ventilator. Then in 2017, she brought it back to the U.S. and starred in Baywatch, alongside Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron.
17. Kerry Washington
Salary: $11,000,000
Show: Scandal
Role: Olivia Pope
Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal has been going strong since 2012, keeping social media and critics buzzing with each new season. While Shonda is pure genius, Kerry Washington has undoubtedly had plenty to do with the show’s success. She also played the lead role in Confirmation, released in 2016, for which she received both an Emmy nomination and a Critics' Choice Award nomination. Since August 2016, Washington has been producing the ABC show Patrol.
16. Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Salary: $11,000,000
Show: Modern Family
Role: Mitchell Pritchett
Jesse Tyler Ferguson has received an impressive five consecutive Emmy Awards nominations for his role Mitchell on Modern Family.
15. Ed O'Neill
Salary: $12,000,000
Show: Modern Family
Role: Jay Pritchett
Ed O’Neill’s life’s work has essentially been playing sitcom fathers: first it was Al Bundy on FOX’s Married… with Children, and now it’s Jay Pritchett on Modern Family. It can be argued that he has the added bonus of being married to Sofia Vergara on TV.
14. Kevin Spacey
Salary: $12,000,000
Show: House of Cards
Role: Frank Underwood
Before he was outright cancelled, Spacey was making quite a living for himself on Netflix’s House of Cards. Spacey starred in the show and executive produced it, explains his healthy paycheck.
13. Julie Bowen
Salary: $12,000,000
Show: Modern Family
Role: Claire Dunphy
The entire Modern Family cast is also entitled to a portion of the series’s back-end, which is generally understood to be a percentage of the revenue generated after the show airs. Plus, some stars, like Julie Bowen, earn a little more by appearing in guest roles even despite their busy shooting schedule. Bowen appeared in The Price is Right, Family Guy, and The Mindy Project in 2017.
12. Eric Stonestreet
Salary: $12,500,000
Show: Modern Family
Role: Cameron Tucker
The entire Modern Family adult cast negotiated together for the same salary— around $350,000 per episode—until September 2017. The cast recently renegotiated, and they are now reportedly set to make $500,000 per episode. Eric Stonestreet’s slightly elevated 2017 salary in comparison to his other Modern Family castmates can probably be chalked up to his participation as the voice of Duke in The Secret Life of Pets in 2016, his role as Kenneth Duberstein in Confirmation, his appearance on The F Word, and his gig as The Toy Box host since 2017.
11. Mariska Hargitay
Salary: $12,500,000
Show: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Role: Olivia Benson
Mariska Hargitay is the face of Law & Order: SVU, so it’s no wonder she has the leverage to negotiate this kind of salary. Long-running network shows like Law & Order provide a kind of security net for actors, which is why you see their actors on these lists so often, you aren’t necessarily dying to tune in every week.
10. Ellen Pompeo
Salary: $13,000,000
Show: Grey’s Anatomy
Role: Meredith Grey
In a February interview, Ellen Pompeo penned a badass essay for The Hollywood Reporter in which she openly discussed her salary negotiations in the name of transparency and equality in a male-dominated industry. According to CNBC, Pompeo now makes $20 million for her role on the show, making her the highest-paid actress on a primetime drama.
9. Mindy Kaling
Salary: $13,000,000
Show: The Mindy Project
Role: Mindy Lahiri
Mindy’s eponymous show—which she created, wrote, produced, and starred in—ended in November 2017, but she has a host of other projects slated for production. She stars in Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle In Time and also created a new NBC show, Champions, which appeared in March 2018. Kaling will also write, produce, and guest-star in the show regularly.
8. Ty Burrell
Salary: $13,500,000
Show: Modern Family
Role: Phil Dunphy
All of the adult stars of Modern Family appear on this list, and they all earn the same amount (around $350,000 per episode), plus profit participation, because they negotiated their salaries together. Ty Burrell comes in second to Sofia Vergara, thanks to his lucrative endorsement deals with Gain and The National Association of Realtors, as well as his roles in both Storks and Finding Dory in 2016.
7. Mark Harmon
Salary: $19,000,000
Show: NCIS
Role: Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Harmon also serves as an executive producer on NCIS, which is a surefire way to add a healthy amount of fat to a starring actor’s already healthy salary. You’ll notice that many actors on this list take advantage of that opportunity: they’re already on set, so why not, right?
6. Kunal Nayyar
Salary: $25,000,000
Show: The Big Bang Theory
Role: Raj Koothrapali
Kunal Nayyar is notable not just for his massive salary and top 10 spot on the list: he’s the only actor of color in the top 20 highest paid actors in the television industry. Sofia Vergara and Mindy Kaling join him as the only actresses of color.
5. Simon Helberg
Salary: $26,000,000
Show: The Big Bang Theory
Role: Howard Wolowitz
It’s unsurprising that the stars of such a highly rated network comedy get paid so much per episode; it’s also comforting to know that each of the five stars makes the same amount. May we all strive to land a gig on a major network comedy.
4. Kaley Cuoco
Salary: $26,000,000
Show: The Big Bang Theory
Role: Penny
As the woman with the second-highest salary in the business and in her male-dominated show, Kaley Cuoco is not to be dismissed; Forbes estimates that she earns $26 million, which is pretty impressive considering its male-heavy cast. Although Cuoco is not the only woman on the show, castmates Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch earn significantly less. But Cuoco, along with her four male co-stars, have each taken a $100,000 pay cut so that the other two women can have higher salaries. While certainly noble, that cut likely will not make a huge dent in Cuoco’s bottom line.
3. Johnny Galecki
Salary: $26,500,000
Show: The Big Bang Theory
Role: Leonard Hofstadter
Johnny Galecki, like his castmates on this list, makes $1 million per episode for a 24-episode season, plus a cut of the show’s profits.
2. Jim Parsons
Salary: $27,500,000
Show: The Big Bang Theory
Role: Sheldon Cooper
Jim Parsons earns the most out of The Big Bang Theory co-stars, due in large part to his side projects. In addition to Big Bang, he produces and narrates Young Sheldon, a CBS spin-off about a young Sheldon Cooper, which debuted in 2017. He also had a role in 2016’s Hidden Figures and has done a few gigs with Sirius radio.
1. Sofia Vergara
Salary: $41,500,000
Show: Modern Family
Role: Gloria Delgado-Pritchett
Sofia Vergara knows exactly what she’s doing. She’s been the top earning actress in TV for six years now, and it’s because of her businesswoman mindset: aside from her $1 million per episode salary with Modern Family, she’s got licensing deals with Rooms To Go, Avon, and SharkNinja as well as endorsements for Pepsi, CoverGirl, and Head & Shoulders.