To state the obvious: all celebrities are rich. Unless they accidentally spent all their money—a rare, but relatable, occurrence in the world of A-listers. For the most part, though, even B-list and C-list celebrities get paid more than the rest of us can possibly imagine, and there are a few lucky people who truly have it made. Specifically, 41 of the highest-paid people in Hollywood. You know—the type of actor who Netflix and Apple TV are willing to pay tens of millions of dollars just for starring in one random movie.
Typically, the highest-paid acting roles go to veteran film stars in their 40s and 50s who have major returns. Like, if you cast Jennifer Aniston in a rom-com, you can pretty much guarantee she's going to bring in the money. Same with The Rock, Tom Cruise, Sandra Bullock, Denzel Washington, and Will Smith. But TV can also be extremely lucrative for celebs, especially if 1) They're an A-list movie star who's pivoting to TV (think Reese Witherspoon in The Morning Show or Big Little Lies), or 2) They got lucky by landing a show that just so happened to fully explode—and negotiated their contracts to north of $1 million an episode (think the cast of Friends, The Big Bang Theory, or more recently, Game of Thrones).
Check out which celebs are making the most money—and before we get started, yes ... this list is predominantly occupied by older white men who peaked in the '90s, because Hollywood is 🙃 a 🙃 mess.
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1
Kelsey Grammer on 'Frasier'
Wondering how much you make to play one of the longest-running characters on TV ever (reminder: Frasier was a Cheers spin-off)? That'd be $1.6 million per episode at the peak of the show's run, or about $38 million per season.
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2
James Gandolfini on 'The Sopranos'
James Gandolfini's Sopranos salary is a true journey. He reportedly started making around $2.5 million per season, which then doubled to $5 million per season—and then doubled again to $10 million per season. James then entered the $1 million per episode phase of his career (casual) for season six, earning $21 million total. According to Celebrity Net Worth, he gave several cast members gifts of $33,000 each as a thanks for sticking by him during contract negotiations. What. A. Champ.
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3
Charlie Sheen on 'Two and a Half Men'
You're looking at one of the highest-paid people in television history. At Two and a Half Men's peak of popularity, Charlie was reportedly making $1.25 million per episode—and that doesn't even include what he got from syndication. And reminder, this was network TV, so seasons were looooong—meaning Charlie's annual salary was as high as $48 million.
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4
Ashton Kutcher on 'Two and a Half Men'
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.
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5
The Core Cast of 'Big Bang Theory'
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.
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6
The Secondary Cast of 'The Big Bang Theory'
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."
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7
Drew Carey on 'The Drew Carey Show'
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.
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8
The Cast of 'Friends'
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.
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9
David Hyde Pierce on 'Frasier'
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.
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10
Tim Allen on 'Home Improvement'
'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.
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11
Ray Romano on 'Everybody Loves Raymond'
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.
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12
Jerry Seinfeld on 'Seinfeld'
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.
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13
Roseanne Barr on 'Roseanne'
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.
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14
Julia Roberts in 'Leave the World Behind'
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.
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15
Tom Cruise in 'Top Gun: Maverick'
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!
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16
Jim Carrey in 'The Cable Guy'
Jim Carrey took home $20 million for The Cable Guy in 1996, which "stunned Hollywood," according to Variety.
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17
Daniel Craig in the 'Knives Out' Sequels
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.
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18
Dwayne Johnson in 'Red One'
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.
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20
Jennifer Lawrence in '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."
