Jim Parsons of “Big Bang Theory” has recently been crowned as the highest-paid television actor of 2015. The actor raked in as much as $29 million within a span of one year.
Forbes came up with a list of the highest-paid TV stars of 2015, with 11 out of 15 actors starring in comedy shows.
At No. 2 is Johnny Galecki, Parson’s co-star on “Big Bang Theory,” who earned $27 million. Several other cast members from the comedy sitcom also became big-earners as the show continues to gain momentum among viewers. Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar of “Big Bang” are tied at the third spot by earning $20 million each from June 1, 2014 to June 1, 2015. Parsons and his co-stars Galecki and Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting signed into giant contracts to continue working on the “Big Bang Theory.” Each actor reportedly gets paid $1 million for each episode, This is not including the 1 percent cut they get from the show’s back end profit. Howard Wolowitz and Raj Koothrappali allegedly also upped their salaries from $100,000 per episode to a whopping $800,000 per show.
The money on the list consists of the actors’ earnings from their TV appearances as well as those made outside of television, such as starring in advertisements, appearing on promos and talk shows, or other activities. Parsons, in particular, frequently appeared on commercials and acted in several Broadway shows. He plays Sheldon Cooper on “Big Bang Theory.”
Other shows also had actors enjoying increasing per-episode salaries over the years, such as “Modern Family,” “Two and a Half Men” and “Everybody Loves Raymond.”
The full Forbes list of highest paid actors, and their respective salaries, is shown below:
1. Jim Parsons: $29 million
2. Johnny Galecki: $27 million
3. Mark Harmon: $20 million
3. Simon Helberg: $20 million
3. KunalNayyar: $20 million
3. Ashton Kutcher: $20 million
7. Jon Cryer: $15 million
7. Ray Romano: $15 million
9. Patrick Dempsey: $12 million
9. Simon Baker: $12 million
11. Ty Burrell: $11.5 million
12. Jesse Tyler Ferguson: $11 million
13. Ed O'Neill: $10.5 million
13. Eric Stonestreet: $10.5 million
15. Kevin Spacey: $9.5 million
Some of the noteworthy individuals in the list include Ray Romano of “Everybody Loves Raymond”, and Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer of “Two and a Half Men”. In 2014, Kutcher and Cryer were at the No. 1 spot, but the show only featured 15 episodes in the new season, compared to 22 episodes in the past year, before going off the air.
Forbes also recently released a list of its highest-paid Hollywood actors, with Robert Downey, Jr. topping against with $80 million.
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