List of highest paid American television stars

This is a list of people starring on American TV that are the highest paid, based on various sources of news and reliable websites. This list includes the top paid TV stars, the Network primetime salaries per episode, which includes stars from Two and a Half Men and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. It also includes the highest salaries per year which include Tyra Banks, Maury Povich and Ellen DeGeneres, and the top paid news presenters, with some people of the Today Show and the CBS Evening News.

Network primetime salaries per episode

Name	Program	Role	Salary	Year	References
Charlie Sheen	Two and a Half Men	Charlie Harper	$1.8 million	2010-2011	[1]
Kelsey Grammer	Frasier	Dr Frasier Crane	$1.6 million	2002-2004	[2]
Ray Romano	Everybody Loves Raymond	Raymond Barone	$1.7 million	2003-2005	[3]
Tim Allen	Home Improvement	Tim Taylor	$1.25 million	1998-1999	[1]
James Gandolfini	The Sopranos	Tony Soprano	$1 million	2006-2007	[4]
Jennifer Aniston	Friends	Rachel Green	$1 million	2002–2004	[5]
Courteney Cox		Monica Geller
Lisa Kudrow		Phoebe Buffay
Matt LeBlanc		Joey Tribbiani
David Schwimmer		Dr. Ross Geller
Matthew Perry		Chandler Bing
Jerry Seinfeld	Seinfeld	Jerry Seinfeld	$1 million +
Helen Hunt	Mad About You	Jamie Buchman	$1 million	1998-99	[6]
Paul Reiser		Paul Buchman
Johnny Galecki	The Big Bang Theory	Leonard Hofstadter	$1 million	2014-2017	[7]
Jim Parsons		Sheldon Cooper
Kaley Cuoco		Penny
Ashton Kutcher	Two and a Half Men	Walden Schmidt	$755,000		[1]
Drew Carey	The Drew Carey Show	Drew Carey	$750,000	2001-2004	[1]
Lauren Graham	Gilmore Girls	Lorelai Gilmore	$750,000	2016	[8]
Alexis Bledel		Rory Gilmore
Kunal Nayyar	The Big Bang Theory	Rajesh Koothrapalli	$750,000	2014-2017	[1]
Simon Helberg		Howard Wolowitz
David Hyde Pierce	Frasier	Dr Niles Crane	$750,000		[9]
Hugh Laurie	House M.D	Dr Gregory House	$700,000
Julia Louis-Dreyfus	Seinfeld	Elaine Benes	$600,000	1997-1998	[1]
Jason Alexander		George Costanza
Michael Richards		Cosmo Kramer
Jon Cryer	Two and a Half Men	Alan Harper

Morning top paid salary per year

Name	Program	Role	Salary	Year	References
Judith Sheindlin	Judge Judy	Judge	$47 million		[10]
Barbara Walters	The View	Host	$13 million		[11]
Bob Barker	The Price Is Right	Game show host	$10 million		[12]
Maury Povich	Maury	Host	$7 million (plus profits)		[13]
Ellen DeGeneres	The Ellen DeGeneres Show	Host	$5 million		[14][15]
Jerry Springer	The Jerry Springer Show	Host	$3 million - 4 million		[16]
Tyra Banks	The Tyra Banks Show	Host	$3.5 million		[17][18]

Top paid news presenters

Name	Program	Role	Salary	Year	References
Katie Couric	CBS Evening News	News anchor	$15 million		[19]
Matt Lauer	Today	Anchor	$21 million		[20]
Meredith Vieira	Today	Anchor	$15 million		[21][22]

Gallery

• Highest Paid American Television Stars
• 

  Oprah Winfrey
• 

  Phil McGraw
• 

  Charlie Sheen
• 

  Ray Romano

References

1. "The Highest Paid TV Actors Of All Time Per Per Episode - UPROXX". UPROXX.
2. "Kelsey Grammer: NBC's $1.6 Million Man". PEOPLE.com.
3. "For $50 Mil, Producers Love Raymond". PEOPLE.com.
4. "Sopranos actors end pay dispute". Retrieved 27 October 2016.
5. Carter, Bill (February 12, 2002). "'Friends' Deal Will Pay Each Of Its 6 Stars $22 Million". The New York Times.
6. Flint, Joe (April 10, 1998). "Mad Money". Entertainment Weekly.
7. Rice, Lynette (April 8, 2014). "Big Bang Theory Actors Set to Earn $1 Million an Episode". People. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
8. "Salaries of TV's Top Talent Revealed". Retrieved 27 October 2016.
9. Acuna, Kirsten (September 25, 2012). "The Highest-Paid Actors On TV This Fall". Business Insider. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
10. "TVs Highest Paid Star? Judge Judy (by a mile)". newser.com. Aug 22, 2013.
11. "Barbara Walters". Forbes.com. June 14, 2007. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
12. "Spotlights Monologues extended". Toronto Star. January 30, 2001.
13. Deeb, Gary (September 15, 1978). "Ron Hunter and Maury Povich find there's more to life than Channel 5". Chicago Tribune.
14. Kinon, Cristina (October 1, 2007). "Oprah tops Forbes TV list with $260 million salary". Chicago Tribune.
15. "Oprah's $260M salary proves talk isn't cheap". CBC News. July 25, 2007.
16. "Springer's denies knowledge about show's business details". June 5, 1999.
17. http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-3216709/Everybody-loves-raises-LIFE-ARTS.html[]
18. http://www.thestreet.com/p/newsanalysis/sbmanagement/10380979_2.html[]
19. Carter, Bill (December 20, 2001). "Katie Couric Signs NBC Contract Said to Be Largest in TV News". The New York Times. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
20. Starr, Michael (May 2, 2002). "Matt Lauer Stays for Another 'Day'". Fox News. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
21. Durden, Douglas (September 14, 2006). "'Today' gives new host a very warm welcome". Richmond Times.
22. "Vieira chosen as Couric's 'Today' successor". NBC. April 7, 2006. Retrieved September 10, 2014.

External links