Sofia Vergara of "Modern Family" and Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting of "The Big Bang Theory" are the highest paid actresses on TV,
Forbes announced this week.
Each of the comedic actresses made $28.5 million apiece pretax between June 2014 and June 2015. Vergara has been the highest-paid TV actress for four consecutive years, and Cuoco-Sweeting reportedly climbed up to share the top spot by negotiating a reported $1 million per-episode salary last year.
Both actresses also padded their income with lucrative side deals. Vergara has become a spokesperson for CoverGirl as well as Head and Shoulders, and continues to run talent management and entertainment-marketing firm Latin World Entertainment. Meanwhile, Cuoco-Sweeting has lined up an endorsement deal with Priceline.com.
Forbes reported that 15 TV actresses made more than $5 million between June of last year and this year.
Ellen Pompeo of "Grey’s Anatomy," Mariska Hargitay of "Law & Order: SVU," and Julianna Margulies of "The Good Wife" are veterans of the over-$5 million club, while Vergara’s "Modern Family" co-star Julie Bowen, Emily Deschanel of "Bones," Pauley Perrette of "NCIS," and Robin Wright of Netflix's "House of Cards," are newcomers to the list.
Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling, Kerry Washington, Patricia Heaton, Tina Fey, and Zooey Deschanel also remained on the list from last year.
Vergara, Kaling, and Washington are the only minority actresses on the list. Among broadcast comedy and drama leads, "minorities were underrepresented by a factor of 7 to 1, while cable shows underrepresented minorities by more than 2 to 1," said Forbes. Relatedly, female actors continue to make less money than their male counterparts.
In a related report,
USA Today wrote that "'Big Bang' star Jim Parsons topped this year's list of highest-paid TV actors with $29 million, followed by co-stars Johnny Galecki in second place (with $27 million) and a tie between Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar for third at $20 million each."
Movie stars continue to make more money than TV stars, overall. Jennifer Lawrence, this year’s top-paid film actress, made $52 million, for instance.
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