This is a list of people starring on American television that are the highest-paid, based on verified sources for each person.
Name | Program | Role | Salary | Year | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Simon Cowell | The X Factor | Judge | $75 million | 2012–13 | [27] |
Ariana Grande | The Voice | Coach | $25 million | 2021 | [28] |
Katy Perry | American Idol | Judge | 2017–18 | [29] | |
Jennifer Lopez | Judge | $20 million | 2011–12 | [30] | |
Christina Aguilera | The Voice | Coach | 2011–16 | [31] | |
Mariah Carey | American Idol | Judge | $18 million | 2012–13 | [32] |
Ryan Seacrest | American Idol | Host | $15 million | 2013–16 | [27] |
Britney Spears | The X Factor | Judge | 2012 | [32] | |
Miley Cyrus | The Voice | Coach | $13 million | 2016–17 | [33] |
Adam Levine | 2016–18 | [33] | |||
Blake Shelton | 2016–18 | [33] | |||
Kelly Clarkson | $12 million | 2018 | [34] | ||
Shakira | 2013 | [35] | |||
Gwen Stefani | 2017 | [36] | |||
Nicki Minaj | American Idol | Judge | 2012–13 | [37] |
Name | Program | Role | Salary | Year | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ellen DeGeneres | The Ellen DeGeneres Show | Host | $50 million | 2017 | [38] |
Judith Sheindlin | Judge Judy | Judge | $47 million | 2013 | [39] |
Barbara Walters | The View | Host | $13 million | 2007 | [40] |
Bob Barker | The Price Is Right | Game show host | $10 million | 2001 | [41] |
Name | Program | Role | Salary | Year | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Matt Lauer | Today | Anchor | $21 million | [42] | |
Meredith Vieira | Today | Anchor | $15 million | [43] [44] | |
Katie Couric | CBS Evening News | News anchor | $15 million | [45] |
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon is an American actress and producer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006 and 2015, and Forbes listed her among the world's 100 most powerful women in 2019 and 2021. In 2021, Forbes named her the world's highest earning actress, and in 2023, she was named one of the richest women in America with an estimated net worth of $440 million.
Roseanne Cherrie Barr, also known mononymously as Roseanne, is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy before gaining acclaim in the television sitcom Roseanne. She won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her work on the show.
Roseanne is an American television sitcom created by Matt Williams that originally aired on ABC from October 18, 1988, to May 20, 1997, and briefly revived from March 27, 2018, to May 22, 2018. The show stars Roseanne Barr as Roseanne Conner and revolves around her family in the fictional town of Lanford, Illinois. Receiving generally positive reviews for its realistic portrayal of a working-class American family, the series reached No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings from 1989 to 1990 in its second season.
Christina María Aguilera is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Recognized as an influential figure in music and having received widespread public interest, she is noted for her four-octave vocal range, use of the whistle register, and incorporating controversial themes into her music. Referred to as the "Voice of a Generation", she was also named a Disney Legend, in recognition for her contributions to The Walt Disney Company.
John Stephen Goodman is an American actor. He rose to prominence in television before becoming an acclaimed and popular film actor. Goodman has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Vanity Fair has called Goodman "among our very finest actors."
Katherine Anne Couric is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, Wake Up Call. From 2013 to 2017, she was Yahoo's Global News Anchor. Couric has been a television host at all of the Big Three television networks in the United States, and in her early career she was an assignment editor for CNN. She worked for NBC News from 1989 to 2006, CBS News from 2006 to 2011, and ABC News from 2011 to 2014. She was the first solo female anchor of a major network (CBS) evening news program. In 2021, she appeared as a guest host for the game show Jeopardy!, the first woman to host the flagship American version of the show in its history.
Judge Judy is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudicated real-life small-claims disputes within a simulated courtroom set. Prior to the proceedings, all involved parties signed arbitration contracts agreeing to Sheindlin's ruling. The show aired in first-run syndication. As it was during its active years in production, it continues to be distributed by CBS Media Ventures in syndication, now in reruns that still draw notably high ratings.
Judith Susan Sheindlin, known professionally as Judge Judy, is an American attorney, court-show arbitrator, media personality, television producer, and former prosecutor and Manhattan family court judge.
Ellen Kathleen Pompeo is an American actress. One of the world's highest-paid actors since 2017, she has made multiple appearances on Forbes' year-end lists. Her accolades include a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination.
John Mark Galecki is an American actor. The accolades he has received include a Satellite Award, alongside nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and six Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Ryan John Seacrest is an American television presenter and producer. Seacrest co-hosted and served as executive producer of Live with Kelly and Ryan, and has hosted other media including American Idol, American Top 40, and On Air with Ryan Seacrest. He became co-host of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in 2005, and became the sole host following Clark's death in 2012.
Jennifer Shrader Lawrence is an American actress and producer. Lawrence is known for starring in both action film franchises and independent dramas, and her films have grossed over $6 billion worldwide. The world's highest-paid actress in 2015 and 2016, she appeared in Time's 100 most influential people in the world list in 2013 and the Forbes Celebrity 100 list from 2013 to 2016.
James Joseph Parsons is an American actor. From 2007 to 2019, Parsons played Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. He has received various awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy. From 2015 to 2018, Forbes named him the world's highest-paid television actor.
Whitney Cummings is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, producer, director, and podcaster.
The Voice is an American singing reality competition television series that premiered on NBC on April 26, 2011. Based on the original The Voice of Holland and part of the Voice franchise, it has aired 25 seasons and aims to find unsigned singing talent contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. Singers must be at least 13 years of age to compete.
The Voice is a reality talent show. The series is part of the franchise The Voice and is based on a similar competition format in the Netherlands, The Voice of Holland. The show is hosted by Carson Daly, with Alison Haislip serving as the backstage and social networking correspondent, and the coaches, all well-known musicians, were Christina Aguilera, CeeLo Green, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine and Blake Shelton. The inaugural season premiered April 26, 2011, and ended on June 29, 2011, with the live finale.
The tenth and final season of the American television sitcom Roseanne follows the Conners, a working-class family, struggling to get by on a limited household income in their home at 714 Delaware Street in the drab fictional mid-state exurb of Lanford, Illinois. The season was produced by Carsey-Werner Television, with Roseanne Barr, Bruce Helford, Whitney Cummings, Sara Gilbert, Tom Werner, and Tony Hernandez serving as executive producers.
The Conners is an American television sitcom created by Matt Williams for ABC as a direct continuation of the series Roseanne. The series is produced by Werner Entertainment, with Bruce Helford serving as executive producer and features actors John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson, Michael Fishman, Emma Kenney, Ames McNamara, Jayden Rey and Jay R. Ferguson.
First-dollar gross is a practice in filmmaking in which a participant receives a percentage of the gross box-office revenue, starting from a film's first day of release. The participant begins sharing in the revenue from the first ticket sale, not waiting until the film studio turns a profit. It is a film finance and distribution term used primarily in the United States film industry. In France, as of September 2003, one condition for filmmakers to get government support is that money must be reimbursed on the first-dollar gross basis. First-dollar gross has become a rare arrangement, and compensation has increasingly shifted away from first-dollar gross to back-end compensation. Some contracts define "first dollar" as a net figure after certain expense deductions rather than a true distributor's gross.