• Tweet

 BIG EARNER: Laurence Fishburne from CSI earns over R2.5 million - per episode! 

Oprah Winfrey, Hugh Laurie, Charlie Sheen, Matt Lauer, Ryan Seacrest are among TV's highest-paid performers in various categories, according to a newly released breakdown of star salaries from TV Guide.

Indispensable performers like the Sheens and Snookis ("Jersey Shore") of the world continue to leverage salary bumps. Here's a select sample of some of the top performers from TV Guide's survey.

Drama actors (per episode):

• Hugh Laurie (House) $400,000+
• Christopher Meloni & Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU) $395,000 (each)
• David Caruso (CSI: Miami) $375,000
• Marg Helgenberger (CSI) $375,000
• Laurence Fishburne (CSI) $350,000
• Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) $200,000
• Nathan Fillion (Castle) $100,000
• Jon Hamm (Mad Men) $100,000
• Alex O'Loughlin (Hawaii Five-0) $100,000

Talk show hosts (per year):

• Oprah Winfrey $315 million
• Judge Judy Sheindlin $45 million
• David Letterman (The Late Show) $28 million
• Jay Leno (The Tonight Show) $25 million
• Conan O'Brien (The Conan O'Brien Show) $10 million

Reality TV (per year):

• Ryan Seacrest (American Idol) $15 million
• Joel McHale (The Soup) $2 million
• Piers Morgan (America's Got Talent) $2 million
• Kate Gosselin (Kate Plus Eight) $250,000 per episode
• Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi (Jersey Shore) $30,000 per episode

Comedy actors (per episode):

• Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men) $1.25 million
• Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men) $550,000
• Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner (The Simpsons) $400,000
• Tina Fey (30 Rock) $350,000
• Jeremy Piven (Entourage) $350,000
• Steve Carell (The Office) $297,000
• Ed O'Neill (Modern Family) $100,000
• Betty White (Hot in Cleveland) $75,000

News (per year):

• Matt Lauer (Today) $16 million+
• Katie Couric (CBS) $15 million
• Bill O'Reilly (Fox News) $10 million
• Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) $7 million
• Wolf Blitzer (CNN) $3 million

Comments

• Sign in or sign up to comment

Thu May 17 06:11:34 SAST 2012 ::

Aug 12, 2010

theworm

this information is pretty useless.
It would be interesting if u found out what south Africans earned.
i want to know who is the country's best paid actor. then you will see how far behind we are compared to the world.
americans get paid the best because they know how to negotiate, studios realise the importance of the celebrity pull and also the programmes are distributed to a lot countries.
Report Abuse

Aug 12, 2010

Winzo

ka nnete Theworm, we need Mzansi's...............
Report Abuse

Aug 12, 2010

Leleni

@Winzo and @theworm...Vele man,
Report Abuse

Aug 12, 2010

Boris

South African acting salaries are reletively the same but when it comes to their extra work like Programme Directors and Events companies, people like Queen & Karabo (Generations) come tops!
Report Abuse

Aug 12, 2010

Leleni

@Boris Yah mara S'funu kwazi
Report Abuse

Aug 12, 2010

Diva

@Boris i disagree with you, R85K will never be anywhere near those amounts mentioned, remember they earn $ not R. Karabs left Generation at a salary of R85K per month. Maybe u mean Mr. President.
Report Abuse

Read all 6 comments