When you watch your favourite show, keep in mind that its big stars earn your yearly salary … in mere minutes!
Ed O’Neill
Playing Modern Family’s grumpy patriarch has made Ed the show’s highest-earning cast member. Now commanding $222,000 an episode, plus a share of profits, the former Married… With Children star is worth $44m. We can guess what Al Bundy would say…
Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen and Eric Stonestreet
Following a salary stand-off, this star trio last year received a whopping increase from $72,000 to $194,000 each an episode. Julie now calls a renovated ranch her home and Sofia owns luxury properties in the US and Colombia – which she’s helped pay for with her many endorsements.
The kids are all right
They may be young, but there’s nothing pint-sized about the earnings of these sitcom stars. After month-long negotiations, the Modern Family kids – Rico Rodriguez (Manny), Ariel Winter (Alex) and Sarah Hyland (Haley) – each saw their salaries tripled to $77,000 an episode. But even though she’s now rich, life is far from easy for Ariel, who has been living with her older sister since late last year, after being removed from her mum’s home amid abuse allegations.
To find out the huge sums other screen favourites are paid, see this week’s issue of Woman’s Day, on sale Monday, August 26 2013.