Judge Judy Sheindlin, the 73-year-old who presides over a televised courtroom, is the highest-paid personality on television, earning a staggering USD $47 million a year.
Variety has released the salaries of TV’s talent, and there is a whole lot of money being dished out.
Judge Judy isn’t the only one pocketing some decent coin in US’s TV land. Topping the list of comedies and sitcoms are the three big stars of The Big Bang Theory – Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki, who each take home a cool $1 million per episode.
The well-paid stars of The Big Bang Theory. PHOTO: Getty
There’s a fair old slump then down to the next biggest paid comedic star, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson who earns $400,000 per episode of HBO’s Ballers. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is almost poverty line in comparison taking home just $250,000 per episode of Veep. Gina Rodriguez, the star of Jane the Virgin gets a paltry $60,000 an episode.
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Ellen DeGeneres earns about $20 million a year.
In Judge Judy’s category, she is almost double her nearest salary competitor, the Today host Matt Lauer, who earns an estimated $22m-$25m a year. Globally adored Ellen DeGeneres gets $20 million a year.
In the world of drama TV, the Gilmore Girls chicks, Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, are top of the class, take $750,000 an episode, while NCIS’s Mark Harmon gets $525,000 an episode. The big names of Game of Thrones, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke, each get $500,000 an episode.
Our own Nicole Kidman is earning $350,000 an episode for her role in the series from the best-selling Australian book Big Little Lies.
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