How Much do Actors get Paid

An Actor's 'Salary'

The top stars can ask for pretty much any amount they feel is right. They, along with their agent andother experts in this field, assess their own brand value, and the effort they are putting in, and askthe producers for that much money.

The compensation of a big actor depends on several things. Some may choose to take theircompensation after the completion of the movie, and then have nothing to do with it. Another optionwhich seasoned actors tend to choose, is to enter a profit-sharing agreement with the producers.This means that the actor may choose to take a share of the profits that the movie producers makethrough various channels, like ticket sales, merchandise sales (in case of superhero films), DVDsales, and sale of rights to TV channels. In such a case, the actor may settle for a lower salary. Thesalaries vary a lot, as the terms and conditions of signing are different. They may ask for a signing-on fee even before the shooting for the film commences.

*Figures in Million USD

Highest-Paid Actors

(Male)

Robert Downey Jr.

75

Channing Tatum

60

Hugh Jackman

55

Mark Wahlberg

52

Dwayne Johnson

46

Leonardo DiCaprio

39

Adam Sandler

37

Tom Cruise

35

Denzel Washington

33

Liam Neeson

32

Highest-Paid Actors

(Female)

Angelina Jolie

33

Jennifer Lawrence

26

Kristen Stewart

22

Jennifer Aniston

20

Emma Stone

16

Charlize Theron

15

Sandra Bullock

14

Natalie Portman

14

Mila Kunis

11

Julia Roberts

11

Highest-Paid TV Actors

(Male)

Ashton Kutcher

24

Hugh Laurie

18

Ray Romano

18

Alec Baldwin

15

Mark Harmon

15

Tim Allen

14

Jon Cryer

13

Patrick Dempsey

12

Jim Parsons

8

Johnny Galecki

8

Highest-Paid TV Actors

(Female)

Sofia Vergara

19

Kim Kardashian

18

Eva Longoria

15

Bethenny Frankel

12

Khloe Kardashian

11

Tina Fey

11

Mariska Hargitay

10

Zooey Deschanel

9

Felicity Huffman

9

Ellen Pompeo

9

As far as commercials are concerned, it again depends on the brand value of the actor and the size

of the brand that he or she endorses. The actor may also choose to take the compensation in kind,rather than in cash. This means that if an actor is endorsing a certain brand, he or she may chooseto take a part of the compensation in the form of free samples of the product being endorsed.

How Much Do New Actors Get Paid?

The numbers mentioned above may seem real tempting indeed, but unless you are a Tom Cruise or aKristen Stewart, you might wanna set your targets a LOT lower. The salary of lesser-known actorsreally depends on the rate demanded by the actors' union, called the SAG (Screen Actors Guild). TheSAG aims to protect the interests of the budding actors, and protects them from being exploited bythe producers to work for extremely low wages. They are the ones, who decide what the base salaryof an actor should be, based on which, the producers have to give the daily or weekly wages to theactors, who are performing in the movie, TV series or commercial.

Hence, if an actor chooses to be a registered member of the SAG, he stands to get a daily wage of$842 a day or $2,921 a week (2012 - 2013). While some websites give an average annual earningsfor a new actor, those figures can be very inaccurate, as the actor may or may not be employed forthe entire year. If he is amongst the select few who are employed for the full year, then even at theserates, he will have quite a good life indeed.

So, while the starting salary of an actor may not be all that great, and the chances of a full-timeemployment may be low, there is a huge opportunity to grow in this field. I guess, initially, itdepends on the producer, but with hard work and dedication, you could soon be dictating the terms!

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