How Much Did The Big Bang Theory Cast Get Paid For The First & Final Episodes?

The Big Bang Theory’s popularity allowed the cast to receive huge pay raises and larger salaries by the end.

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The Big Bang Theory quickly became one of the most popular television shows in the world, breaking records, and drawing a huge audience – which is probably why this quirky sitcom lasted a whopping 12 seasons. And famously, by the end of the series, the Big Bang Theory cast were pulling in a huge salary per episode – over one million per episode by the final season.

With twelve years of their lives invested in making people laugh as nerdy scientists and hilarious friends, there’s no doubt that they only continued to make more and more money as the series gained popularity and continued at the top of everyone’s radar. The difference between the first and last season salaries, though, is incredible.

10 Wil Wheaton: $20,000

As far as secondary characters go, salaries didn’t usually exactly go up or down as the show went on. Wil Wheaton was no exception, and even though he literally played himself, he was making $20,000 per episode throughout the course of the show – and given that his net worth is around half a million, these were impressively well-earning episodes for him!

With 17 episodes under his belt, he definitely made an impression, and of course, his salary was in part due to what a huge figure he is in nerddom. Geeky fans of the show already know and love the Star Trek icon, even if his character was one of the least likable in The Big Bang Theory.

9 Kevin Sussman: $50,000

There’s no indication that Kevin Sussman ever got a salary increase, even though he actually became a pretty prominent character as the series progressed. Everyone loved Stuart Bloom as a secondary character, of course, especially as he became such a big part of Howard and Bernadette’s lives.

From the beginning to the end, Kevin Sussman was reported to be making $50,000 per episode. He appeared in 84 episodes, so while this is lower than the main characters’ salaries, it’s still a very big paycheck.

8 John Ross Bowie: $50,000

Much like Kevin Sussman, this secondary character was raking in around $50,000 per episode, starting in 2009 for his first appearance, which was reported to stay the same until his last appearance in 2019.

He appeared in 25 episodes over the course of the show, and John Ross Bowie became absolutely iconic as Barry Kripke. As one of the most intelligent supporting characters in The Big Bang Theory, he is a rival and a wonderfully annoying nemesis. His salary remained pretty steady, but so did his role in the show, even if Barry did become more of a friend over time.

7 Mayim Bialik: $45,000 – $425,000

Mayim Bialik joined the show as a secondary character and love interest for Sheldon, but she was still getting a decent salary from the start. However, over time, she became a core character in the show. From becoming a close friend to Penny to her relationship with Sheldon, Amy ended up with some of the best story arcs on The Big Bang Theory.

Along with Melissa Rauch, these two women made less than the rest of the team. They were still pulling in about $425,000 per episode (not quite on par with the other major characters), but their lack of appearance in the earlier seasons definitely made a difference to their growing pay.

6 Melissa Rauch: $45,000 – $425,000

Like the actors behind Raj and Howard, Amy and Bernadette’s actresses were often partnered together when it came to salaries and their growth. Melissa Rauch, who played Bernadette, ended the show by making over $425,000 per episode.

In fact, the other five main cast members all gave up $100,000 of their own salary so that Bialik and Rauch could be earning a more fair rate. These two never caught up to the rest, but they were still making some very decent salaries.

5 Kunal Nayyar: $45,000 – $1,000,000

Raj and Howard have the sweetest friendship on the show, and they are also definitely the fourth and fifth biggest characters on The Big Bang Theory. Surprisingly, though, they were not always earning as much as Sheldon, Penny, and Howard, despite being around from the beginning. To start, Kunal Nayyar was making $45,000 per episode to play Raj, which is still a great starting salary for a sitcom!

This tripled to $150,000 by season 2, and then skyrocketed all the way to $600,000 by the eighth and ninth seasons, before managing to hit that one-million mark by the 12th season.

4 Simon Helberg: $45,000 – $1,000,000

There’s no surprise that Simon Helberg had the exact same salary increase as his co-star, Kunal Nayyar. There were no major disparities between the two of them in terms of character size and screen time, and everything was kept the same throughout the show’s entire run.

These two actors also joined the list of top-paid actors on television by the later seasons, and they were earning over $20 million a year. Simon Helberg deserves it, too, because no one can imagine Howard as anyone else.

3 Kaley Cuoco: $60,000 – $1,000,000

The main three members of this cast, as reflected by their salaries, have been widely been known as Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, and Jim Parsons (Leonard, Penny, and Sheldon respectively).

Kaley Cuoco is the perfect Penny, and is arguably the main character of the show – without her, none of the major stories of the series would have even happened!. She had a similar rise in salary to Parsons and Galecki, and ended up hitting the one million mark – and becoming the second-highest paid actress in the world at the time.

2 Johnny Galecki: $60,000 – $1,000,000

Johnny Galecki had a similar salary from start to finish as his co-star, Jim Parsons. As Leonard, he was one of the core characters, and that reflected as the series progressed. By the final season, his salary greatly increased – all the way to one million bucks per episode.

Unsurprisingly, this also put him on the list of best-paid actors, and reflects his importance to the show. From pilot to finale, he’s one of the biggest and most important characters on the comedy, so it’s no surprise that he was earning as much as they were.

1 Jim Parsons: $60,000 – $1,000,000

Jim Parsons will forever be known as Sheldon Cooper in the minds and hearts of all television fans, regardless of whether or not they’re die-hard fans of this show. Starting off, Parsons made a humble salary of $60,000.

By the middle seasons, he was making about $300,000. However, that nearly quadrupled by the end! By season 8, Jim Parsons was making over 1 million dollars per episode and was the highest-paid actor on television.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/big-bang-theory-cast-salary-first-final-season/