How Much Do Actors Make

The glittering stars are everywhere - the silver screen, the small screen and of course in our hearts. From Patrick Dempsey in Grey's Anatomy to David Schwimmer in 'FRIENDS' and from Eva Longoria in Desperate Housewives to Katherine Heigl, they are all there. This was just the telly, the Hollywood is a far cry from the telly and I do not need to describe how we all drool and fantasize about certain actors!

These stars are brought to our living rooms through the television and print media in the form of link-ups, breaks ups, divorces and all kinds of 'spicy' gossip. Another major chunk of this gossip is how an actor was paid a whopping sum for a movie or a soap. I always wonder and marvel at these huge sums and how can the producer afford so much money! But it does not seem to be much of a problem.

How Much do Actors Get Paid

Movie Actor Salaries
What do I say about Hollywood actors salaries? They get around $98,300, annually. However, this is a very paltry sum, considering that some of the top stars in the industry charge more than this per film. So it can go as high as the actor asks for. Moreover even if we assume that one might be getting this amount for a year for a single movie, most of the renowned ones or the 'B' grade ones do more than 1 movie. Thus, movie their salaries are much more than that. This amount is actually a very humble amount. But then again, it depends on the actor as well. For someone who is not in the big league but is doing pretty okay, this seems a practical amount. It depends on the talent, experience and popularity along with the production house.

Broadway Actors
Another variation of the movie scenario is the Broadway. Broadway movie salaries are around $60,000 annually. Here again, the popularity, talent and breakthrough matters a lot. The actor may earn less or more. For record, an equity performer on Broadway gets around $1600 for a week. A Screen Actor's Guild affiliated film performer earns between $2,000 to 5,000 per week.

TV Actors
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) lays down the payment guidelines.

Newcomers
According to AFTRA, the newcomers on soap operas are paid around $700 per episode. However, this not for a considerable period of time. This is when the actors appear only in some episodes or do not work for all days in a week.

Seasoned Campaigners
Those who have been there for around 5 to 10 years, the money prospects are much better when it comes to pay per episode. The work also keeps flowing in regularly. The star power is very crucial at this point , as then the actor can put across his or her own terms.

In addition to this, those who are members of Screen Actors Guild (SAG) have an advantage over non-affiliated or non union ones. The things, however, are different for commercial actors. For commercials, well, they can be paid anything between a few cents to around $400. This can go up to thousands and millions of dollars, if it is a national commercial broadcast all across the nation. They may even get paid around $10,000 to $60,000 as well. Of course, it also depends on the market size and the time it is aired and again, the actor.

You can define the minimum but not the maximum salaries. It is ultimately a thing of speculation and curiosity for all us laymen. But never mind, I guess now we have a slight idea about that.

That's it, this is where I sign off and 'Pack Up'!