Kevin Costner Isn't the Highest-Paid TV Actor? Meet the Surprising Star Who Is
One would normally assume that the highest-paid TV actor as of the moment is Kevin Costner.
Before starring in the highly popular neo-western Yellowstone, Costner had a long and illustrious movie career, and movie stars generally get better pay than TV stars, assuming comparable levels of success and fame. So, his contract was not going to be cheap.
However, now we have a report that while Costner's $1.2 million per episode of Yellowstone is a very high salary by TV standards, there's an actor who's making nearly double that.
Matthew Belloni of Puck brought to our attention the fact that "most agents and lawyers I talk to believe [the title of highest-paid actor] goes to Jack Ryan star John Krasinski, whose acting (and executive producing) fee is believed to reach, or even top, $2 million an episode on the Amazon series' just-concluded eight-episode third season."
Of course, producing your own movies – or TV series – is a sure path to wealth, at least as long as you can make them successful. Just ask Tom Cruise, who is the highest-paid actor of our times, with a significant gap between him and the closest rival, in part because he is also a producer of his Mission: Impossible movies.
As for other high-paid TV actors, Mariska Hargitay of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star and Ellen Pompeo, who recently left Grey's Anatomy, earn more than Krasinski, but that's because of longer seasons – their numbers per episode are significantly lower.
Other stars with salaries above $1 million per episode include Jason Sudeikis of Ted Lasso, Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren for 1923, and Zendaya of Euphoria.
However, amidst the talks of studios striving to cut costs of their series, seven-figure salaries on TV might become less, rather more common (as you would normally expect, if only thanks to inflation) in near future.
As the same Puck article says:
"Having said all that, the post-Peak TV salary comedown is real. All the outlets (except maybe Amazon and Apple) are pushing back on even top tier talent. When I asked one big dealmaker which stars are commanding $1 million these days, he texted back: "$850,000 is the new $1 million.""