TV and streaming viewers have loved US actress Kaley Cuoco (36) in her role as Penny in the hugely successful sitcom “The Big Bang Theory”. From 2007 to 2018, the CBS series aired for 12 seasons. During this time, leading actress Cuoco earned the unbelievable sum of over 160 million US dollars with the series.
At the beginning of the series, in the first three seasons between 2007 and 2009, the main cast trio consisting of Cuoco, Jim Parsons (49, Sheldon Cooper) and Johnny Galecki (47, Leonard Hofstadter) still earned $ 60,000 per episode, as “Deadline” reports. But with 63 episodes in the first three seasons, that still works out to a whopping $3,780,000 for lead actress Cuoco.
But with the increasing success of The Big Bang Theory, the paycheck got noticeably bigger. The three main actors just mentioned negotiated a gradual increase in their salaries. They were paid $200,000 per episode in season four, $250,000 in season five, $300,000 in season six, and $350,000 in season seven.
Penny actress Cuoco therefore earned the incredible sum of 26.4 million US dollars before taxes during this time – and was also financially involved in the so-called syndication income. That’s money that comes from selling the licensing rights to the show.
However, this was far from the end. Before season eight – meanwhile the whole world felt like watching the likeable nerd sitcom – Cuoco, Parsons and Galecki negotiated a new deal according to the “Hollywood Reporter”. Between seasons eight and ten, that earned them $1 million per episode. The “Friends” actresses and actors around Jennifer Aniston (53) and Courteney Cox (58) earned so much money in the TV business in the last two seasons of their successful sitcom.
According to Forbes, Cuoco earned $28.5 million in 2015 alone – the first full calendar year under the new, better deal.
After that, actress Cuoco went downhill financially – but for a very nice reason. As “Variety” reports, the five leading actors Cuoco, Parsons, Galecki, Kunal Nayyar (41, Rajesh “Raj” Koothrappali) and Simon Helberg (41, Howard Wolowitz) each gave up part of their salary so that Mayim Bialik (46, Amy Farrah Fowler) and Melissa Rauch (42, Bernadette Rostenkowski) could get more. Instead of a million, there were still 900,000 US dollars per episode in seasons eleven and twelve.
However, Forbes reports that Cuoco still earned $26 million in 2017, and $24.5 million in 2018. This made her the second-highest-paid actress on US television in both years, behind “Modern Family” actress Sofia Vergara (50).
So in total, Cuoco has made about $163.4 million in pre-tax income from The Big Bang Theory so far. However, that number is only set to increase as the sitcom is still viewed worldwide. As a result, Cuoco still receives revenue from the rights sales to the series.
