Skip to footer

Jon Cryer, Ashton Kutcher are TV's highest-paid actors

Jon Cryer and Ashton Kutcher of 'Two and a Half Men' are the highest-paid TV actors, according to Forbes. Ashton Kutcher was at the top of the list, followed closely by Jon Cryer.

|
Phil McCarten/Reuters
Jon Cryer (center) and Ashton Kutcher (l.) are the two highest-paid TV actors in Hollywood, according to Forbes.
  • By Patricia Reaney Reuters

Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer, the stars of the CBS comedy "Two and a Half Men," are the highest paid actors on U.S. television with estimated earnings topping $20 million each, Forbes magazine said on Tuesday.

Kutcher, the 35-year-old actor who replaced Charlie Sheen after his ouster from the hit TV show in 2011, topped the list for the second consecutive year with $24 million, but Cryer was not far behind with $21 million.

Their 19-year-old co-star on the show, Angus T. Jones, came in seventh place on the annual list that estimates earnings for the 12 months from June 2012-2013. Jones made about $11 million.

"TV's highest-paid actor is laughing all the way to the bank since replacing Sheen on 'Two and a Half Men' after the troubled star's 2011 flameout," said Forbes, adding that Kutcher is also an investor in technology companies.

Comedian Ray Romano, whose show "Everybody Loves Raymond" ended eight years ago, placed third on the list with $16 million, most of which comes from syndication of the CBS comedy series.

Neil Patrick Harris of CBS comedy "How I Met Your Mother" debuted on the list, sharing the No. 4 spot with Mark Harmon of CBS crime drama "NCIS" at $15 million. Patrick Dempsey of ABC comedy "Grey's Anatomy" rounded out the top five with income of $13 million.

Sheen, once the top male earner on TV who now appears in the FX network sitcom "Anger Management," captured the No. 10 spot with earnings of $10 million.

Forbes compiled the list by talking to producers, agents, managers and other insiders to estimate earnings from entertainment-related sources before taxes and expenses.

The full list can be found at www.forbes.com.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Jon Cryer, Ashton Kutcher are TV's highest-paid actors
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/TV/2013/1016/Jon-Cryer-Ashton-Kutcher-are-TV-s-highest-paid-actors
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe