The Highest-Paid TV Roles of All Time (No. 1 Raked in $2 Mil per Episode)

For most of its history, television has been overshadowed by the movies, with Hollywood stars earning much more money than TV celebrities. However, the current era of peak television has changed that, making starring in series a very lucrative occupation for many actors.

TV series are much faster to produce than major Hollywood blockbusters, so many A-listers are now spending more time doing series rather than movies.

Here are six highest-paid roles of all time.

6. Celeste Wright & Masha Dmitrichenko (Nicole Kidman)

Kidman has been one of Hollywood's most popular actresses for nearly two decades, and she certainly reached the upper echelons in the era of Peak TV, becoming a true queen of television in the last five years.

The actress raked in whopping $1 million per-episode paychecks for her roles in Nine Perfect Strangers and Big Little Lies Season 2. She is now involved in two new high-profile productions, Expats and The Perfect Couple, so it looks like Nicole's paychecks will only grow in the future.

5. Sheldon, Leonard, Penny, Raj, Howard

Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, and Kunal Nayyar became real stars thanks to the popular sitcom, and CBS rewarded them with $1 million paychecks for each episode. While the number itself may not seem that big, each season of the show featured more than 20 episodes, making its cast one of the richest TV actors of all time.

4. John Dutton (Kevin Costner)

The Hollywood veteran refused to appear in TV series for a while, but Paramount+'s offer of $1.2 million per episode to play John Dutton on Yellowstone surely forced him to reconsider. Costner has already filmed five seasons of the show and is surely looking for a raise to continue his duties.

3. Wayne Hays (Mahershala Ali)

A two-time Oscar winner, Ali made a whopping $1.2 million for each episode of the last season of True Detective. For eight episodes of the season, he earned himself a hefty $10 million check, which certainly boosted his net worth quite significantly.

2. Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston)

While Aniston earned $1 million per episode in the early 2000s, she is the only ex-Friends star to continue earning respectable paychecks after the end of the iconic sitcom.

The actress earned $1.25 million for the first season of Apple TV's The Morning Show and $2 million for its second season. And since the hit show has been renewed for a third season, she'll take home $20 million for that alone.

1. Jack Ryan (John Krasinski)

Over the past few years, John Krasinski has become a bona fide movie star capable of headlining major blockbusters, so it was only a matter of time before he became the star of a major TV show.

Fans weren't surprised when they found out the actor was invited to star as Jack Ryan in the Amazon series of the same name — and yet, Krasinski's $2 million per-episode paycheck still managed to exceed all expectations.