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00:00You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out which member of The Big Bang Theory cast
00:05happens to be the richest. Many of these folks were getting paid $1 million per episode. That
00:11adds up. Melissa Rauch completed the core cast of The Big Bang Theory and was the last actor to
00:17earn a spot in the show's opening credits. She first appeared in a Season 3 episode as Bernadette
00:23Rostenkowski, a friend of Penny's set up on a blind date with Howard. At first, it doesn't go
00:28well, but Bernadette's character eventually grew from fellow Cheesecake Factory waitress
00:33to world-class microbiologist. She also eventually worked things out with Howard,
00:38and the two got married in one of the show's most memorable moments.
00:42They all got ordained! They're all marrying us! It's adorable! If you want to hear, come closer!
00:52Because Melissa Rauch joined the show relatively late, she missed out on the per-episode salary,
00:57royalties, and profits that most of her castmates would enjoy. So she pulled in a starting salary
01:03of about $30,000 an episode, according to Deadline. Just before the start of Season 7,
01:08the outlet reported she got a contract extension and a raise that doubled her per-episode rate,
01:14as well as a clause that bumped that up incrementally to $100,000 over time.
01:19In the final two years of Big Bang, Rauch brought in the big bucks with a $450,000
01:25per-episode paycheck, according to Variety. Along with starring in outside film projects like The
01:31Bronze, which she co-wrote, Melissa and husband Winston Rauch also started after January Productions.
01:38According to Deadline, the company has a distribution deal with Warner Bros. TV,
01:42and the two firms will produce her next series together, a reboot of Night Court. According to
01:47Celebrity Net Worth, this makes for a net worth of $20 million for the Big Bang alum.
01:53While she appeared as the strange and inscrutable neuroscientist Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler on more
01:58than 200 episodes of The Big Bang Theory, Mayim Bialik was not an original cast member. She joined
02:05the show in Season 4 after a brief appearance at the end of the third season. Previously best known
02:10for portraying the title role on iconic 90s teen sitcom Blossom, Bialik's initial salary on Big Bang was
02:17in the neighborhood of $200,000 per episode, according to Variety. In 2017, thanks to longer-serving
02:24main cast members taking a pay cut of $100,000 each, Bialik and Melissa Rauch saw their quote
02:30soar to $450,000 per episode. The real money in entertainment, apart from network sitcom money,
02:37is in owning the content. Bialik took that path with Sad Clown Productions. Formed in 2019,
02:43according to Deadline, she quickly made a deal with major television distributor Warner Bros.
02:48TV Group. That arrangement ultimately led to the development of the Fox sitcom Call Me Cat.
02:53The show earned a second season renewal in May 2021, according to TVLine, bringing Bialik
02:59paychecks as both star and producer. Like her Big Bang character, Bialik is a neuroscientist in real
03:05life, which came in handy in 2021 when she signed a deal to be the paid celebrity spokesperson for
03:11Nariva, a line of brain health supplements. With her acting, producing, and commercial endeavors,
03:17Bialik has a lot of assets and money in the bank. According to Celebrity Net Worth,
03:22she's worth about $25 million.
03:24When The Big Bang Theory premiered, Kunal Nair was the least-known original cast member,
03:30but quickly established himself as a vital part of the success of the show, portraying shy astrophysicist
03:36Raj Kuthropali. Initially, Nair earned $25,000 an episode, according to Deadline. In 2010,
03:43that per-installment salary was increased substantially to $75,000. Beginning with the eighth season of The Big
03:50Bang Theory in 2015, according to Forbes, he earned $1 million per episode. That figure fell a bit when
03:57Nair and some of his fellow cast members parted with part of their own salaries so co-stars Mayim
04:03Bialik and Melissa Rauch could enjoy a pay raise. In 2019, Nair purchased a 7,100-square-foot Tudor
04:10mansion in the Hancock Park area of L.A., according to the Los Angeles Times. Listed at a pricey $8 million,
04:16he got it for a steal at $7.5 million. The following year, the Los Angeles Times reported
04:23he unloaded his previous home, a Hollywood Hills estate, for just under $4 million.
04:29All that makes for a sizable fortune, as do other lucrative show business opportunities,
04:34like Nair's voice acting role as Guy Diamond in two Trolls films. Add it all up,
04:39and according to Celebrity Net Worth, Nair's net worth sits at $45 million.
04:44The closest thing early the Big Bang Theory had to a villain was Howard Wolowitz,
04:50an aerospace engineer who thinks he's the universe's gift to women, despite living with his mother and
04:56crudely hitting on any female human he encounters. A recognizable face from TV comedies like Mad TV
05:02and Reno 911, Simon Helberg hit the jackpot when he signed on to play Howard. His original Big Bang
05:09salary was around $40,000 per episode, according to Deadline. In 2010, he renegotiated his contract
05:16and got a raise to $100,000 per episode. By the final years of Big Bang, Helberg was earning $1 million
05:23per episode, according to Forbes. But as Variety noted, that amount was eventually cut a bit to
05:29help fund a raise for co-stars Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch. That not-so-shabby salary has gone
05:34toward a $6.87 million home in Los Feliz. Helberg has been the most successful cast
05:41member of the Big Bang Theory when it comes to branching out into movie roles like Rabbi Scott
05:46in the Oscar-nominated A Serious Man. A Golden Globe-nominated role in Florence Foster Jenkins
05:52and Quinn in the rom-com Will Never Have Paris, which he also wrote, co-directed, and produced.
05:58With his wife Jocelyn Towne, Helberg helps make content via their production company,
06:03Wildline Entertainment. All those ventures add up — and they add up nicely. According to Celebrity
06:09Net Worth, Helberg's net worth totals $45 million.
06:13In 2007, Johnny Galecki, a decade removed from his role as lovable loser David Healy on Roseanne,
06:20returned to TV with The Big Bang Theory, portraying astrophysicist and Sheldon's extremely patient
06:26roommate Leonard Hofstadter. In 2014, Galecki negotiated a new contract with CBS,
06:32which had just issued a three-season renewal for the show, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
06:37At the time, Big Bang was the most-watched comedy on the most-watched network, meaning Galecki could
06:43ask for — and receive — $1 million per episode for the eighth, ninth, and tenth seasons. That was a
06:50significant jump from his already substantial per-episode rate of $350,000. The actor's pay
06:57dropped to $900,000 an episode in the final two years of The Big Bang Theory because he and his
07:02co-stars took a cut to help give co-stars Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik a raise. Between his Big Bang
07:08earnings, reruns of his hit shows, and his real estate holdings, it all adds up. According to Celebrity
07:14Net Worth, Galecki boasts financial assets of around $100 million.
07:19Probably the most familiar face on The Big Bang Theory when the show premiered in 2007 was Kaley
07:25Cuoco, a veteran of long-running hits, Eight Simple Rules, and Charmed. When the show began,
07:30she earned about $60,000 per episode to play Penny, a waitress and aspiring actress who moves in across
07:37the hall from Sheldon and Leonard. According to Deadline, a contract renegotiation in 2010 led to
07:43a raise of around $200,000 for each episode, with incremental bumps, ending with Cuoco making $350,000
07:51per episode by 2014. At that point, CBS gave Cuoco another raise, and according to The Hollywood
07:57Reporter, she earned $1 million per episode for Seasons 8, 9, and 10 of the show. In the two seasons
08:04after that, Cuoco took home $900,000. Like her fellow original castmates, she took a pay cut to raise the
08:10salaries of co-stars Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch. Cuoco rakes in millions from Big Bang reruns,
08:16and her other TV appearances have proven lucrative, too. Endorsement deals with Priceline and Toyota
08:21netted her $2 million in 2013 alone, according to Forbes. Since Big Bang ended in 2019, Cuoco has made
08:28even more money. She sold a home in Tarzana, California for $3.95 million, according to The Los
08:35Angeles Times, and as Deadline reported, launched a pact between her production company, Yes Norman,
08:40and Warner Bros. TV Group. As a producer, she bought the rights to the novel The Flight Attendant,
08:46and then produced and starred in the adaptation for HBO Max. All told, Cuoco's net worth,
08:51according to Celebrity Net Worth, is about $100 million.
08:55Perhaps it's not so surprising that the richest former cast member of The Big Bang Theory is the
09:01show's central character, breakout star, and four-time Emmy Award winner. Jim Parsons brought nuance,
09:07warmth, and humor to the character of Caltech theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper,
09:13an otherwise rude, idiosyncratic, stubborn, and generational genius.
09:18Do you realize what this means?
09:23All I need is a healthy ovum and I can grow my own Leonard Nimoy!
09:27Little known before Big Bang, Parsons soon became the face of the show as it skyrocketed in popularity.
09:35In 2010, he was given a bigger piece of the money Big Bang generated for CBS
09:40and producer Warner Bros., negotiating a raise from $60,000 per episode in Season 3,
09:45all the way up to $350,000 per episode by Season 7, according to Deadline.
09:51Along with a bigger weekly paycheck, he also secured .25 percent of the show's back-end profits,
09:57which amounted to no less than $1 million a year. In the latter years of Big Bang,
10:02Parsons earned $1 million for each and every episode, according to The New York Times.
10:08But of course, Parsons' fortunes didn't stop there. Add in all his other ventures,
10:12including work producing and narrating the Big Bang spinoff Young Sheldon,
10:16and the actor is still earning big money, both on the hit show and off. According to Celebrity Net Worth,
10:23Parsons is worth $160 million.
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