Ellen Pompeo ranks #8 on the Forbes Highest Paid Actresses list with $19 million in yearly earnings. After a contract renegotiation in 2017, Pompeo is earning about $550,000 per episode for her starring role on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. She reportedly adds about $6 million a year from her share of syndication profits.
Most American movie theaters have been dark since late March, leading major studios to postpone big-budget releases, including the female-led Black Widow and Wonder Woman 1984. Since many movie stars earn large bonuses based on box-office performance, the lack of new theatrical releases has made room at the top of the pay scale for TV icons like Sofia Vergara, Grey’s Anatomy’s Ellen Pompeo (No. 8; $19 million) and The Handmaid’s Tale’s Elisabeth Moss (No. 9; $16 million) who capitalized on lucrative salaries from traditional television and streaming services, where the bulk of the pay comes upfront. Another TV-star, Viola Davis (No. 10; $15.5 million) makes the list for the first time with star roles in ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder and the upcoming Netflix film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
In all, the ten highest-paid actresses earned a combined $254 million in the 12 months leading up to June, down 20% from last year. All but two—Angelina Jolie and Emily Blunt (No. 6; $22.5 million)—made the bulk of their earnings from television and streaming. Those who made most of their money from traditional films earned an aggregate of $58 million this year, down from $136.5 million in 2019.
“A film produced for a global streaming service can and will likely be seen by tens of millions of people,” says Hollywood attorney Tom Ara. “In the world of theatrical releases, that type of success could potentially translate into billions of dollars of revenues garnering the talent large box office bonuses and back-end profits.”
Read the full profile on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2020/10/02/the-highest-paid-actresses-2020-small-screen-stars-like-sofia-vergara-ellen-pompeo-and-elisabeth-moss-shine/#217b12ee2598
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How Ellen Pompeo Built Her Multimillion-Dollar Career | Forbes