Involved in the Series Licensing: How Kaley Cuoco Became a Multimillionaire with “Big Bang Theory”.

Involved in the series licensing
How Kaley Cuoco Became a Multimillionaire with the Big Bang Theory

09/11/2022, 11:07 PM

“The Big Bang Theory” is one of the most successful TV sitcoms of all time. Lead actress Kaley Cuoco not only became a global serial star with her role, but also filthy rich.

Both TV and streaming viewers adored American actress Kaley Cuoco for her role as Penny in the hugely successful sitcom The Big Bang Theory. From 2007 to 2018, the CBS series aired for 12 seasons. Lead actress Cuoco has made the incredible amount of more than $160 million from the series during this time.

At the start of the series, for its first three seasons between 2007 and 2009, the main character trio made up of Cuoco, Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper), and Johnny Galecki (Leonard Hofstadter) earned $60,000 per episode, Deadline reports. But with 63 episodes in the first three seasons, that still comes out to a whopping $3,780,000 for lead actress Cuoco.

But with the increasing success of The Big Bang Theory, the salary increased noticeably. The three main actors just mentioned have negotiated a gradual increase in their salaries. They got $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, made the incredible amount of $26.4 million before taxes during this time – and was also financially involved in the so-called syndication revenue. That’s money that comes from selling the license rights to the show.

Costs at “Friends” level

However, this was far from the end. For season eight — meanwhile, the whole world was watching the lovable geek sitcom — Cuoco, Parsons and Galecki negotiated a new deal, according to the “Hollywood Reporter.” Between seasons eight and ten, they earned $1 million per episode. The ‘Friends’ actresses and actors with Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox made so much money in the TV business in the last two seasons of their hit sitcom.

According to Forbes, Cuoco made $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 good reason. As “Variety” reports, the five protagonists Cuoco, Parsons, Galecki, Kunal Nayyar (Rajesh “Raj” Koothrappali), and Simon Helberg (Howard Wolowitz) each gave a portion of their paycheck to Mayim Bialik (Amy Farrah Fowler) and Melissa. Rauch (Bernadette Rostenkowski) could get more. Instead of a million, there was $900,000 per episode in seasons eleven and twelve.

However, Forbes reports that Cuoco still made $26 million in 2017, and $24.5 million in 2018. She was the second-highest-paid actress on American television in both years, behind “Modern Family” actress Sofia Vergara.

So in total, Cuoco has earned about $163.4 million in pre-tax revenue from The Big Bang Theory to date. However, that number will only increase as the sitcom continues to be watched worldwide. As a result, Cuoco continues to receive revenue from the sale of rights to the series.