Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Ashton Kutcher tops TV Guide's list of highest-earning TV actors

Ashton Kutcher might not be pulling in Charlie Sheen's $1.2 million an episode for his gig on CBS' "Two and a Half Men," but the 33-year-old actor still managed to top TV Guide's list of the highest-earning television stars.

Also earning big is "House M.D." star Hugh Laurie, who matched Kutcher's income, earning $700,000 an episode. However, his co-star Lisa Edelstein will not return to the series due to budget cuts at FOX.

A few actors returning to television, like Tim Allen, Ted Danson and Kiefer Sutherland, who will appear in ABC's "Last Man Standing," CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and Hulu's "The Confession" respectively, will earn $225,00 per episode according to the industry magazine.

Mariska Hargitay of "Law & Order: SVU" is earning $395,000 an episode, but is scaling back on her role to take care of her newly adopted baby.

The cast of "The Big Bang Theory" all got salary increases as their show earned syndication deals, earning between $75,000 and $250,000 per episode each for their roles on the hit comedy.

Check out the other highest-earning TV stars in our gallery.

Kutcher is replacing Sheen in "Two and a Half Men," after the actor was fired from the show in March following months of personal turmoil and a slew of on-air rants against the program's co-creator. The new season premieres on September 19, 2011. It was announced earlier in the month that Kutcher's character will be a broken-hearted Internet billionaire.

Leonardo DiCaprio recently topped Forbes magazine's list of Hollywood's highest-earning actors with an estimated salary of $75 million.

Last month, Forbes came out with a similar list for Hollywood actresses with Angelina Jolie landing at the top with $30 million.

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