Here’s What Famous TV Commercial Actors Reportedly Get Paid
If you were watching TV in the mid-’80s, you probably remember seeing Clara Peller pop up in breaks during your favorite shows. She became an unlikely commercial star at the age of 83, when she landed a gig in a Wendy’s spot that would become a classic. In the ad, she demanded to know, “Where’s the beef?” when looking at a burger offered by a fast-food competitor. The catchphrase became an instant hit and Peller was quickly locked up by Wendy’s, making a salary of $500,000 a year. Unfortunately, her dream job wouldn’t last long; Peller died in 1987 at the age of 86.
Procter & Gamble is one of the biggest advertisers in the world, spending as much as $4.4 billion on ads across all spaces on a yearly basis. One of the company’s most visible brands is Old Spice, which has been known in the past decade for its unique TV commercials. Isaiah Mustafa was a regular presence in those spots during the 2010s, showing off his chiseled form and deep voice as a mythical figure that came to be known simply as the Old Spice Guy. Mustafa’s net worth has been reported at $5 million, meaning he was making an estimated $500,000 a year during the decade.
Flo remains the most recognizable figure in Progressive’s TV ads but her co-worker Jamie has become a minor star himself in recent years. That part is played by actor Jim Cashman, who is living up to his last name and getting paid handsomely to be Flo’s right-hand man. Cashman, seen on the right in this image posted by Progressive on Twitter, has a background in improv comedy and has used it to make Jamie a memorable figure in the ads, securing himself a reported salary of $500,000 annually.
It turns out that a lot of people have developed a crush on The Trivago Guy since he debuted in ads for the travel search engine in 2013. The character, who tells viewers about the wonders of Trivago while giving off an everyman silver-fox vibe, is played by actor Tim Williams. His sex appeal is something the company has had fun with, particularly on social media, like in this tweet. He was apparently a veteran of projects in Germany before Trivago made him a minor star in the U.S. Williams has a reported net worth of $5 million, which would equate to roughly $700,000 a year, but he’s done other acting projects so that’s probably an overestimation.
Another commercial character that made a lot of people catch feelings was Lily from AT&T. The bubbly cell phone store employee was played by actor Milana Vayntrub in a series of commercials from 2013 to 2017 before the company moved on. Vayntrub doesn’t have a ton of other major projects on her resume but has also done work as a commercial director, including for a series of new ads featuring Lily made during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Vayntrub’s reported net worth of $3 million was calculated before she was brought back by AT&T, so we can assume she was making north of $700,000 a year in the role before.
The fast-food giant Wendy’s has been praised for its savvy use of social media to connect with younger consumers, especially on Twitter. But the company has remained a steady player in TV advertising as well. From 2012-2016, it employed Morgan Smith-Goodwin as a charming redhead named Red in a series of commercials. Smith-Goodwin, seen here in a tweet from her time as the character, made as much as $750,000 per year in those spots, based on her reported net earnings. That kind of salary would satisfy even the biggest Frosty craving!
Progressive spends a ton of money on TV advertising and a chunk of it goes to the insurance company’s star spokesperson: Flo. That insurance-obsessed character has been played by actor Stephanie Courtney since 2008. More than a decade later, Courtney still going strong in Progressive’s campaigns, even playing all the members of Flo’s ridiculous family in some spots. All that work has netted her an estimated salary of $800,000 per year, according to numbers cited by Forbes. Before making it big as Flo, Courtney had a small part in AMC’s hit show “Mad Men,” which, coincidentally, was set in the world of advertising.
Cell phone companies are some of the most ubiquitous advertisers on TV, and T-Mobile is one of the biggest. Deep pockets mean they can afford to spend big on a successful spokesperson, and they did exactly that with Carly Foulkes, aka “the T-Mobile Girl.” When the Canadian actor was doing regular ads for the company from 2010-2013, typically donning her signature pink dress, Foulkes was pulling in an estimated $1 million a year.
T-Mobile has brought her back several times since then and even kept her on contract when they weren’t using her in TV ads just to keep her away from other companies, showing her power as a brand icon.
Ask anyone who watched a lot of late-night TV during the 2000s and they’ll tell you Billy Mays was the king of pitching products that you had no idea you needed. While he threw his impeccable salesmanship behind everything from ridiculously named products like the Ding King and the Big City Slider Station, Mays’ most famous ads were for OxiClean, which he started doing in 2000. The late pitchman actually ran a one-man production company, producing and starring in the ads himself, spending up to $30,000 to make a single spot. His net worth was reported at $10 million as of his death in 2009, meaning he was pulling in about $1 million a year.
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