I mean they’re not all super rich but especially in the USA and especially with actors or TV personalities it seems like the well known ones make huge amounts of money. Just picking people at random and doing some searching online, apparently Scott Bakula got paid $120,000 for each episode of NCIS: New Orleans he was in which totalled over $18 million. Some sources say that Sarah Sherman, who’s been on SNL for 3 seasons, is worth around $4 million. Why do they get paid huge amounts of money when most people, even if they’re at the top of their industry, make a fraction of that?
While I’m not here to justify the enormous amount of money they’re paid, much much more than “essential” workers that been shoved down our throats that actually make the country run.
You have to factor in numerous things. These people travel a lot and obviously that can rack up in a short period of time. Furthermore, their homes are obviously pricier to maintain especially if in multiple locations, far more costly than the average apartment rent. There’s also a number of things that they have to contribute and usually they don’t have a safety net because their money is finite.
But of course that depends on the actor/actress and if there’s a big demand for them, that’s a huge thing in the entertainment industry. These are jobs that do not promise you that you’ll be earning money as compared to a retail job on a consistent and set schedule basis. You need to be marketable. You need to have the right qualities. You need to actually be variable i.e do many roles and do them well. The line is very narrow when it comes to entertainment.
Now things like why bad actors/actresses get top billing anyways or why some actors/actresses are paid far more than everyone else, it comes down to favorability and ass-kissing I guess.