Salaries of Celebs in Commercials

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Commercials can be an everyday annoyance, or they can provide absolutely hilarious breaks from all the drama. Love ’em or hate ’em, they are necessary to keep companies in business and television shows on the air. No advertising dollars would mean no TV!

It’s safe to assume the companies making the commercials improve their sales, but exactly how much of that money makes its way into the pockets of the actors featured in the 30-second to 60-second promos? You might be surprised to learn that even the unknown “celebs” in commercials take home some pretty hefty paychecks. Take a look!

31. “Mayhem” for Allstate | $4,750

The untidy, haphazard, usually injured man in the Allstate commercials who threatens us with mayhem in our lives is known as Dean Winters in the real world. The hilarious actor makes a cool $4,750 every time his commercials air, and the popular spots air fairly often.

Photo Courtesy: Allstate/YouTube

Winters has appeared in many other productions, including an HBO prison drama called Oz, Law & Order SVU and 30 Rock, among others. His acting career began in 1997, and he doesn’t show any sign of slowing down. Case in point: He was recently named in Entertainment Weekly‘s “Must List.”

30. The Geico Caveman | $16,000

John Lehr is an American comedian/actor who made $16,000 per week during his time acting like a caveman to advertise Geico automobile insurance on television. Interestingly, he reported that the Geico caveman character makeup took a full three hours to apply, so he deserved every penny!

Photo Courtesy: Alterian Inc./YouTube

Lehr was an elementary school teacher before his acting career took off. He appeared in the movie The Sweetest Thing as well as being the co-creator, producer and star of the Hulu series Quick Draw. More recently, he is working on a new show on HBO called The Loop.

29. The Trivago Guy | $20,000

Timothy Williams is a German/American actor who has starred in many German and American television shows and movies. He made $20,000 for his work with the hotel website Trivago, but the spot earned him some recognition, and he went on to appear in The Sopranos.

Photo Courtesy: trivago/YouTube

Williams was born in Texas but later moved to Germany. He studied at Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. More recently, he has focused more on his musical abilities, and he recorded his first album, Magnolia City, in 2018.

28. The Dell Dude | $50,000

Benjamin Curtis is a magician turned commercial actor. You may remember the phrase, “Dude, you’re getting a Dell,” from his computer advertisement acting. He worked for Dell between 2000 and 2003 and made $50,000 for his creative efforts.

Photo Courtesy: Tech Insider/YouTube

Originally inspired by David Copperfield, Curtis started his own magic business and attended Tannen’s Magic School, which is located in New York City. He then went to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, taking advantage of an acting scholarship. Since his Dell days, he has guest starred on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Law & Order.

27. The Beautiful Red Robin Lady | $50,000

Melanie Paxson is perhaps best known for her appearances in Red Robin commercials, although before that, she acted in Gladware commercials and worked for Steppenwolf Theatre. Her happy face has also appeared as Jaclyn in Cupid and Early Edition, and it doesn’t stop there.

Photo Courtesy: Melanie Paxson/YouTube

Paxson’s salary as the Red Robin lady is a modest $50,000. It’s certainly not the largest number on this list, but it’s not a bad amount for a job that takes up very little of her time each year. She is a talented and engaging actress who has also appeared in popular shows like Rules of Engagement, CSI, Medium and more.

26. The Cingular Wireless Lady | $75,000

The striking lady with the umbrella in the Cingular Wireless commercials is Angela Sarafyan, and she made $75,000 per year for that particular gig. You might have also seen her in some well-liked TV shows, such as 24, Westworld, Judging Amy, The Mentalist and Criminal Minds.

Photo Courtesy: Brandon LeBlanc/YouTube

Interestingly, Sarafyan’s father (Grigor Sarafyan) is also an actor, and her mother is a painter, so she comes from an artistic background. She is a native of Armenia and moved to the United States when she was just 4 years old. She also played the vampire Tia in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.

25. The Bubbly, Bright Snapple Lady | $100,000

The Snapple lady — a.k.a. Wendy Kaufman — makes a robust $100,000 per year for her work promoting the fruity tea drink. She also reportedly answers fan mail very quickly, to her credit. Wendy’s contagious, energetic personality is what landed her the job working for Snapple, and it’s what makes her so likable as a TV personality.

Photo Courtesy: OWN/YouTube

Her character is an effective advertising tool, considering Snapple increased its profits by more than $700 million immediately after hiring her. Quaker Oats fired her after acquiring Snapple but later reconsidered the decision and brought her back. We’re glad to see you still on the job, Wendy!

24. The Slim Jim Guy | $100,000

The wacky, enthusiastic Slim Jim Guy is named Demetri Goritsas, and he makes $100,000 per year busting out of Slim Jim signs. He was born in the United States but was raised in British Columbia and educated at the Royal School of Speech & Drama and Prince George Secondary School.

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Goritsas has also appeared in blockbuster hits like Saving Private Ryan and The Bourne Identity. He has an interesting mix of Greek and Norwegian heritage and has performed at the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Court. He currently divides his time between London and Los Angeles.

23. The Brown’s Chicken Guy? | $175,000

Born in Massachusetts, Steve Carell is one of the most well-known actors out there today, so it’s shocking to remember that he got his first acting gig as a funny clerk on a commercial for Brown’s Chicken. It’s likely his rate was little more than chicken feed. He then broke into the film business by playing the character Tesio in Curly Sue.

Photo Courtesy: Bat42/YouTube

Carell has since starred in numerous films, including Bruce Almighty and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, but he is most recognized for his work on the television show The Office, for which he earned $175,000 per episode by the third season. His talent, charm and wit have made him a household name.

22. The “It’s Not That Complicated” Guy | $250,000

Beck Bennett is now a regular on Saturday Night Live, but back in the day, he acted in AT&T commercials as the “It’s Not That Complicated” dude. He started his acting career as a child in the Children’s Theatre of Winnetka, which sparked his passion for pursuing acting as an adult.

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Beck also worked with a comedy group called Good Neighbor, where he played in a few sketches. Saturday Night Live was impressed with his ability to do spot-on impressions and hired him in 2013. Additionally, Toyota paid him $250,000 for his work with them in the past.

21. The Wholesome Pine-Sol Lady | $250,000

Diane Amos is the warm, fresh-faced, motherly woman who urges us to use Pine-Sol for our cleaning needs. She makes $250,000 per year with this gig, and it’s not her only job. You may have also seen her in several popular movies, including Patch Adams, Nine Months and Sweet November.

Photo Courtesy: Pine-Sol/YouTube

Amos has chosen comedic roles for most of her career, and she became the spokeswoman for Pine-Sol in 2002. Her first role outside of a commercial was as Janet in Midnight Caller in 1990. She is a talented veteran actress with a successful career that isn’t slowing down.

20. The Sonic Man | $300,000

T.J. Jagodowski is one half of the funnyman team from the Sonic commercials, and he makes $300,000 annually for his work with the fast food company. In an interesting twist, the creative comedian and his acting partner, Peter Grosz, are rarely scripted and ad-lib most of their lines in the commercials.

Photo Courtesy: Commercials Funny/YouTube

In fact, Jagodowski earned the title of “Best Improviser” at the Chicago Improv Festival in the past. He has also appeared in the movies The Ice Harvest and Stranger than Fiction, among others. A few years ago, he had a small role in an episode of Prison Break, which aired on Fox.

19. The Target Personality | $300,000

The beautiful, hysterical, charming Maria Bamford has enchanted us in Target commercials but is perhaps better known as a self-deprecating comedian who has starred in numerous movies, comedy shows and voice-overs. She makes $300,000 annually for her work with Target.

Photo Courtesy: Adam Jenkins/YouTube

Bamford is one of the voices in American Dad!, CatDog and Adventure Time, among other productions. Her humor usually centers around her crazy family and her own mental health struggles. She has a unique, high-pitched, child-like voice that adds to her hilarity. Recently, she starred in a Netflix series based on her life called Lady Dynamite.

18. The Dazzling Orbit Girl | $500,000

The glittering Orbit actress is Farris Patton, who makes an impressive $500,000 annually for her perky personality and bright white smile working for the gum company. She has also modeled and appeared in 90210, Redline and The Playbook, among other productions.

Photo Courtesy: OrbitGirlForever/YouTube

Patton has built a career based on her gorgeous face and dazzling smile. She also appeared in a TV movie about commercial actors called Famous Faces, and she went on Jimmy Kimmel Live and performed various comedy skits. Patton is a talented, successful actress, and you can expect to see her shining face in more productions in the future.

17. The 7Up Guy | $500,000

Comedic actor Orlando Jones was the 7Up guy from 1999 until 2002, and he had a $500,000 contract. He was also acting in the sketch comedy series MADtv at the time. He started his acting career a decade earlier after working as a screenwriter for the comedy A Different World.

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Jones co-produced The Sinbad Show in 1993 and appeared in Office Space, Sour Grapes, Woo and other films. He was born in Alabama, and his father was a professional baseball player for the Philadelphia Phillies. His other commercial work includes an appearance with Michael Jordan in a McDonald’s commercial.

16. The GoDaddy Guy | $900,000

The sexy kiss that rocketed Jesse Heiman to fame was one shared with Bar Refaeli in a GoDaddy commercial that aired during Super Bowl XLVII. He was paid $900,000 for the spot — and got to French kiss a supermodel! The commercial was extremely popular with audiences and also featured beautiful racecar driver Danica Patrick.

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Heiman also appeared in American Pie 2, Old School, NCIS and Curb Your Enthusiasm. He was born in Boston in 1978 and goes by the nickname “Manpeach.” He graduated from Texas State University in San Marcos with a BA in English in 2000 and always dreamed of becoming a famous actor.

15. The Stoic Maytag Man | $1 million

The modern Maytag Man — remember the super lonely original? — is Colin Ferguson, and he has been representing the man who never has to work (because Maytag appliances never break down) since 2014. He rakes in a whopping $1 million per year for saying almost nothing in commercials and wearing a Maytag uniform. Wow!

Photo Courtesy: Maytag/YouTube

Interestingly, although Ferguson is usually silent as the Maytag Man, in real life he is bilingual and speaks both English and French. This handsome Canadian has also played in other television shows and movies, including several Lifetime Christmas movies and The Vampire Diaries.

14. The Most Interesting Man in the World | $1 million

Dos Equis beer company turned into a household name, thanks to Jonathan Goldsmith, also known as “The Most Interesting Man in the World.” He was born in New York and has been acting since his appearance in Perry Mason in 1963. The rugged cowboy has also acted in 25 westerns.

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Dos Equis enjoyed a 15.4% spike in sales after they hired him, which is why they pay him a cool $1 million annually to be the sophisticated man recommending their beer to the world. Goldsmith has also appeared in other popular shows like Bonanza and Charlie’s Angels.

13. The T-Mobile Lady | $1 million

The fresh-faced young lady in the pink and white leather biker gear in the T-Mobile ads is Carly Foulkes, who was the face of the phone company from 2010-2013. Her salary was a whopping $1 million. She has continued to make a few guest appearances for T-Mobile since then.

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Foulkes became an actress for T-Mobile after answering a random ad in 2009, but her outfit color wasn’t random at all. The cell phone company actually owns a trademark for that specific shade of pink, which is part of their corporate color marketing plan. Foulkes worked as a Canadian model before her T-Mobile days.

12. Jan, the Bubbly Toyota Lady | $1 million

The fun, exuberant character named Jan that appeared in Toyota commercials is actually named Laurel Coppock, and her salary is $1 million. Since the Toyota advertisements boosted her to fame, she has appeared in many more television comedy shows, including The Office, Arrested Development and Modern Family.

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Coppock obtained her Performing Arts degree at Colby College and also attended Circle in the Square Acting Conservatory. This delightful actress is generally considered a very private person, but she does have her own YouTube series. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1977.

11. The ShamWow Guy | $2 million

Vince Offer is best known for his overly zealous role endorsing the absorptive towel known as ShamWow. Interestingly, he now owns, writes and produces the commercials for ShamWow and makes a $2 million salary doing it. Additional products he owns and advertises include Slap Chop, Crank Chop, Schticky and InVinceable spray.

Photo Courtesy: therealvinceoffer/YouTube

Offer is an Israeli-American comedian/actor/director/writer who first appeared in the 1999 comedy film The Underground Comedy Movie, a production he funded with his own money. He is a former Scientologist and has also made an appearance in a Canada Green commercial.

10. “Red,” The Wendy’s Girl | $3 million

Wait for it — the cute, endearing, red-haired Wendy’s girl, Morgan Smith-Goodwin, is actually a blonde in real life. She makes a mammoth $3 million per year for her work on the fast food commercials. She was born in Alabama and moved to New York City to pursue acting shortly after graduating from Birmingham Southern College.

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Smith-Goodwin was chosen to be the face of the Wendy’s campaign titled Now That’s Better in 2012, and she instantly became nationally famous. She has also played in Sweet Charity and Freckleface Strawberry. She currently resides in New York City.

9. AT&T’s Lily Adams | $3 million

Sure, Milana Vayntrub isn’t exactly a household name, but we bet you’d recognize her face. In fact, you’d probably recognize her iconic television commercial character’s name too — Lily Adams. As those without the power of DVR or ad-free Hulu know, Lily Adams is a fictional saleswoman in a series of AT&T TV commercials, which aired primarily between 2013 and 2016.

Photo Courtesy: @att_Lily/Twitter

While it’s not clear how much the Uzbekistan-born American actress and comedian made per commercial, it’s safe to say that it was in the millions. Vayntrub, an Upright Citizens Brigade Theater alum, has had a few acting gigs on popular shows like This Is Us and Silicon Valley. Still, we doubt those guest stints garnered Vayntrub anywhere close to her staggering $3 million net worth. Our bet? Her breakout role as Lily Adams was responsible for most of that financial success.

8. (Everybody Loves) The Allstate Guy | $3-4 million

If you’ve ever heard Dennis Haysbert tell you that you’re in good hands with Allstate, you know you believed every word of it. He has a deep, warm, soothing, baritone voice that makes you instantly believe whatever he says and twinkly eyes that really sell whatever he’s talking about. He earns $3-4 million per year for his work with Allstate.

Photo Courtesy: Allstate/YouTube

Haysbert started acting in the 1970’s with the movie Lou Grant. Today, he is better known as President David Palmer from the Fox TV series 24. You may also have seen him in Major League and Love and Basketball.

7. The Old Spice Guy | $5 million

The impressively handsome former football player — a wide receiver for the Houston Oilers in the 1990s — who turned into the face of Old Spice is known as Isaiah Mustafa in real life. He makes a remarkable $5 million per year working as the smell-good guy. Talk about smelling nice!

Photo Courtesy: Old Spice/YouTube

Mustafa began his acting career on the popular soap Days of Our Lives, and he recently played in It: Chapter Two. The fetching, ultra-fit spokesman is often seen in commercials in the shower, talking about the merits of Old Spice. It sure seems like a very effective marketing ploy to us!

6. Flo from Progressive | $8 million

Stephanie Courtney is well known and well loved for her role as the endearing, upbeat spokeslady for Progressive Insurance. She has appeared in approximately 100 commercials, and her salary is a respectable $8 million. Flo even has an Australian counterpart named Kitty, who is played by Holly Austin.

Photo Courtesy: Progressive Insurance/YouTube

Before Flo, Courtney was a member of the theater club The Groundlings in Los Angeles. She has made appearances on shows such as Mad Men, The Goldbergs and Men of a Certain Age. Stephanie’s movie appearances include Blades of Glory, The Heartbreak Kid and The Brothers Solomon.

5. The Annoying Verizon Guy | $9 million

You hate to admit it, but you’ve probably said it at some point while trying to communicate on your cell phone in a spotty service area: “Can you hear me now?” Well, the amiable Paul Marcarelli made a very lucrative career out of saying just that as the familiar friendly face on Verizon commercials for 10 years.

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Fortunately for Marcarelli, Verizon paid him an epic $9 million from 2001 to 2011 for saying the phrase repeatedly on television while moving around with a cell phone. To Verizon’s chagrin, he later switched teams and contracted with Sprint in 2016, with a new tag line: “Can you hear that?”

4. Little Mikey for Life Cereal | $10 million

You might be surprised to learn that little Mikey’s brothers on the Life cereal commercials were his real-life brothers. Yes, Michael and Tommy Gilchrist were almost amazed that their brother, John Gilchrist Jr., would eat the cereal, exclaiming “He likes it!”

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Gilchrist was paid $10 million for his appearance in the ad as a cranky kid who didn’t like to eat much of anything. This particular commercial was so popular that it won a Clio Award in 1974, and it was ranked by TV Guide as one of the top 10 television advertisements of all time in 1999.

3. The Magnum Ice Cream Lady | $16 million

Rachel Bilson is the gorgeous young lady in the Magnum ice cream commercials. She is a popular TV actress who has starred in The O.C. and Hart of Dixie as well as episodes of That 70’s Show, Gossip Girl and more. Her salary Magnum remains a secret, but she reportedly has a net worth of $16 million. On the big screen, she has appeared in films like The To Do List and New York, I Love You.

Photo Courtesy: SASSYBELLA.com/YouTube

Bilson was born into a show business family in Los Angeles. She has also appeared in commercials for Subway, Raisin Bran and Pepto-Bismol. Interestingly, she has been called one of the sexiest women in the world more than once.

2. The Kia Guy | $50 million

Okay, so Christopher Walken has had a long history of great performances in films, most of which cemented his star power — and net worth — way before the Kia commercials came along. Still, it’s not every day an actor of Walken’s caliber becomes a commercial celebrity as well, so, for that reason, he nabs a spot on our list.

Photo Courtesy: @Kia/Twitter

Aside from the Kia commercials, you can catch Walken in movies like The Deer Hunter, Batman Returns and Sleepy Hollow. This New Yorker of many talents even has some vocal chops, as evidenced by his role in the movie version of Hairspray. When all is said and done, this “Renaissance man” has a net worth of $50 million.

1. The Hunky Pringles Surfer Dude | $300 million

In a 1980’s Pringles commercial, three handsome surfer dudes show off their Pringles chips to women who are hanging out on the beach. One of those surfer dudes was none other than Oscar winner Brad Pitt. While Pringles probably didn’t pay Pitt too much, he still deserves a spot on our list because, in part, those potato chips led to worldwide fame.

Photo Courtesy: Consumer Time Capsule/YouTube

Pitt’s acting career started off on a great foot when he landed a small role in 1991’s (now-classic) Thelma & Louise. And things only got better from there: The Hollywood star later appeared in hits like Fight Club, Ocean’s Eleven and Seven. Honestly, it still shocks us that the hunky surfer dude hawking potato chips on the beach now has a net worth of $300 million.