Prime time TV top earning women

Forbes love making top lists and I just love to see celeb names on them. It must be a part of human nature to have an itch to know how much other people earn, to see if you’re getting financially better or worse than somebody else, to see who manages to reach the top and who ultimately fails.

So Forbes created a list of Top earning Prime Time TV stars during the year-long period (June 2007 – June 2008). Here’s the prime time rich babe list:

1. Tyra Banks, America’s Next Top Model, $23 million

Tyra was working both in front of and behind the camera this year. She’s got her daytime talk show and is producer and judge on the CW’s hit reality competition series. Last fall, she also signed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. to develop more projects, among them are Stylista, a CW reality show set in the magazine world, and a direct-to-DVD series based on the best-selling Clique series of books for teens.

2. Heidi Klum, Project Runway, $14 million

Heidi renewed her Victoria’s Secret contract last year, headed up another season of Project Runway and hosted Germany’s version of America’s Next Top Model. She also tried her hand in designing including three lines of Mouawad jewelry and one of Jordache jeans. Ms. Klum has inked new contracts with Diet Coke, McDonald’s, Volkswagen and Bella Fontanis water. Her skincare line debuted in June.

3. Katherine Heigl, Grey’s Anatomy, $13 million

Heigl has been working on both small and big screens this year. Besides Grey’s Anatomy, she starred in Knocked Up (2007) and 27 Dresses (2008). Katherine’s also the face of a Nautica fragrance and spokesperson for a line of medical scrubs.

4. Eva Longoria, Desperate Housewives, $9 million

Eva is so far the best earning housewife of all the housewives. Besides doing the show she’s also a spokeswoman for L’Oréal Paris and Bebe Sport.

5. Maura Tierney, ER, $7.5 million

Besides playing doc on ER, the Emmy-nominated actress recently graced the big screen in Will Ferrell’s Semi-Pro and Tina Fey’s Baby Mama.

6. Mariska Hargitay, Law and Order: SVU, $6.5 million

7. Marg Helgenberger, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, $6 million

Analyst Catherine Willows is not the only role Marg’s played this year. 2007’s Mr. Brooks and this year’s Columbus Day helped her reach number 7 on the list.

8. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ghost Whisperer, $5 million

Being the leading star and producer of Ghost Whisperer, Hewitt’s also a spokeswoman for underwear maker Hanes and cosmetics giant Proactiv.

9. Paula Abdul, American Idol, $5 million.

Paula also has her own reality docu-show, Hey Paula, sells a line of jewelry for QVC and will soon launch a line of active wear for the cheerleader set.

10. Tina Fey, 30 Rock, $4.6 million

Among the top earners there are also Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty) with $4.5 m, other Desperate Housewives Teri Hatcher ($3.8 m), Marcia Cross ($3.7 m), and Felicity Huffman ($3.4 m), as well as Patricia Arquette (Medium), Calista Flockhart, and Ellen Pompeo.

Follow Us

Become a Fan on Facebook