When it comes to massively successful sitcoms, the relatively unknown or moderately famous casts often end up becoming HUGE stars — with similarly huge salaries. And that's exactly what happened with Modern Family. The cast began with fairly modest paychecks, and through years of negotiations, ended up making the big bucks.
Here's a look at what they were making in Season 1 compared to Season 11:
1.Ed O'Neill as Jay Pritchett
Ed's Season 1 Salary Per Episode: $95,000
As the veteran actor when the show premiered, with sitcom clout from his role as Al Bundy on Married... with Children, Ed commanded the largest paycheck of the cast at around $95,000 per episode. This was actually lower than his normal quote, but he traded some salary for a small backend stake in the show's profits. Considering what a MASSIVE hit the show became, this was a brilliant idea.
ABCEd's Season 11 Salary Per Episode: $500,000
By the end of the series, Ed was making the same amount per episode as the rest of the "adult" characters on the show — Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Sofía Vergara, Eric Stonestreet, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson. (Keep reading this post to find out how it all went down!) Ed actually agreed to reduce his own pay to match his costars' for the small price of a little more backend stake in the show's profits.
ABC2.Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy
Julie's Season 1 Salary Per Episode: $30,000–$60,000
While we don't know Julie's specific salary per episode, Variety reported that most of the remaining adult cast members were paid within the range of $30,000–$60,000 per episode.
ABCJulie's Season 11 Salary Per Episode: $500,000
Before the start of Season 3, Julie, Ty, Sofía, Jesse, and Eric banded together for the first time to negotiate better pay once the show was a bonafide hit, and as mentioned above, Ed O'Neill agreed to a pay cut to help get them there. While we don't have specifics, at that time the adult cast was set to be making around $65,000 per episode. After Season 3, the adult cast including Ed filed a lawsuit (and won) to increase their per episode rate even more. The group ultimately renegotiated a few times, and sometime during the middle of the show's run, they got their salaries up to $350,000 per episode. By the time they signed their final contract for the show's last two seasons, they were each up to $500,000 per episode.
Eric Mccandless / ABC via Getty Images3.Sofía Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett
Sofía's Season 1 Salary Per Episode: $30,000–$60,000
Sofía's Season 11 Salary Per Episode: $500,000
4.Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy
Ty's Season 1 Salary Per Episode: $30,000–$60,000
Ty's Season 11 Salary Per Episode: $500,000
5.Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett
Jesse's Season 1 Salary Per Episode: $30,000–$60,000
Jesse's Season 11 Salary Per Episode: $500,000
6.Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker
Eric's Season 1 Salary Per Episode: $20,000
Eric was reported to be making the least of his fellow adult costars — around $20,000 per episode during Season 1. He ultimately won an Emmy award for his work that season.
ABCEric's Season 11 Salary Per Episode: $500,000
Of course, he soon caught up to his other cast mates. During the show's final season, he commanded the same $500,000 per episode as the rest of the adult cast.
ABC7.Sarah Hyland as Haley Dunphy
Sarah's Season 1 Salary Per Episode: Around $25,000 (and slightly more than the rest of the kids)
While we don't have the specific numbers for their Season 1 salaries, according to Deadline, the younger cast of Modern Family — Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Rico Rodriguez, and Nolan Gould negotiated up to $70,000 per episode for their Season 4 contracts. Deadline said this figure was a little less than "triple" what they started making, which is where the $25,000 comes in. They also reported that originally, Sarah (who was actually 18 at the time of the first season) was making a bit more than the other kids, but they soon had more parity.
ABCSarah's Season 11 Salary Per Episode: Over $100,000
As mentioned above, the young cast negotiated up to $70,000 per episode by Season 4. Then, according to Deadline, before Season 9, they renegotiated their contracts, giving them a big bump over $100,000 per episode.
ABC8.Rico Rodriguez as Manny Delgado
Rico's Season 1 Salary Per Episode: Around $25,000
Rico's Season 11 Salary Per Episode: Over $100,000
9.Ariel Winter as Alex Dunphy
Ariel's Season 1 Salary Per Episode: Around $25,000
Ariel's Season 11 Salary Per Episode: Over $100,000
10.Nolan Gould as Luke Dunphy
Nolan's Season 1 Salary Per Episode: Around $25,000
Nolan's Season 11 Salary Per Episode: Over $100,000
11.Aubrey Anderson-Emmons as Lily Tucker-Pritchett: ????
There was no legitimate source for how much money Aubrey made for her portrayal of Lily, a role she took on starting in Season 3 of the hit show. However, Deadline's reporting about the younger cast renegotiating their contracts did mention that Aubrey's team attempted to renegotiate hers as well, but ultimately, they were unsuccessful since she was just a recent addition to the cast. Various sites online claim that Aubrey was making $70,000 per episode by the time the series ended, but I was unable to find a reliable source for that, so let's just consider that a guesstimate.
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