Before the 2000s, Seinfeld stood at the top of TV shows, making its cast members incredibly wealthy and famous. Jerry Seinfeld was the first TV star to command a paycheck of $1 million per episode for the sitcom. The show still continues to fund the bank accounts of its cast members, including Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards. A recent report suggested that Jerry Seinfeld has even joined the elite billionaire club.
The sitcom, created by Larry David and Seinfeld, ran for nine seasons from 1989 to 1998. The show about ‘nothing’ became a favorite among critics and topped the ratings chart for years. WGA voted the show as the second best-written TV series after The Sopranos.
Seinfeld Cast Salaries — Jerry Seinfeld Made Much More Than Others
Before the final season of Seinfeld, NBC reached a pact with Jerry Seinfeld to pay him $1 million per episode. His co-stars, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Michael Richards also asked for a whopping $1 million salary, a significant raise from their $150,000 per episode salary. They finally managed to get a 300 percent raise and were earning $600,000 per episode when the show ended. (via EW)
Seinfeld also made a significant amount of money through off-network and cable syndication. The show earned more than $4 billion in syndication and Jerry Seinfeld made a significant profit from this amount through his backend deals, earning nearly $465 million (via Bloomberg). However, the supporting cast did not receive the backend points on the show and made next to nothing from the syndication deals.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, the three supporting actors would receive royalties from when the show airs on cable or streaming services. However, these royalties were in the range of hundreds of thousands per year at most.
Jerry Seinfeld – $1 Billion Net Worth
According to Bloomberg’s recent analysis, Jerry Seinfeld has entered the billionaire club from the money he earned from Seinfeld and other TV projects. The recent sale of streaming rights of his show to Netflix has put him at the top. However, Seinfeld’s staff insist that the assessment is inaccurate (via New York Post).
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – $250 Million Net Worth
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is rich, not just from her acting money, but also from her family money. Her father, Gerard Louis-Dreyfus, was a billionaire when he passed away in 2016. Her base salary in Seinfeld, along with her other two co-stars, amounted to approximately $45 million (via Celebrity Net Worth). She also starred in the HBO hit series, Veep, for which she earned $500,000 per episode. She earned around $8 million including endorsement deals from Veep. She is currently a part of the MCU.
Jason Alexander – $50 Million Net Worth
Like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander also earned an approximate base salary of $45 million (via Celebrity Net Worth). Besides his role as George Constanza, he also appeared in more than 50 movie projects and several TV shows. Most recently, he appeared in a notable role in Amazon Prime Video’s critically acclaimed show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Michael Richards – $30 Million Net Worth
Michael Richards played Cosmo Kramer in Seinfeld and earned praise from the audience for his physical comedy and distinctive style. He also earned a $45 million approx. base salary with no backend points from the show (via Celebrity Net Worth). Following the success of the show, he starred in his own sitcom, The Michael Richards Show. He later appeared in projects like UHF and Trial and Error.
Seinfeld is now available for streaming on Netflix.
