Top Earning TV Stars: Simon Cowell and Tyra Banks

Move over Charlie Sheen, you may be the highest paid television actor but Simon Cowell and Tyra Banks got more money than you. Here’s the list of highest earning prime time TV stars in 2009 according to the list-makers of Forbes Magazine.

The full list of Top 10 male earners on U.S. prime time TV
1. Simon Cowell ($75 million)
2. Donald Trump ($50 million)
3. Ryan Seacrest ($38 million)
4. Charlie Sheen ($21 million
5. Steve Carell ($21 million)
6. Howie Mandel ($15 million)
7. Kiefer Sutherland ($13 million)
8. Jeff Foxworthy ($11 million)
9. Hugh Laurie ($10 million)
10. David Caruso ($9 million)

Top 10 female earners on U.S. prime time TV
1. Tyra Banks ($30 million)
2. Katherine Heigl ($18 million)
3. Marg Helgenberger ($9.5 million)
4. Eva Longoria Parker ($9 million)
5. Mariska Hargitay ($8.5 million)
6. Julia Louis-Dreyfus (tie) ($8 million)
6. Maura Tierney (tie) ($8 million)
8. Tina Fey ($7 million)
9. Marcia Cross ($6.2 million)
10. Jennifer Love Hewitt (tie) ($6 million)
10. Ellen Pompeo (tie) ($6 million)

As with any list generated by them peeps of Forbes Magazine, let’s take this list with a grain of salt. Where are the other “TV stars” like Ellen Degeneres, David Letterman, etc. etc? Seems like Forbes limited their definition of “TV stars” to only include actors/actresses and those with reality shows?

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