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Here's How Much TV Commercial Stars Make

When a commercial is successful, companies will want to continue running it to capitalize on success. However, they can’t keep running the same one over and over, because that just ruins its effectiveness and just makes the viewer uninterested in whatever they have to say. To effectively capitalize on this success, companies will instead create a series of commercials that are similar but still different enough to keep the content interesting to the viewer.

One major way companies create a series of commercials is by hiring the same actors to star in the commercials, so they have a recognizable face to attach to their brand. This technique really works! These commercials turn into a sort of ongoing mini sitcom starring our favorite characters. Whether it’s Jake from State Farm, Flo from Progressive, or Mayhem from Allstate, these characters become household icons, just like our favorite tv show characters. Infomercial stars such as Billy Mays and the Sham Wow! are often just as well-loved and successful as the actors in the other commercials.

Because these people are everywhere, they must be making a lot of money, right? But how much do these actors really make, and how much are they worth? Let's find out!

Kevin Mimms - State Farm

Kevin Mimms - State Farm

Before landing his role as Jake from State Farm in 2019, Mimms appeared in several other commercials from time to time. It is unknown what his current net worth and salary is as of 2021, but his net worth is definitely somewhere between $100,000 and $1,000,000, especially since landing this big gig and starring in a Super Bowl commercial.

There was a lot of backlash when State Farm suddenly changed the person who played Jake from State Farm, but it was for good reason. And no, it wasn’t only to be “more racially inclusive.” The original Jake from State Farm was just a State Farm employee who won the chance to be in the commercial, but after years of the successful run of the commercial, State Farm decided they wanted a real actor to play Jake from State Farm who could make commercials with more artistic license, so they hired Kevin Mimms!

(Image via StateFarm)

Peter Grosz & T.J. Jagodowski - Sonic Drive-In

Peter Grosz & T.J. Jagodowski - Sonic Drive-In

This duo is well-known for starring in the Sonic commercials where they just sit in their car and chat about what’s new at Sonic. While as of 2021 T.J. Jagodowski has a net worth of $600,000, Peter Grosz has a net worth of $1.5 million because of his additional work writing comedy. It’s unknown what their salaries are per episode, but the pair has definitely made a ton of money from this gig.

They were officially phased out of their roles in 2020 when Sonic decided to replace these “Two Guys” with four families that better represent the breadth of Sonic’s customer base. While they currently are not as funny as the original guys, they are still trying to channel the same improv vibe that they helped create along the way.

(Image via Sonic)

Vince Offer - Sham Wow!

Vince Offer - Sham Wow!

Vince Offer is best known for his infomercials for Sham Wow!, InVinceable, Slap Chop, and more. It is unknown what he made for starring in the commercials for and selling these products, but it must be quite a bit because as of 2021, he has accumulated a net worth of $2 million.

Before he was in the infomercial scene, Offer had a really sketchy past filled with criminal accounts and starring in criminally bad movies. However, he quite literally cleaned up his act once he started selling his cleaning products and has become essentially a meme at this point because he has starred in comedy movies as himself, making fun of the products he sells.

(Image via Sham Wow)

Jake Wood - Geico

Jake Wood - Geico

In the United States, it isn’t well-known who the voice of the Geico Gecko was for the longest time. They have since changed the voice actor, but Jake Wood was the original Geico Gecko. Wood is a British actor who is known for more than voicing a scaly green reptile in commercials.

Wood was also an actor on a popular British soap opera. As of 2021, Wood has a net worth of $3 million. It is unknown just how much he made from each Geico commercial that he starred in, but I bet that it was quite a bit. However, Wood eventually quit the gig because of issues regarding pay.

Images via Pinterest & Pinterest

Billy Mays - OxiClean

Billy Mays - OxiClean

Billy Mays was all over television advertising OxiClean, and he will forever be remembered that way. It was a tragedy when he died at only 50 years old in 2009. The cause of his death is largely unknown, and his son Billy Mays III said in an interview with Koncrete in 2019 that he had talked to his dad just before bed that night and everything seemed normal, but when he woke up, he got a call from his mom saying his dad had died.

Mays was a very busy and successful pitchman, and became a celebrity, rather than a salesman, in the eye of the media. In the interview with Koncrete, his son said that an hour after he learned about his father’s death, he tweeted about it, the media picked it up, and the news buzzed everywhere as one of the first online grievings of a celebrity. Mays passed away with a net worth of $10 million.

(Image via Wikipedia)

Stephanie Courtney - Progressive

Stephanie Courtney - Progressive

Everyone knows who Stephanie Courtney is; they just might not recognize her real name. Courtney is best known for her character Flo. That’s right, Flo from Progressive. She is probably one of the most recognizable faces in commercials right now, and she has been in the game for quite a while.

It wasn’t originally planned for Flo to continue starring in commercials for now over a decade, but Courtney was so good at improvising the character that she made a splash, not only to the executives, but also to the audience, and she has since worked with writers to grow who Flo is as a character, not just an extra. It is estimated that Courtney makes about $2 million a year from this gig, and her net worth as of 2021 is most likely around $6 million.

(Image via Pinterest)

Dean Winters - Allstate

Dean Winters - Allstate

Before landing the defining role of his career, Allstate’s Mayhem, Dean Winters was an actor in a couple of television shows and movies but was never really well-known. He was a recurring character in a couple of shows and played Tina Fey’s on-again-off-again boyfriend of her character in 30 Rock. Winters even died for two and a half minutes on the way to the hospital after passing out because of a bacterial infection about a year before his first Mayhem commercial aired.

Thankfully, he survived this near-death experience and lived on to star in one of the most successful ad campaigns in advertising history. Because of this rise to fame and his here-and-there roles in television shows and movies, Winters has an estimated net worth of around $5 million as of 2021. However, it is unknown just how much cash he made for starring in those commercials.

(Image via Pinterest)

Paul Marcarelli - Sprint & Verizon

Paul Marcarelli - Sprint & Verizon

If you recognize the name Paul Marcarelli, you most likely associate it with Sprint. He’s the guy who was the spokesperson for Verizon, but now he works for Sprint. There is actually more drama here than you might suspect. Under Verizon, he didn’t go by his real name in the commercials, he just played some nameless Verizon technician. He didn’t really leave Verizon for Sprint’s better cell service, but rather he left because he didn’t feel free to be himself while working at Verizon, who later fired him over email.

However, Sprint quickly picked him up and allowed him more control over his role and a better contract. Marcarelli is gay, which he felt he couldn’t be open about while working at Verizon, but under Sprint, his husband has actually appeared in one of the commercials. For these roles, Marcarelli makes about $2.5 million a year, and he has accumulated a net worth as of 2021 of $10 million.

(Image via Pinterest)

Colonel Sanders - KFC

Colonel Sanders - KFC

Colonel Sanders is not just a publicity stunt, he was the real person who began KFC, Colonel Harland Sanders. He learned how to cook when his mother had to work to make ends meet after his father died and he had to care for his younger siblings. He went through many other trials in his life and career before KFC became a success.

Sanders created the original recipe for KFC’s fried chicken at a gas station he owned and sold it to hungry travelers. When Sanders died in 1980, he had accumulated a net worth of $10 million at today’s inflation price, so he died a very wealthy man. However, he sadly is not remembered as a hardworking man as much as he is remembered as the mascot for KFC.

(Image via Pinterest)

Milana Vayntrub - AT&T

Milana Vayntrub - AT&T

Not only does actress Milana Vayntrub star as the salesperson Lily in the AT&T commercials, she is also the director for the majority of them! Talk about a talented person! Even though she directs and acts in a majority of these commercials, AT&T has not made Vayntrub’s salary known to the public.

However, she must be making quite a bit of cash because her net worth as of 2021 is estimated to be around $3 million. Commercials are very valuable to companies because if they are good and reliable like these AT&T commercials must be, they can make them a ton of money.

(Image via Pinterest)

Beck Bennett - AT&T

Beck Bennett - AT&T

If you ask someone now who Beck Bennett is, they will probably tell you that he is that guy on Saturday Night Live. They aren’t wrong, but if you would have asked them several years ago, they would probably answer that he is that one guy from that one AT&T commercial. You know, the one where he sits down with the kids and asks the questions and the voiceover at the end says “it’s not complicated?”

Well, those commercials were what set Bennett up for success and definitely helped him get his gig on Saturday Night Live. They were equally as cute as they were funny and were very well executed. It isn’t clear how much Bennett made from each of these commercials, but as of 2021, he has a net worth of $4 million. I bet that these commercials were a large part of that number.

(Image via Pinterest)

Tim Williams - Trivago

Tim Williams - Trivago

Tim Williams is best known simply as “The Trivago Guy.” He never says his name in the commercials - but there you go. His name is Tim Williams. He has not only starred in Trivago commercials, but he also landed a gig for a while in a German soap opera. He didn’t know German before landing the role and learned the language specifically to get the job where he played an American rock star.

He’s received a lot of flack over the years about not being well-dressed enough or being too well-dressed, but either way, he has been successful in the role as “The Trivago Guy.” He is estimated to make about $2.5 million a year from doing these commercials, and as of 2021, he has an estimated net worth of around $5 million.

(Image via Pinterest)

Isaiah Mustafa - Old Spice

Isaiah Mustafa - Old Spice

Isaiah Mustafa is best known as the “Old Spice Guy.” Old Spice has been around for a very long time, and so have their commercials, but it wasn’t until the last 20 years or so that they have gotten really interesting. They have used celebrities like Will Ferrell, Neil Patrick Harris, and Terry Crews in some of their most memorable campaigns.

However, Mustafa will forever be known as the “Old Spice Guy.” It is unknown just how much he made from each of his iconic commercials, but it must have been quite a bit since he has a net worth as of 2021 of $5 million. If you take a class in marketing and advertising, there is also a chance that he might even appear in your textbook because of how successful this campaign was.

(Image via Pinterest)

Jonathan Goldsmith - Dos Equis

Jonathan Goldsmith - Dos Equis

Jonathan Goldsmith, a.k.a. “The Most Interesting Man in the World,” got his start in acting when he was young where he starred in a western television show as a bad guy where he acted alongside John Wayne himself. Unlike the character he plays in the Dos Equis commercials, Goldsmith is not latino, but he learned the correct accent for the character from a long-time friend of his who is latino.

This role is definitely what Goldsmith is best-known for, and Dos Equis sales rose steadily throughout the airing of these commercials. He made an estimated $2 million a year from these commercials, and as of 2021, has a net worth of around $8 million. We know that Dos Equis is probably still doing well, especially when compared to fellow Mexican beer company Corona, given all that is going on with COVID-19, a.k.a., the coronavirus.

(Image via Pinterest)

Dennis Haysbert - Allstate

Dennis Haysbert - Allstate

Am I the only one that thought this guy was Morgan Freeman when I was little? Am I showing my age? Yeah, I was young when Dennis Haysbert started making Allstate commercials in 2003. Like, really young. I obviously know better now, but that just goes to show how long Haysbert has been the spokesperson for Allstate.

Because he has been in the commercials for so long, that obviously means they are successful, which means they are making a lot of money because of them, which means Haysbert gets paid the big bucks. It is estimated that he makes about $3.5 million a year from working on these commercials. As of 2021, Haysbert has a net worth of about $20 million.

(Image via Pinterest)

Wilford Brimley

Wilford Brimley

Before becoming a commercial star, Wilford Brimley was an actor in films like The Firm and Cocoon. Born in 1934, Wilford Brimley grew up on a ranch and dropped out of school at the age of 14, but that didn't stop him from becoming a huge success.

These days, Wilford Brimley is best known for his appearances in diabetes (usually pronounced "diabeetus") testing supplies commercials for Liberty Medical, as well as for Quaker Oats. Sadly, Brimley is no longer with us after passing in August 2020. he died with a net worth of $8 million.

(Image via Youtube)

Carly Foulkes

Carly Foulkes

Carly Foulkes is one of the most recognizable faces when it comes to mobile commercials. She's "the T-Mobile Girl" as many refer to her. The Canadian actress mostly did the ads from 2010 to 2013, seen in a pink dress with white polka dots every single time.

Since her heyday, she's been brought back several times over the years for more T-Mobile commercials. At the time she was making as much as $1 million per year, but what she makes for new appearances is difficult to say, but it is believed that she is still on contract with them to return as needed.

(Image via Wired)

Clara Peller

Clara Peller

Clara Peller is one of the most recognizable faces in television history featured in the famous "Where's the beef?" Wendy's commercials. The commercials ran in the mid-'80s and Peller was doing them when she was 83 years old.

The catchphrase was an instant hit and is one of the most iconic in history. Even people that have never actually seen the commercial, still know the line. Clara Peller managed to earn as much as $500,00 per year, which was a lot then. However, she didn't do the commercials for long, as she died in 1987.

(Image via Youtube)

Justin Guarini

Justin Guarini

Justin Guarini is best known for his appearance as Lil' Sweet, the fictional singer featured in the Diet Dr. Pepper commercials. His singing talents are all too real, however, as Justin was a contestant on American Idol. He was second to Kelly Clarkson, who was the original winner in the show's first season.

The two American Idol contestants would be featured in the movie From Justin to Kelly in 2003, which would be his first major acting gig. For his Dr. Pepper commercial spots, it's being reported that he is earning as much as $250,000 per year. Hey, it's not as much as Kelly Clarkson is making, but he's just the runner-up.

(Image via Youtube

Dick Wilson

Dick Wilson

Dick Wilson was another vintage commercial star from way back in the 1960s. He would go on to star in Charmin commercials for an astounding 20 years. His character was Mr. Whipple, a somewhat neurotic grocery store owner who would scold customers for squeezing the Charmin toilet paper, even though he did the same.

Wilson ended earning a pretty hefty salary for the time and when you consider how long he was doing it for, it's easy to see how wealthy he became. It is said that he was earning as much as $300,000 per year for those commercials.

(Image via Reuters)

Wendy Kaufman

Wendy Kaufman

Wendy Kaufman, The Snapple Lady, started out as just a regular Snapple employee. However, her lively personality and warmth led caught the attention of the company quickly. She would even write letters back to fans of the company before Snapple put her to good use in the world of advertising.

Snapple’s advertising agency came up with a series of ads depicting Kaufman writing letters to fans. In the early 1990s when these ads ran, Snapple saw a surge in sales. They were a huge success and earned Kaufman as much as $100,000 per year.

(Image via Eater)

Colin Ferguson

Colin Ferguson

Colin Ferguson - you may recognize from the Maytag commercials he starred in. The Maytag Man character itself has been around since the '60s but Ferguson has been filling the shoes since 2014. In the commercial, Ferguson acts as the appliances themselves, holding food as if he were a refrigerator or handling clothes like a washing machine.

Ferguson has made a huge name for himself and is instantly recognized by TV viewers everywhere for his silly commercials. For the spots themselves, Ferguson reportedly earns $1 million per year. However, when combined with his other acting gigs, he has an estimated $8 million net worth.

(Image via NY Times)

Brandon Moynihan

Brandon Moynihan

Brandon Moynihan is the face of Hotels.com, the travel booking website that helps travelers find the cheapest prices on hotel rooms. The recurring character is known as Captain Obvious, obviously. Brandon Moynihan lends to the character a deadpan sense of humor as he spews out the obvious facts.

Brandon Moynihan has been in the role since 2014 and its difficult to imagine anyone else in it at this point. Hotels.com certainly feels the same, reportedly giving him as much as $180,000 per year. He has a net worth estimated at $1.1 million.

(Image via Adweek)

Farris Patton

Farris Patton

Farris Patton from the Orbit gum commercials fulfilled the role as The Orbit Gum Girl in 2010. The character was created back in 2001, however, when Wrigley relaunched the brand. She is known for her posh British accent, sparkling smile and clean appearance overall.

The schtick is that someone gets themselves in a dirty or messy situation, literally, and she offers the gum so that they at least have a clean mouth. Patton did the commercials until 2014 and was paid an estimated $500,000 total during her time.

(Image via Youtube)

Phil Swift

Phil Swift

Phil Swift is the Billy Mays for the new generation. The Flex Seal sales pitchman featured in the direct-response ads has a similar net worth to what Billy Mays had at $10 million, even despite doing fewer commercials and advertising for fewer products.

How did he do it? Well, as a CEO, not all that money is coming from the commercials themselves, but the commercials have certainly brought the brand success. One of the most notable commercials on Phil Swift's resume would have to be the one where he is riding a glass boat, being held together with nothing but Flex Seal, Flex Glue or Flex Tape adhesives.

(Image via Youtube)

Diane Amos

Diane Amos

Diane Amos is the Pine-Sol Lady and after 30 years, we can safely say that nobody does it better. The actress has starred in a series of commercials expressing her love for Pine-Sol cleaning products, which is pretty straightforward. It would be boring though without her exceptional personality shining through.

Before getting the role in the commercial spots, she had a background in improv comedy, which explains why she is so funny and charismatic. She has a net worth of $2.5 million and earns $250,000 per year for the part.

(Image via Youtube)

Morgan Smith-Goodwin

Morgan Smith-Goodwin

Morgan Smith-Goodwin is one of the newer faces of Wendy's but still recognizable to consumers. Wendy's is pretty huge on social media and Morgan Smith-Goodwin has been there to help. She has appeared as Red in a series of commercials that ran from 2012 to 2016.

How much was she earning? Wendy's was paying her as much as $750,000 per year for the role. That's a whole lot of square hamburgers and Frosties for one person!

(Image via yahoo)

Demetri Goritsas

Demetri Goritsas

When Demetri Goritas from the Slim Jim commercials replaced pro wrestling legend Randy “Macho Man” Savage in 1998, everyone was scratching their heads. The new character Slim Jim Guy was literally dressed like a Slim Jim. But it didn't take long for people to get used to the idea.

The over-the-top commercial was an either you loved it or loathed it type thing but they certainly got your attention. the ads didn't run that long but the actor earned $100,000 for them at the time.

(Image via TMZ)

Laurel Coppock

Laurel Coppock

Laurel Coppock, you are sure to recognize from her Toyota commercials. She's always smiling and wears a red outfit. Ring any bells? her role is that of Jan, a Toyota salesperson and she's been playing it since 2012.

Like many of the actors on this list, Laurel Coppock has a background in improve comedy. With Toyota, however, is where she is earning the big bucks. Reportedly, she is earning an estimated $1 million annually.

(Image via Instagram)

Jim Cashman

Jim Cashman

Jim Cashman isn't quite as famous or recognizable as Flo but as her co-worker Jamie, Jim Cashman is certainly starting to become a star in his own right. He is often featured in new commercials with the Flo character and is portrayed more as a silly character.

The actor, Jim Cashman, has a background in improve comedy which he lends to the role. For his appearances, it is said he earns as much as $500,000 per year.

(Image via Twitter)