Sofia Vergara Is Forbes' Highest-Earning Television Actress

Actress Tops the Forbes Celebrity 100 List Making $30 Million

By Jordana Ossad Sep 04, 2013 3:52 PMTags
Sofia VergaraMark Davis/Getty Images

And the top-earning actress on television, for the second year in a row, is...

Sofia Vergara!

The Colombian bombshell, who plays firecracker mother Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on ABC's hit comedy Modern Family, made nearly $30 million last year, according to the Forbes Celebrity 100 list.

Vergara's high earnings, due in part to her sizeable Modern Family paycheck, were also fueled largely by her lucrative endorsement deals, which include Kmart, Diet Pepsi and Covergirl. Adding to her bi-lingual portfolio, the 41-year-old actress also added several Spanish-language commercials to her resume.

According to Forbes, the Celebrity 100 list looks at the earnings of celebrities during a specific time period—this list was compiled from June 2012 through June 2013.  Forbes speaks to agents, lawyers and considers  "upfront pay, residuals, endorsements and advertising work" when creating the list. The top 20 list of actresses earned $183 million collectively.

Not bad!

Gary Gershoff/Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Mariska Hargitay from Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Kaley Cuoco from The Big Bang Theory tied for the No. 2 spot on the list, with each actress taking home an estimated $11 million last year. Hargitay's paycheck comes solely from SVU (no endorsement deals). Currently in its 14th season, the NBC series has more than 300 episodes in syndication. Cuoco's jump from No. 11 last year is thanks to an estimated $300,000 per episode for Big Bang and deals with Toyota and Priceline. 

Mike & Molly star Melissa McCarthy comes in at No. 4, climbing 14 spots in the last year raking in $10 million.  Joining McCarthy at No. 4 are the Kardashians, new talk show host Bethenny Frankel, Grey's Anatomy's Ellen Pompeo and Tina Fey.

Way to go ladies!