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Hollywood's Highest-Paid TV Actresses

Forbes — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:30:00 EST

By Dorothy Pomerantz, Forbes Staff

The 10 women on our Highest-Paid TV Actresses list earned a total of $94 million between May 2010 and May 2011. That may seem like a lot, but consider their movie peers: Just the top three women in movies earned almost as much combined ($88 million).

So yes, women make a lot less in TV than they do if they are big movie stars, but there are advantages. Working mothers with TV roles usually get to stay in L.A. (or New York) instead of having to jet around the world to film locations. There's a steady paycheck and no worrying about Angelina Jolie beating you out for the part in the next big film.

And usually the roles are better. None of the women on our list play the doting girlfriend or the damsel in distress. They all portray strong-willed, well-rounded women who have the room to grown and change over the course of many seasons.

Gallery: Highest-Paid TV Actresses

Just look at the two women who tie for first place on our list: Tina Fey and Eva Longoria. Each actresses earned $13 million between May 2010 and May 2011.

In addition to starring on 30 Rock, Fey is the producer and head writer. And while the show hasn't been a massive rating success for Comcast's NBC network, it has developed the kind of loyal following that laps up DVDs and watches the shows again and again. 30 Rock is now in syndication on Fox and Comedy Central. Fey's unique take on the work-place comedy is a big part of the reason the show draws such loyal fans. Who else but Fey could coin a term like lizzing?

The women on Desperate Housewives aren't pushovers either. Longoria leads the pack with $13 million thanks to lucrative endorsement deals with L'Oreal and LG, but all three of her co-stars are also on our list. Marcia Cross ranks third with $10 million and Felicity Huffman and Terry Hatcher tie for fifth with $9 million each.

The adventures of the four suburban housewives have been a boon for Disney's ABC. When the show hit the air in 2004 (along with Lost), it transformed ABC from a has-been to the hottest network almost overnight. The show has had a massive run but its current season (the eighth) will be the show's last. The season's recent premiere was the show's lowest rated.

But don't cry for the ladies. They'll collect fat checks from syndication for years to come. Older episodes can currently be seen on Lifetime.

You don't see too many female crime investigators in the movies but two women make our list with those TV roles: Mariska Hargitay and Marg Helgenberger.

Forbes Unveils List of Richest Americans

Forbes — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Industry News, Warren Buffett

By Luisa Kroll and Kerry A. Dolan

Despite the stalled economy, the nation's wealthiest are worth a combined $1.53 trillion, nearly equivalent to the GDP of our neighbor Canada. Their total wealth is up 12% in the year through August 26, when we took a snapshot of everyone's net worth, meaning these affluent folks did slightly better than the markets; the S&P 500, for instance, was up 10% in that time.

But it's not simply a case of the rich getting richer. The Forbes 400 grows more meritocratic over time. An all-time high 70% of this year's list are self-made, up from 55% in 1997.

Bill Gates was the richest person for the 18th straight year, worth $59 billion; the last time he didn't rank no. 1 was in 1993 when his good friend Warren Buffett was on top. Buffett, who's been spending a lot of time talking about raising taxes on the rich, is still no. 2 but the gap is widening. His fortune tumbled $6 billion in the past year, making him the biggest loser in terms of total dollars. He gave away $3.27 billion since last year's rankings but was also pinched by a 10% drop in Berkshire Hathaway's stock.

Gallery: The 10 Richest Americans

Rounding out the top 10 on The Forbes 400: Oracle founder Larry Ellison ($33 billion), industrialists Charles and David Koch ($25 billion apiece), Wal-Mart heirs Christy Walton ($24.5 billion), Jim C. Walton ($21.1 billion) and Alice Walton ($20.9 billion), hedge fund investor George Soros ($22 billion), and casino king Sheldon Adelson ($21.5 billion).

The headlines in this our 30th year of The Forbes 400 belong not to the old stalwarts but to a younger group of entrepreneurs marching their way up the ranks, particularly those who are profoundly impacting social behavior online. These entrepreneurs are using technology to unleash power and make fortunes, and it is these folks who will likely help jump start the American economy again.

Leading the pack is Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who added $10.6 billion to his fortune, making him the year's biggest gainer and pushing him into the top 20 for the first time - he ranks no. 14 with a net worth of $17.5 billion. That puts him ahead of Google rivals Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who added $1.7 billion apiece to their fortunes but slipped five spots in the rankings and are tied at no. 15.

Williams College Trumps Ivy League on Forbes Top Colleges List

Forbes — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Financial Aid

The best years of life are also among the most expensive. Choose with care.

Our annual ranking of the 650 best undergraduate institutions focuses on the things that matter the most to students: quality of teaching, great career prospects, graduation rates and low levels of debt. Unlike other lists, we pointedly ignore ephemeral measures such as school "reputation" and ill-conceived metrics that reward wasteful spending. We try and evaluate the college purchase as a consumer would: Is it worth spending as much as a quarter of a million dollars for this degree? The rankings are prepared exclusively for Forbes by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, a Washington, D.C. think tank founded by Ohio University economist Richard Vedder.

For the second year in a row, Williams College, a small, western-Massachusetts liberal arts school, has been named as the best undergraduate institution in America. With total annual costs adding up to nearly $55,000, a Williams education is certainly not cheap, but the 2,000 undergraduates here have among the highest four-year graduation rates in the country, win loads of prestigious national awards like Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, and are often rewarded with high-paying careers.

Gallery: In Photos: Forbes: America's Top Colleges

In second place? Princeton University, which boasts nearly nonexistent student debt rates due to one of the most generous financial aid programs in the nation. Outside of Princeton and Harvard (#6), Ivy League schools fare relatively poorly, suggesting that their reputations might be a bit overblown. Yale (#14), Brown (#21) and Dartmouth (#30) crack the top 5%, but the other Ivies - Columbia (#42), Cornell (#51) University of Pennsylvania (#52) -- do not.

Because of our emphasis on financial prudence, the zero-cost military service academies rank highly. West Point, which topped the list two years ago, ranks third this time, thanks to outstanding teaching (#3) and high alumni salaries (#8), while the Air Force Academy (#10) and the Naval Academy (#17) glide easily into the top 20. Even the less prestigious academies - the Coast Guard (#97) and the Merchant Marine (#158) -- score well.

Outside of the academies, the highest ranked public school is the University of Virginia (#46) followed closely by the College of William and Mary (#49) and UCLA (#55).

Lady Gaga Tops Forbes Celebrity 100 List

Forbes — Wed, 18 May 2011 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Media, People, Investing

The Queen Monster's $90 million in earnings and mastery of social media pushed her past perennial winner Oprah Winfrey. Not that Oprah's doing badly.

By Dorothy Pomerantz, Forbes Magazine

LOS ANGELES -- The men and women on our annual Celebrity 100 list -- the most powerful people in the entertainment business this year -- earned $4.5 billion over the last 12 months by starring in films, playing basketball, walking the catwalk and more. But they also rose to the top by garnering influence.

These days that means mastering social media. Lady Gaga topples Oprah Winfrey from her No.1 spot on our list, which she's given up for only the third time in seven years. Gaga is there not just because of the $90 million she earned with a monster tour, but also because of her 32 million Facebook fans and 9.5 million Twitter followers -- aka Little Monsters -- who helped move 1 million digital downloads of her recent single Born This Way in only five days. They're also happy to buy the MAC makeup, Monster headphones and Virgin Mobile phones she features in her videos.

Oprah doesn't fall far though. The daytime talk maven, who earned $290 million last year, comes in second. Winfrey's earnings sank $25 million partially due to a reduced payday at SiriusXM. She still earns big from her syndicated show and from the stars she's spawned, including Dr. Phil (No. 18) Rachael Ray and Dr. Oz. Winfrey's earning power will take a bigger hit next year, when her syndicated show ends and she concentrates all her efforts on the struggling OWN network.

The Top Two Power Ladies, United

Maybe it would help if Oprah took a lesson from No. 3 Justin Bieber (left). The Biebs debuts on our list at the tender young age of 17, with $53 million earned over the last 12 months thanks to concerts, music sales and a 3-D documentary movie that grossed $100 million at the global box office. If this were 10 years ago Bieber would still be paying his dues in small clubs and schools, but thanks to the Internet, he's a sensation. His first hit song, Baby, has been viewed 500 million times, a YouTube record.

Reality TV it girl Bethenny Frankel is another newbie worth noting. Famous for her newest hit show, Bethenny Ever After, she's used the small-screen platform to promote her Skinnygirl brand, helping her earn $55 million this year. She joins our list in 42nd place. Her entrepreneurial prowess -- she sold her Skinnygirl Cocktails to Fortune Brands (FO) and nabbed a $100 million cut of the deal paid out over multiple years -- also put her on the cover of our magazine this week.

The Celebrity 100, which includes film and television actors, TV personalities, models, athletes, authors, musicians and comedians, is a measure of entertainment-related earnings and media visibility (exposure in print, television, radio and online). We also measure social media power by looking at each celebrity's presence on Facebook and Twitter. The earnings consist of pretax income between May 1, 2010, and May 1, 2011. Management, agent and attorney fees are not deducted. Forbes has been publishing the list annually since 1999.

Despite problems on and off the golf course, Tiger Woods still makes the top 10, ranking sixth with $75 million in annual earnings. Woods hasn't won a tournament since the revelation of his marital infidelities in 2009, and he recently withdrew from The Players Championship. But he still commands $3 million a pop for overseas appearances, and collects money from his remaining sponsors, Nike (NKE) and Electronic Arts (ERTS).

Having a much better year: Leonardo DiCaprio. The star makes the biggest leap on our list this year, rising from 71st place to 15th, thanks to two huge movies: Shutter Island and Inception. The latter earned $825 million at the global box office, making it the sixth-highest-earning film of 2010. That went a long way toward helping DiCaprio earn $77 million over the last 12 months.

Will Smith returns to our list this year thanks to the upcoming Men in Black III, in which he'll reprise his role as Agent J. Smith had fallen off of our list in 2010 because he took time off to nurture the budding careers of his children, Jaden and Willow. Jaden starred in a remake of The Karate Kid (which Smith produced); the film earned $360 million. Smith helped Willow with her hit song Whip My Hair. The video for the song has been viewed 11 million times.

Notable drop-offs include Britney Spears, who ranked sixth in 2010 but stumbled this year because she didn't tour. With the Harry Potter franchise coming to an end, Daniel Radcliffe (who ranked 82nd last year) also failed to make the cut.

The Forbes Celebrity Top 10

1. Lady Gaga
Music, $90 million

2.Oprah Winfrey (right)
Television, $290 million

3. Justin Bieber
Music, $53 million

4. U2
Music, $195 million

5. Elton John
Music, $100 million

6. Tiger Woods
Athletes, $75 million

7. Taylor Swift
Music, $45 million

8. Bon Jovi
Music, $125 million

9. Simon Cowell (right)
Television, $90 million

10. LeBron James
Athletes, $48 million

Click Here to See the Full List of the Most Powerful Celebrities In the World.
The Forbes Celebrity 100

Related Links:

Celebrity 100 Drop Offs

Celebrity 100 Newcomers

Celebrities to Watch

The 10 Most Powerful Actors

The 10 Most Powerful Actresses

The 10 Most Powerful Musicians

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