Credit: @kaleycuoco
There are many things we don’t know about Kaley Cuoco, but we do know her talent is paramount. She’s been around for many years, gracing us with her on-screen talent and humor, but did you know she began her life in California as an almost-professional tennis player? Kaley Christine Cuoco was only three when she picked up a tennis racket for the first time. She spent the next 13 years playing. She aspired to be a professional tennis player, but at the age of 16, she decided she wanted to be an actress. It’s when the game changed, and Kaley Cuoco’s net worth began to accumulate. She’ll turn 37 on November 30, 2022, and she’ll do so with a cool $100 million in the bank.
Kaley Cuoco’s Net Worth at 10
She was only 10 when she began her acting career, so she wasn’t worth much at the time. In fact, she wasn’t worth anything, really. But she was working on it. She landed a few small roles in 1995, but nothing that really took off for her or her career. She began her acting career with a small role in a 1995 film called Virtuosity. It wasn’t a big one, and it didn’t make her a star. However, it did lead to landing other roles on television shows such as Ladies Man and Growing Up Brady. She also landed a role in a Disney Channel movie – and you know a Disney Channel movie can change the game – called Alley Cats Strike. It didn’t do anything to make her a superstar, however. She still wasn’t a household name, but she was already 15 and making decisions. Did she continue to pursue a career as a professional athlete, or did she quit tennis to focus on acting?
Credit: @kaleycuoco
Landing a Role That Changed Her Life
In 2002, Kaley Cuoco’s net worth would see its first substantial increase. She landed the role of the eldest daughter in a family of five on an ABC sitcom called 8 Simple Rules. She played Bridget, and her parents were played by the late great John Ritter and the talented Katey Sagal. The show was a massive success, and Cuoco was becoming a recognized actress. Sadly, the show only ran for three seasons. Following the first season, John Ritter died unexpectedly in 2003. The show tried to go on, but ratings were low, and it was canceled in 2005.
The Big Bang Theory
While Kaley Cuoco had plenty of work to do between her show being canceled in 2005 and landing the role that actually changed her life in 2007, she wasn’t making the big bucks – yet. She was making money, but she was not earning anything as she would go on to earn when she was cast as Penny in The Big Bang Theory. She worked at the Cheesecake Factory, but her character was a huge success. No one, and we mean no one, had a clue what might happen when this show first aired. It was just a show about a couple of super smart guys and their group of friends, and it went on to become one of the biggest – and longest-running – sitcoms of all time.
During the first three seasons of the show, Kaley Cuoco earned an impressive $60,000 per episode. She’d not yet made a paycheck that big that often. It was a game-changer for her. In case you’re wondering, there were approximately 20 episodes per season in the first three seasons. She made a handsome and tidy profit during that time.
Credit: @kaleycuoco
Watching Kaley Cuoco’s Net Worth Grow
By the time season four of The Big Bang Theory rolled around, Cuoco and her costars knew they were part of something big. They all sat down and renegotiated their contracts, and that’s when they began earning a substantial amount of money. Rather than $60k per episode, she was now earning $200k per episode for a staggering 24 episodes of the show. Season five saw an added $50k per episode tacked onto her income, meaning she was raking in a quarter-million dollars for each week she filmed. The sixth season and the seventh season each saw an additional $50k raise added to each episode. This means season six earned her $300k per episode. Season seven earned her $350k.
It was season eight that changed the game, though. She, and the rest of her main cast members, began earning a shocking $1 million per episode. They earned this from seasons eight to ten. In seasons 11 and 12, however, she took a pay cut. She began earning $900k per episode – along with her fellow cast members – because they thought it was unfair that Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch were not earning as much as them, and the cast wanted to see them make more money. They offered to take pay cuts to help their friends earn pay raises.
Endorsements and Other Work
While Kaley Cuoco is on a new show, we don’t know what she’s making. We know it’s nothing even remotely close to what she earned before. She also has an endorsement deal with Priceline’s travel website worth $2 million. She’s earned millions in real estate transactions and other endorsements, too. It’s all worked out for her in the long run. Kaley Cuoco’s net worth is a cool $100 million, and she’s not complaining.
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