Is Angela Bassett Now TV’s Highest-Paid Drama Actress of Color Ever?
“9-1-1. What’s your salary?”
For Angela Bassett, the answer is quite possibly a TV milestone, after she netted a sizeable pay bump for Season 5 of Fox’s hit first-responders drama.
As reported by our sister site Deadline, Athena’s portrayer will now command “north of $450,000 an episode,” which the trade site notes “could be the highest ever for an actress of color on a broadcast drama series.”
Bassett came to the Fox drama as an Academy Award nominee, for her starring role in 1993’s What’s Love Got to Do With It. She also had four Primetime Emmy nominations under her belt at the time, and she has since added another three (for non-9-1-1 projects).
Of note, Bassett’s 9-1-1 salary includes not only her services as an actress but as an executive producer, a title she has held since Season 2 (after starting out as a co-EP). She also carries an EP title on offshoot 9-1-1: Lone Star.
You may be asking: What other TV drama actresses of color have come close to Bassett’s current salary? It’s hard to say with great certainty, in the absence of many hard numbers. Kerry Washington reportedly started out on Scandal at $80K/episode, but with the series’ incredible success wound up drawing $250K/episode. (On the miniseries front, meanwhile, Washington commanded $1.1 million for each of Little Fires Everywhere‘s eight episodes).
And while Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo now fetches $575,000 for each episode of the ABC medical drama (where she also has a producer title and is a co-EP on spinoff Station 19), fellow OG cast member Chandra Wilson way back in 2007 was bumped up to “at least” $125K per episode, but by now — especially with the occasional directing — is surely closer to the $375K that costar Justin Chambers reportedly was getting at the time of his exit.
Viola Davis reportedly was making $250K/episode two seasons into How to Get Away With Murder‘s run, and by the ABC series’ end mayyyy have been closing in on $450K.
The fourth season of 9-1-1 averaged 6.5 million total viewers and a 1.05 demo rating (in Live+Same Day numbers), making it Fox’s most watched and highest rated scripted series, while trailing only the network’s The Masked Singer in the demo.
Among other 9-1-1 cast enjoying a Season 5 bump, Peter Krause reportedly is now in “the low $300K” range per episode, followed by TV vet Jennifer Love Hewitt, who joined the show in Season 2.
Want scoop on Fox’s 9-1-1, or for any other show? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.
I highly doubt Chandra is making 125K. Especially since she got a significant pay bump per deadline. So no way by that logic was she near 100K.
Edited/clarified.
How much did Viola Davis get for How to Get Away With Murder? I imagine she got a small fortune for that.
Good question; added!
This should not be a thing. I know, I know, I’m just sayin’
Those figures are wildly inaccurate. If you are gonna write an article at least do some proper research and not use therichest.com as your source.
I absolutely love her in 912, but I’m surprised she’s making more than Peter Krause who seems to have significantly more screen time per season, and is arguably a bigger name.
How much is she getting for being an EP?
Even JLH gets more screen time and is probably the biggest name on the show.
You think Peter Krause is a bigger name than Angela Bassett?
I don’t think Peter Krause gets that much more screentime. He might show up a bit more in group scenes, appearing to have more screentime, but Angela Bassett definitely gets more lines and more stories than he does. And I think that lines per episode and overall storylines do matter.
And she’s definitely still a bigger name that Peter Krause is. Peter’s two biggest roles are Six Feet Under and Parenthood. Angela has had multiple big roles in film (Boyz n the Hood, What’s Love Got to Do With It, Black Panther, Mission: Impossible, just to name a few well known films where she had more than a cameo) and had roles on ER, American Horror Story, BoJack Horseman, and will have a guest role on Marvel’s What If.
So no, Angela is 100% the bigger name over her and Peter Krause.
How is he a bigger name?
He’s not. I knew who Angela Bassett was just by the title of the article. When I read Peter Krause took me a solid 10 minutes to remember who he was.
Only in TV circles, which is where Peter’s fame lies. When you add in movie fame, Angela surpasses him.
Good for her! She does great work and has a quality resume to show for it. I loved her stint in the final season of “ER,” especially. She’s a big part of what has kept me interested in “911” since Buck/Eddie doesn’t appear to be happening. I really like “Lone Star” and think it’s great that she’s an executive producer there. They should pay her whatever she asks for because her absence would create a near-impossible void to fill.
Could not have said it better, she is a major part of the show and an incredible actress. So much love for her and her character, would love to see her kick ass in Black Panther 2 as the superhero she already is ❤️
So Matt, I said one thing and editors did not like? Just because salaries should be based on years of experience?
Good. But all of these women are underpaid. Kerry only $250k an episode? Viola the same? No. These women are amazing and deserve more.
I’d like to see what the men on TV make. I’m sure it’s comparable, right?
If you read the Deadline article Angela Bassett is the highest paid actor on 911—The lead male actor of the show ,Peter Krause,,is getting a raise to slightly lower than $300,000 per episode….clearly much,much less than Bassett.
Jennifer Aniston & Reese Witherspoon – The Morning Show, 2 mil. each
Reese Witherspoon & Kerry Washington – Little Fires Everywhere, 1.1 mil each
Nicole Kidman & Reese Witherspoon – Big Little Lies, 1 mil each
Elizabeth Moss – Handmaid’s Tale, 1 mil
and finally we see Norman Reedus and Andrew Lincoln, who also make 1 mil per ep of Walking Dead.
if we’re talking broadcast, I’m sure Ellen Pompeo makes more than Mark Harmon. Mariska Hargitay also makes about $500k.
so yeah, it is compatible…
I too think both ladies are underpaid because Angela is doing acting and executive production. Two hats clearly needs a bigger salary. And the fact that those ladies still can’t demand the same salary as their Caucasian peers is mad exhausting frankly.
I remember reading a while back that Stana Katic was making north of 500k an episode. That true? Which is kinda surprising since Pompeo is only now making 575K.
I wonder about Cookie from Empire! Taraji??
Not seeing any reports of her higher than $275K.
I don’t watch 9-1-1, but from what I understand it is not a ratings juggernaut. It does good in the ratings, but it is also not a water cooler show. People don’t stand b the water cooler and talk about the latest episode. It has not garnered even a fraction of the media attention that shows like The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Gossip Girl, Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy have. Because of this I don’t understand how the network could justify paying anyone that much per episode. It made sense with FRIENDS and TBBT because they were #1 shows. Good for Angela that she got her money, but maybe someone can explain why Fox would invest so much money in a show that doesn’t garner media attention, award nominations or huge ratings.
Take a look at the actual ratings numbers for network scripted broadcast shows for last Season (2020-2021). Not only is 911 Fox’s #1 highest rated show by far, it came in #2 in ratings across the board for all network scripted shows (NBC/ABC/CBS/FOX/CW) second only to CBS’s The Equalizer–which only had that ranking because the Season average of The Equalizer included the highly-inflated after-Super Bowl premier episode numbers (otherwise,that show would be averaging upper 0.7s range).As much as it’s nice for a show to get “water cooler buzz” high ratings get the money for the channel.
Indeed. And for Fox, all that matters is they shop it as their #1 drama and #2 show overall.
tvline.com/lists/tv-season-rankings-2020-2021-nfl-masked-singer-this-is-us/
Good to know. Like I said I don’t watch the show. It’s just not my cup of tea, but I rarely hear anything about it in the media and even being #1 on the network I didn’t think it had super high numbers, but I guess it does. Thanks.
*#1 drama on the network
Still a joke for an actor of her calibre and history, bet Rob Lowe is getting paid far more for less work as well as landing jobs for his sons in the contract.
A joke?!? it’s almost a 1/2 a million per episode!!!
I bet she’s crying all the way to the bank.
BTW Rob Lowe makes $200,000 an episode.
She”s a great actress.
I’ve always considered Ms. Bassett an excellent actress but not in 911. Her cop scenes are way over the top. I’m just waiting for her to tell some poor perp to “put your hands on the trunk sucka”. As for Krause, his character is likeable but he was much better, acting-wise, in Parenthood.
She deserves every cent of it too!
The acting power and production values on both the “911” shows are far greater than you’d think they’d need for this kind of thing, but somehow that works. It’s just funny how they keep finding new ways to destroy parts of L.A. and Austin.
+Angela deserves it. When she’s on screen, she’s not Angela playing Althena, she is Althena. Not many actors can make the viewer believe in the authenticity of their performance.
Good for you Angela!
The woman is a legend. Pay her what she’s worth!