Melanie Lynskey Sets Record Straight on ‘Two and a Half Men’ Salary
What To Know
- Melanie Lynskey denied claims that she earned $200,000 to $300,000 per episode for Two and a Half Men.
- She said she made about one-tenth of that.
- Lynskey appeared in 63 of the show’s 262 episodes and said she took home roughly half her pay after fees and taxes.
Melanie Lynskey just set the record straight on her Two and a Half Men salary.
In an Instagram reply, the actress who played Charlie Harper’s (Charlie Sheen) stalker, Rose, refuted a claim that she made $200,000 to $300,000 per episode on the beloved sitcom.
The exchange happened in the comments of a clip of Holland Taylor, who played Evelyn Harper in Two and a Half Men. In the video, Taylor explained why she left the sitcom after her contract ended; she also noted that she never got a raise for her role despite earning four Emmy nominations.
In the comments, an Instagram user claimed that Lynskey “made 200,000 to 300,000 in the end” of her run on the show, also listing what they thought the other actors earned.
Lynskey couldn’t let that slide — and popped in to share the reality of her salary for Two and a Half Men.
“Sorry, but this insane number is floating around on the internet, and I must tell you how wrong it is,” the actress, 49, wrote. “I only did 63 out of 262 episodes of that show. I made literally one tenth of that stated number per episode.”
Additionally, Lynskey revealed that she started at $20,000 per episode and received a 5% raise each season. “But more than half of the episodes I did were in the first two seasons,” she pointed out.
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Lynskey said her highest paycheck was $43,000 for one episode in the final season.
“This is before agents, managers, business managers’ cuts, and taxes, so you take home around 50% of what you are paid,” she explained.
Lynskey continued, “I was extremely grateful for the job, and for the money. It allowed me to pay my small mortgage and pay bills and be able to work in indie movies and build a career, but there is this insane idea that I made millions of dollars and it’s so ridiculous. If Holland’s talking about it, I’ll talk about it too .”
Two and a Half Men aired for 12 seasons from 2003 to 2015. In addition to Lynskey, Sheen, and Holland, the sitcom starred Jon Cryer as Alan, Angus T. Jones as Jake, Conchata Ferrell as Berta, Marin Hinkle as Judith, and Ashton Kutcher as Walden, among others.
Two and a Half Men, streaming on Peacock and Philo
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