The venerable legend and star of Fox’s ‘9-1-1’ will make above $450,000 an episode.
Who better than Angela Bassett to deserve such a pay raise?!
A new report by Deadline shares that the impressively dynamic actor, who stars on the Fox hit procedural 9-1-1 will become the first actress of color to earn over $450,000 an episode. Her bump in pay includes not just the work she has put in as the series lead performer, but also as the executive producer of 9-1-1 and its spinoff 9-1-1: Lone Star.
The raise not only benefited Bassett, the rest of her castmates also received 25 percent raises for the upcoming season based on their previous pay, including Peter Krause, Bassett’s co-star, who is set to receive around $300K per episode. Jennifer Love Hewitt will also earn a near-similiar amount, with the remaining cast, which features Aisha Hinds, Kenneth Choi, Oliver Star, Ryan Guzman, and Rockmond Dunbar, receiving $80,000 an episode.
That number will increase to $100,000 once the series heads into its sixth season.
TVLine has broken down just how impactful this pay raise for Angela Bassett is when compared to other Black actresses in broadcast television history. “Kerry Washington reportedly started out on Scandal at $80K an episode, but with the series’ incredible success wound up drawing $250K an episode,” the outlet reports, also noting that Chandra Wilson (Grey’s Anatomy) was “bumped up to at least $125K per episode, but by now — especially with the occasional directing —is surely closer to the $375K that co-star Justin Chambers reportedly was getting at the time of his exit.”
Viola Davis (How to Get Away With Murder) was also spotlighted as well. “[She] was making $250K an episode two seasons into the show’s run, and by the ABC series’ end may have been closing in on $450K.”
Regardless of what TVLine notes, Bassett’s pay raise is a history-making, benchmark moment for shortening the parity when it comes to paying talented Black performers in Hollywood!
