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Sofia Vergara Is The Top-Earning Actress On Television... By A Longshot

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For the second year running Sofia Vergara, the buxom breakout star of ABC’s Modern Family, is the top-earning actress on television according to the rankings of the 14th annual Celebrity 100. As the reigning queen of celebrity endorsement deals (thanks largely to her bilingual portfolio), Vergara’s earnings over the past year reached $30 million—making her far and away the highest-paid actress on prime time.

The Forbes Celebrity 100 list looks at the earnings of American celebrities during a specific time period—this year June 2012 through June 2013—and counts cash only for projects completed and contracts made good on during that time. This breakaway list tallies the take-home of the talented women of prime time, and includes not just their work on TV projects, but also the oh-so-lucrative endorsement and licensing deals that have come as a result.  All told, the 20 top-paid TV actresses earned a cumulative $183 million.

And when it comes to licensing, Sofia Vergara is more than Keeping up with the Kardashians, the famous sisters who this year share the No. 5 spot on the Best Paid TV Actresses list (yes, it’s true, we consider reality TV acting—don’t you?). Both the Kardashians and Vergara brag price-conscious brands in their portfolios—the dark-haired siblings at SEARS and Vergara at Kmart—and both lines have rapidly expanded from fashion to homegoods to shapewear and more. But according to our sources, Vergara’s deal isn’t just sweeter (a $7 million advance was nothing to sneeze at when she inked the paperwork in 2012), but has made bigwigs at parent company of both stores, SEARS Brands, very, very happy as they continue to aggressively pursue the Hispanic demographic.

Vergara’s endorsement deals speak to the same set of consumers-- Diet Pepsi, Covergirl, Rooms To Go and thyroid medicine Synthroid signed contracts this year in addition to Spanish-language commercials for laundry detergent, Comcast and State Farm insurance—deals that establish the star her one of the most in-demand spokespeople as marketers hope to capture her high-wattage crossover appeal.

In Depth: The 2013 Forbes Celebrity 100

So with Vergara in the lead and the Kardashian Krew at No. 4, we’d be remiss to leave out the high-earners who’ve risen in this year’s rankings. Mariska Hargitay, at No. 2 has staying power. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, going into its 15th season in September, is the franchise's strongest effort to date, averaging more than 50 million viewers each week including original episodes and extensive syndication. Hargitay, rewarded with an Emmy and Golden Globe for her work on the show, is a big reason why. Hargitay, one of the few actresses on this list whose earnings come from a single source (or show), pulled in $11 million last year for the 14th season and a whopping 319 SVU episodes in syndication.

Sharing the second spot with Hargitay is Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco. Kuoco’s always earned big for the CBS hit—now the third highest-rated show (not just sitcom) in the U.S. by Nielsen numbers, but it wasn’t until bolstering her endorsement portfolio that the blonde actress began climbing the ranks this year (last year at 11). She earns an estimated $300,000 an episode for Big Bang and 2013 campaigns with Toyota and Priceline (playing a bright-eyed daughter to “dad” William Shatner), made $11 million between June 2012 and June 2013, $4 million more than she did last year. Talk about a Big Bang.

Mike & Molly star Melissa McCarthy jumps 14 spots--up from No. 17 on the 2012 list--largely thanks to the success of her work on the big screen. She sits with the Kardashians in the oh-so-crowded No. 4 spot on the list with $10 million in annual take home. Reality darling turned talk show host Bethenny Frankel (look for a jump to the Personalities category for 2014 if her show has staying power), Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo and a post-30 Rock Tina Fey also share the No. 4 title.

But let’s talk about the year Melissa McCarthy had. Identity Thief was a surprise hit, totaling more than $174 million in worldwide box office receipts and this summer’s The Heat did $205 million on a budget of just $43 (million, that is, you clever commenter). McCarthy earned an estimated $2.5 million for the movie—and thanks to the quick success of both films on the heels of 2012’s Bridesmaids¸ her ability to command massive paychecks is looking good for the coming year as well. Mike & Molly is here to stay through 2014—it’s expected back mid-season on CBS—and McCarthy has film projects in the works that make 2014 look to be another massively profitable year.

The same could be said for quite a few of the talented women on the 2013 ranking of top earning actresses. There’s the incredible Kerry Washington of Scandal, of course. And Tina Fey, who has a lot to look forward to post 30 Rock. According to Deadline she’s teamed up with her former co-showrunner Michael Carlock on a female-driven comedy pilot for NBC. Described as a “workplace comedy” set on Fire Island, the show is the first in a four year deal Fey signed with Universal last fall. Colbie Smulders and Alyson Hannigan, at Nos. 12 and 13 respectively, can expect hefty salaries for the 9th and final season of the hit How I Met Your Mother—and Smulders, whose film career started to pop in 2012, is expected to reprise the role of Maria Hill in upcoming Avengers and Captain America sequels.

Following the success of the first two seasons of HBO’s Girls Lena Dunham has a lot to look forward to including her own second show in the works, as do network darlings Zooey Deschanel and Mindy Kaling. In fact, the only television star on the 2013 list that we might not see back in the next calendar year would be Whitney Cummings. Both her E! talk show Love You, Mean It and her very own sitcom were cancelled this year and it seems that aside from her role as co-creator of CBS's Two Broke Girls, Cummings has gone back to her standup roots.

But never fear, fans of female comedy. There’s another up and comer waiting in the wings. Parks and Recreations star Rashida Jones is developing two new shows for the 2014 season with big sister Kidada Jones. One, a CW dramedy called The Revengers, is about two estranged friends in New York who learn that they've been dating the same guy. The second, called Stuck, has a pilot commitment from Fox . Jones, who is leaving Parks and Recreation this February, will star in Stuck.

A bit on the numbers: to determine who the highest-paid actresses on television are, we consider upfront pay, residuals, endorsements and advertising work. We talk to managers, agents, lawyers and other in-the-know folks to come up with our estimates. We do not deduct for things like agent fees or expenses related to being a celebrity.

While the annual Celebrity 100 list accounts for press and social media buzz to rank the most powerful celebrities in America, this ranking looks purely at dollar signs. As a result, names that didn’t appear on the 100 do rank among the highest paid television actresses in Hollywood.