The women of comedy are laughing their way to the bank. Modern Family star Sofia Vergara was named by Forbes the world's highest-paid TV actress for the sixth year in a row. Thanks to her role of Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on her Emmy-nominated show, in addition to licensing and endorsement deals with bands like Pepsi and CoverGirl — among other sources — the Colombian beauty earned $41.5 million before taxes. However according to Forbes, Sofia's hit show only accounts for about a quarter of her income.
"Our attention is on the people watching Modern Family and how to appeal to them outside of the show, too," Luis Balaguer, Sofia's manager and business partner, previously told Forbes. "Our endorsement department is a well-oiled machine." Luis revealed that Sofia, 45, realised early on that she was not going to make a lot of money from acting. He said, "Acting was what she loved, but she knew she wasn't going to make money on it, so her entrepreneurialism kicked in."
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Coming in second, behind Sofia, on Forbes' annual list is the Big Bang Theory's Kaley Cuoco. The actress took home $26million in 12-months. While Kaley earns more than twice the amount of Sofia's Modern Family paycheck for her own TV show, Forbes noted that the 31-year-old doesn't have as many licensing or endorsements deals. Other female stars named in the list include Sofia's Modern Family co-star, Julie Bowen, Quantico's Priyanka Chopra and The Mindy Project's Mindy Kaling. Combined, the top ten highest-paid TV actresses of 2017 made $156.5million.