We all know that the six Friends leads made a fortune from the show during its original run (and no doubt their Friends reunion, too). All these years later, they're still cashing in the checks with reruns. Turns out, they're not the only ones - with the show's supporting actors also bringing in the big bucks.
Friends' decade-long run made it a TV favourite, and the series was repeated regularly even while new episodes were being made, enabling fans to have a binge-watch on the sofa long before the streaming sites came along. But Friends is still being repeated all over the world, with every episode available on Netflix at the click of a button. Every rewatch, every late-night marathon, every distribution deal with a streaming giant, is putting money in the pockets of most of those involved.
The main cast
First, the obvious: Jennifer, Courteney, Lisa, Matt, Matthew and David. A report by USA Today claimed that Friends generates $1 billion a year for Warner Bros. The six stars are entitled to 2 percent of that amount. Get your calculator out: that's $20 million a year. Each.
The supporting cast
They may have got to dance in the famous fountain, but Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross weren't the only characters making up Friends...
In 2019, Vincent Ventresca - who played Monica's boyfriend Fun Bobby in two episodes - revealed that he receives $2,000 a year. 'Every time I get a cheque I think to myself: “Wow, they must be really rich"' he told The Guardian. 'I get about $2,000 a year in residuals, and I only did two episodes.'
By that logic, other stars will be receiving around $1,000 a year for every episode they appeared in. So Elliot Gould and Christina Pickles, Ross and Monica's parents Jack and Judy, could be adding $20,000 and $19,000 to their bank accounts every year. Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice, could be getting a cheque for $19,000. Jane Sibbett, aka Ross's ex-wife Carol, may be receiving $15,000.
Gunther actor James Michael Tyler - who sadly passed away in 2021 at the age of 59 - appeared in 147 episodes. This made him the only non-core cast member to be seen in more than 100 shows (albeit, not always speaking.)
'I'm very happy if I get a residual cheque,' he told Bang Showbiz. 'I do get residuals. I wasn't paid a million dollars an episode, of course, that would be a completely different story ... I'm paid for episodes I spoke in and it's a sliding scale, I don't know how it works. I'm fortunate to have a supplement into my income because of Friends, however, I'm still a working actor.'
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