Eva Longoria and Tina Fey Are Highest Paid Actresses in Television

It pays to be in television these days. Forbes magazine has released its annual list of the highest paid female stars in TV and, for the top spot, we have a tie: Eva Longoria and Tina Fey.

Both actresses made $13 million (€9.59 million) between May 2010 and May 2011 and, while their paychecks weren’t necessarily received for their work on the small screen, it certainly did help that they’re such high profile TV stars.

Fey, for instance, brought in the big cash this year for her work on “30 Rock,” in which she stars. However, she’s also credited as writer and producer on the same show, so this instantly translates into more money.

The same goes for her book, “Bossypants,” which came out earlier this year and sold a whopping 150,000 copies in its first month alone.

Eva, on the other hand, gets her paycheck from ABC’s “Desperate Housewives,” which is now at its eighth and final season.

On the side, she’s getting serious dough for her endorsement deals with L’Oreal and LG, which explains why she’s ahead of her co-stars in the Forbes top.

The top five is rounded up by women who each made $10 million (€7.38 million) in the same one-year timeframe: Marcia Cross of “Desperate Housewives,” Mariska Hargitay of “Law & Order: SVU,” and Marg Helgenberger of CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

Other two “Desperate Housewives” stars are featured next in the list: both Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman made $9 million (€6.64 million) in one year, mostly from the soon to be defunct show.

Courteney Cox of ABC’s “Cougar Town” and Ellen Pompeo of “Grey’s Anatomy” from the same network are up next, each with $7 million (€5.16 million) made in just one year.

The top 10 is rounded up by Emmy-winner Julianna Margulies who, for her work on “The Good Wife” on CBS, brought in $6 million (€4.43 million) this past year.

As noted above, it pays to be in television: Ashton Kutcher, for instance, is making anywhere between $700,000 and $900,000 (€516,834 - €664,500) for each episode of “Two and a Half Men.”