It’s no secret that some actors can earn big bucks for starring in hit TV shows.
Melanie Lynskey, however, is setting the record straight about a rumor surrounding how much money she earned during her years on CBS sitcom hit “Two and a Half Men.”
An ‘Insane Number’
It all began when Lynskey’s former “Two and a Half Men” co-star, Holland Taylor, revealed the reason she left the show was because CBS refused to give her a raise — even after delivering an Emmy-nominated performance.
“I got four Emmy nominations, and they never gave me a raise. They usually do,” Taylor observed in an interview clip shared via Instagram.
In the many comments to the post, one Instagram user wrote that Lynskey “made 200,000 to 300,000” while a member of the cast.
However, E! reports that Lynksey was quick to respond, writing in a comment, “Hey! Sorry, but this insane number is floating around on the internet and I must tell you how wrong it is.”
While star Charlie Sheen may have earned a fortune — he was reportedly paid nearly $2 million per episode before his very public meltdown led to his firing — Lynskey’s salary was nowhere in that range.
“I made literally one tenth of that stated number per episode. This is before agents, managers, business managers’ cuts, and taxes, so you take home around 50% of what you are paid,” she continued.
“I was extremely grateful for the job, and for the money,” Lynskey added. “It allowed me to pay my small mortgage and pay bills and be able to work in indie movies and build a career, but there is this insane idea that I made millions of dollars and it’s so ridiculous. If Holland’s talking about it, I’ll talk about it too.”
The Return of ‘Yellowjackets’
Meanwhile, Lynskey will next be seen in the upcoming fourth and final season of “Yellowjackets,” in which she plays a woman still haunted by the events that took place when she and her fellow members of a high school soccer were stranded in the remote Canadian wilderness after a plane crash.
“In ‘Yellowjackets ‘Season 4, rescue draws closer to the teens’ wilderness location, but the survivors’ long-awaited salvation threatens to expose their darkest secrets. In the present-day timeline, an old flame has a homecoming of her own, returning to town with a hidden agenda. Happy returns? Not in the Yellowjackets’ world,” notes the synopsis for the upcoming season.
“The show continues tracing what happened to the team members in the days and months directly after the plane crash, as well as how the remaining Yellowjackets are living their lives two decades later,” the synopsis adds.
Lynskey returns as Shauna Shipman, a role that brought her two consecutive Emmy nominations.
Per Paramount, Shauna is “a plane crash survivor who is now married to Jeff Sadecki (Warren Kole) and raising their teen daughter, Callie (Sarah Desjardins). Dissatisfied with the life she’s built since returning from the wilderness, Shauna begins trying to reclaim the sense of power and agency she felt while stranded there.”
Season 4 of “Yellowjackets” debuts Friday, November 20 on Paramount+.
Former ‘Two and a Half Men’ Star Dismisses ‘Insane’ Salary Rumor: ‘I Made Literally One-Tenth of That’