Ay dios mio! ‘Modern Family’s’ Sofia Vergara is highest paid U.S. TV actress

For the third consecutive year, Colombian actress Sofia Vergara, one of the stars of the hit ABC comedy “Modern Family,” is the highest paid actress on U.S. television, with estimated earnings of $37 million, Forbes magazine said on Wednesday. Like last year, Vergara, who earns $325,000 for each episode of “Modern Family,” outpaced Mariska Hargitay, the Emmy-winning star of NBC’s “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” who came in second with $13 million. Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, 28, of CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory,” came in third, with $11 million.

At 42, the ‘Modern Family’ star continues her streak in large part due to her business savvy.

Forbes magazine

Forbes’s list is determined by estimating pre-tax earnings between June 2013 and June 2014 from the actresses’ TV work, endorsements, residuals and advertising work, and by talking to agents, managers and lawyers. The estimate does not include management fees and other expenses. Actress Mindy Kaling, 35, the writer, producer and star of “The Mindy Project,” on the Fox network, clinched the No. 7 spot with $6.5 million. Lena Dunham, the 28-year-old creator and star of the HBO series “Girls,” made it into the top 10 with earnings of $3.5 million. The top 10 actresses on the 2014 list made a combined $140 million. That compares with the $214 million combined earnings of the 10 leading TV actors.

Entertainment