Which Sitcom Star Is the Highest Paid Actor on TV?

Hint: He's the Highest Paid, But He's Definitely Not the Funniest

The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons? 30 Rock's Alec Baldwin? In a just world, yes, either of those two super talented sitcom stars would be the highest paid actor on TV. Instead, the highest paid actor on the tube is Two and a Half Men replacement star Ashton Kutcher.

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On Forbes magazine's list of the TV actors who earned the most money between May 2011 and May 2012, Kutcher ranks number one with $24 million worth of earnings from his gig replacing Charlie Sheen on Men, as well as his tech investments in companies like Skype, Spotify and Airbnb.

Sheen, by the way, topped last year's list, but is MIA from this year's top 10 list of highest-earning TV actors.

Tied for second place on the list of highest paid TV actors: two actors who are no longer in regular series roles, Ray Romano and Hugh Laurie, with $18 million each.

Romano's underappreciated Men of a Certain Age was canceled by TNT, but he continues to rake in big bucks from Everybody Loves Raymond syndicated airings, as well as voicing Manny in the Ice Age movies.

As for Laurie, whose House ended on Fox last season, he was one of the highest paid actors on the tube throughout House's run, and his side gig, music, has been successful, too, with his 2011 CD Let Them Talk ending the year as the number one blues album on the Billboard charts.

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Next on the list, the aforementioned Baldwin and NCIS star Mark Harmon, with $15 million each in earnings for the year. Baldwin may want to sock away a good chunk of that cash though, as 30 Rock wraps its series run in December, and he hasn't yet lined up a follow-up gig.

Rounding out the list of Forbes' highest paid TV actors: Last Man Standing star Tim Allen with $14 million; Two and a Half Men star Jon Cryer, who won his first lead actor Emmy in September, with $13 million; Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey with $12 million; and Big Bang Theory stars Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki with $8 million each.

For the record: Parsons totally got robbed of that Emmy this year.