How much money do soap actors make?

Have you ever wondered how much your favorite soap star is earning per year? Many fans have asked this same question before, but for some reason the salaries of soap stars always seem to remain very private information. Yet, it seems to be no secret for the stars on hit shows such as Two and a Half Men, starring Charlie Sheen, who makes an astonishing $825,000 per episode, or actor William Petersen, who earns $600,000 per episode for his role on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Currently, some of the highest paid actresses in primetime are Mariska Hargitay, who earns a remarkable $400,000 per episode on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and actress Kyra Sedgwick from The Closer, which earns her a whopping $275,000 per show. Talk show host Oprah earns over $385 million per year, and Simon Cowell, best known as a judge on American Idol, earns a hefty $50 million per year for his work. The opposite holds true, however, when it comes to the world of daytime soap stars, where it seems no one really knows for sure what the actors are earning. Gathered below is information collected from an industry insider, and may certainly vary from one soap star to another.

So for starters, let's look at the minimum a soap star can expect to make on daytime television. For someone new to the business and what you could call an "unknown," the minimum would be around $700/per episode or even much less, depending on many different factors. This might initially sound like fairly good day’s pay; however, a newcomer on soaps will be lucky if they work one or two days a week. Typically, all soap stars are only guaranteed 1-3 days of work per week, even for some of the veterans on the show. So although some weeks may be good, others may not. Of course, the longer they are on the show, the more money the actors may make per episode, and the more likely they will be guaranteed more days of steady work. So once a newcomer has been on a show for awhile, they can generally expect to make anywhere from $700 to $1500 per episode.

For soap stars who have been around the block a little longer, typically 5-10 years, their salaries can now be upwards of $1500 to $3000 per episode, which again may only be anywhere from 1-3 days per week of actual work guaranteed. Again, there are a lot of other factors involved here, including how popular they are with the fans, what major storylines they may be involved with, and if they are doing any other promotional work for the studio.

Lastly, for the soap star veterans, those who have been in the business for more than 10 years, the range of salaries can now be found around $2000 to $5000+ per episode. Only a small percentage of soap stars are actually in the $5000 or more range, but it's not unheard of for some of daytime's most popular actors or actresses. Plus, with the growing salaries of many primetime actors, there is no doubt that some daytime soap stars are most likely offered substantial incentives to stay put in daytime. There are also a few exceptions in daytime with those who have been with a show for many years, including daytime actor, Tony Geary (Luke, GH) and actresses Erika Slezak (Viki, OLTL) and Susan Lucci (Erika Kane, AMC) whom are probably more in the range of 7-10 million or more per year, which also includes special privileges including limited work hours and extended vacations.

So for those of you who are considering a career in daytime television, or those whom are just curious what the stars earn, here's a run-down of a typical annual salary for year one, five, and 10 or more years.

1st Year Mark - $72,800 - $156,000/per year

5 Year Mark - $156,000 - $312,000/per year

10 Year Mark - $208,000 - $520,000/per year

These numbers are based on a typical work week of two days per week, times 52 weeks per year, which does not account for holidays, vacations, etc. These numbers are also just estimates, and may or may not be typical of the actual earnings. Also, as mention above there are many other factors which can influence the actor's salary as well, including how much they pay their agent, their current contract status, bonuses, length of contract, and which network they work for. Many soap stars also take time off in the slow months to do movies, commercials or other television projects which certainly adds to their annual take-home pay.

While most soap stars may not earn millions of dollars a week like some of their primetime colleagues may bring home, their work on a soap opera may certainly turn out to be much more steady and perhaps even more profitable in the long run.

Angelina Jolie On The Cover of Vanity Fair

The actress also discusses her kids, marriage and whether we'll see a 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' sequel.

Will she marry Brad Pitt? "It's just like we already are. Children are clearly a commitment, a bigger commitment [than marriage]. It's for life."

Her kids: "Mad's a real intellectual, which I can take no credit for genetically. He's great at school, great at history. He feels like he could be a writer or travel the world and learn about places and things. Zahara's got an extraordinary voice and is just so elegant and well spoken. Shiloh's hysterically funny, one of the goofiest, most playful people you'll ever meet. Knox and Viv are classic boy and girl. She's really female. And he's really a little dude."

Co-starring with Brad again: "I'd love to. We've talked about it. We'd have to figure out who's going to watch the kids, but it's really about finding the right thing, because we've looked. When you're a couple, there are certain things people don't want to see you do. It becomes too indulgent, too personal. I don't think people want to see people who are really together intimate on-screen. Maybe we have to play bad guys that try to kill each other, so it's just fun and aggressive, not dealing with some man-woman deal."

A 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' Sequel: "People have tried. And it's strange: do we have kids in the movie? We've thought about that, but it becomes personal now that we actually have kids. And if we work on it, we pull from our own life, which is funny to us, but you feel strange sharing too much. We did ask somebody to look into 'Mr. & Mrs.' to see if they could crack a sequel, but there wasn't anything original. It was just, Well, they're going to get married, or they've got kids, or they get separated. Never great."

Lady Gaga Debut's new song; "You & I"

At Elton John's White Tie and Tiara Ball last Thursday in New York City, Lady Gaga graced the crowd with a brand new, rock-tinged piano ballad titled 'You and I.'

"This song is very, very dear to my heart, and I just wrote it," Gaga said in her introduction. "It's a bit of a rock 'n' roll tune, which means it will most likely never get used as one of my singles."



Lyrics we were able to glean:

It's been a long time since I came around
It's been a long time, but I'm back in town
And this time, I'm not leaving without you
You taste like whiskey when you kiss me
Oh, I'd give anything again to be your baby doll
Yeah, this time, I'm not leaving without you

He said sit back down where you belong,
In the corner of my bar with your high heels on'
Sit back down on the couch where we made love the first time, and you said to me
Something, something about this place
Something about lonely lights and my lipstick on your face

We love a catchy, dancey Gaga tune as much as ... well, everyone ever, but this passionate rocker is certainly tasty. And it's great to get back to the music de Gaga, rather than the spectacle and the Seinfeld feud.

American Express: Movie Pitch

Desperate Housewives - Update for next season

The series is looking to cast three new roles. First, Maxine, a sweet lady in the 60-80 year-old age range. She is Mike and Susan's new neighbor in their apartment building, and she has an unusual job that brings in some additional income. Secondly, Beth, a quirky, sweet thirtysomething woman who was Paul Young's prison pen pal-cum-wife. She's damaged emotionally but also capable of humor. Finally, Keith. A sexy 30-year-old contractor described as a charming playboy who turns up on Wisteria Lane. The show is also looking for a 12-year-old actress to take over the role of Penny Scavo.

How Exactly Did Jesus Die? Gunnar Samuelsson, of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, recently finished his doctoral thesis on the topic.

As early as I can remember I recall seeing the pictures of Jesus in various forms along with statues showing him on a cross. But even as I child I was puzzled as to how ones body could be made to hold itself in such a position. To me it didn't seem possible. And before you discount this child you should understand that there were several subjects that I was rather gifted at in school and science was one of them. Straight A's from my youngest years and onto college.

Years later I would do my own research into the death of Jesus and like Gunnar Samuelsson, through careful reading of the Greek text I would see that Jesus Christ did not die on a cross but on a pole ("stauros") and it was that discovery that would help to formulate my understanding of the Gospels. Flashforward to 2010 and a thesis by Gunnar Samuelsson is getting some major attention - why so?

The episode of Jesus’ crucifixion is based more on traditions of the Christian church and artistic illustrations than antique texts, says a Swedish researcher.

“The problem is that descriptions of crucifixions are remarkably absent in the antique literature,” Gunnar Samuelsson, of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, who recently finished his doctoral thesis on the topic, said.

He added: “The sources where you would expect to find support for the established understanding of the event really don’t say anything.”

The 400-page thesis offers the reader samples of antiquity’s most terrifying texts and gives examples of mankind’s amazing resourcefulness in terms of mind-boggling cruelty against fellow human beings.

Samuelsson has studied the available ancient Greek, Latin and Hebrew/Aramaic literature all the way from Homer to the first century A.D.

While the texts indicate a vast arsenal of suspension punishments, they do not say much about the kind of punishment the Christian tradition claims Jesus was forced to endure.

The thesis clearly shows that although the studied texts are full of references to suspension of objects and the equipment used to this end, no reference is made to ‘crosses’ or ‘crucifixion’.

When the Gospels refer to the death of Jesus, they just say that he was forced to carry a "stauros" out to Calvary." Many scholars have interpreted that ancient Greek noun as meaning "cross," and the verb derived from it, "anastauroun," as implying crucifixion. But during his three-and-a-half-year study of texts from around 800 BC to the end of the first century AD, Samuelsson realized the words had more than one defined meaning.

“Consequently, the contemporary understanding of crucifixion as a punishment is severely challenged. And what’s even more challenging is that the same can be concluded about the accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus. The New Testament doesn’t say as much as we’d like to believe,” said Samuelsson.

"'Stauros' is actually used to describe a lot of different poles and execution devices," he says. "So the device described in the Gospels could have been a cross, but it could also have been a spiked pole, or a tree trunk, or something entirely different." In turn, "anastauroun" was used to signify everything from the act of "raising hands to suspending a musical instrument."

The manner in which Jesus died is further thrown into question by Samuelsson's discovery that crucifixion may have been an unusual form of punishment in the Roman Empire. Descriptions of crucifixions contained in the thousands of Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin and Greek manuscripts he examined most commonly referred to dead prisoners being placed on some form of suspension device, or living captives skewered on stakes. The first century Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger, for example, wrote about seeing a great many prisoners of war on "crosses" after one campaign. But the scribe then describes how a large number of the dead had been impaled.

"If you search for ancient texts that specifically mention the act of crucifixion [as we understand it today]" he says, "you will end up with only two or three examples." He also points out that the actual execution texts do not describe how Christ was attached to the execution device.

That revelation stands in stark contrast to claims that appear in many books on the historical Jesus, as well as more general surveys of life under Roman rule, which state that prisoners were routinely nailed to crosses. (The Encylopaedia Britannica, for example, says crucifixion was an "important method of capital punishment" in Rome.)

“This is the heart of the problem. The text of the passion narratives is not that exact and information loaded, as we Christians sometimes want it to be,” The Telegraph quoted Samuelsson, as saying.

“If you are looking for texts that depict the act of nailing persons to a cross you will not find any beside the Gospels.”

Samuelsson added: “That a man named Jesus existed in that part of the world and in that time is well-documented. He left a rather good foot-print in the literature of the time.

“I do believe that the mentioned man is the son of God. My suggestion is not that Christians should reject or doubt the biblical text.

“My suggestion is that we should read the text as it is, not as we think it is.

We should read on the lines, not between the lines. The text of the Bible is sufficient. We do not need to add anything.” (ANI)

In conclusion should we really be surprised of the latest discovery or note in history? Not really. One need only get a copy of the Catholic Encyclopedia to see that many of the things that they teach as doctrines are actually pagan celebrations to the Gods. Need I remind you of Easter & Christmas?

Jackson Family Mourns King of Pop in Las Vegas

The tribute will take place in Las Vegas on Saturday, and Joe, Katherine Jackson and La Toya Jackson have all confirmed they'll be attending. During the event, Trent Jackson will be performing a special serenade. There is no word on what song he has prepared.

Earlier this week, video surfaced of Katherine urging fans to attend a fan tribute event at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. VoicePlate.com will present "Forever Michael," a red carpet event to pay tribute to the King Of Pop on the anniversary of his death. Katherine also invites fans to indulge in her new book, 'Never Can Say Goodbye.'