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The Target Lady
Maria Bamford is a comedian first, commercial actress second, and a true pioneer of bringing the "weird" to corporate commercials. She initially started her career as a comedian and aspiring voice actor. She went on a few comedy tours, had a role in the movie Lucky Numbers, and then starred in the Target commercials we all know and love.
The Future of Bamford
Now, Bamford focuses entirely on voice acting. She was picked up because of her voice in the Target commercials that she ran, and she got several more gigs on American Dad!, Bojack Horseman, CatDog, Adventure Time, and a few others. She earned $300,000 for her time with Target, and even though she should have been paid more, she still got out just fine.
The Old Spice Guy
Isaiah Mustafa, who is also known as "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like," was the face of Old Spice for a long time. Originally, Mustafa was a football player in the 1990s. But, like another beloved Old Spice advertiser, he decided to leave football to start acting.
Starting in Soaps
Mustafa started appearing in soap operas first, then he moved onto TV spots and commercials. Because of his involvement with Old Spice, Mustafa got some more acting gigs afterward. If you look close enough, you'll be able to catch him in Horrible Bosses, It Chapter Two, and the trailer of Luke Cage. By the way, this gig netted him $5 million.
The Wendy's Girl
Ok, they might have actually just hired her because she has red hair. Morgan Smith-Goodwin is Wendy's girl (aka. Red) who was the star of every Wendy's commercial from 2012 to 2016. She was an Alabama native, but she moved to NYC to try and become an actor after she graduated from college.
Morgan Smith-Goodwin IRL
She appeared in many free readings, benefits, and concerts before getting her first Off-Broadway role. This role was for Freckleface Strawberry, and she is still an original cast member. Smith-Goodwin also played the lead role in Circumstance and Sweet Charity. Contrary to the popular belief, her hair isn't orange-red as you might see it in Wendy's commercials. It is actually blonde, but she dyes it for the commercials, and for good reason. Morgan has made over $3 million from her commercial spots with Wendy's.
Do you remember the Geico Caveman? How about Flo from Progressive? You know, there are real people behind those characters, and some of those real people got paid a ton of money to stand in front of a camera for 15 seconds.
The AT&T Lady
Actually, her real name is Milana Vayntrubm, and before she was the AT&T lady she was a model and actor since the ripe age of five. Her family moved from Uzbekistan to Hollywood when she was just a baby, and she had to pick up acting gigs to help supplement her family's income. At a later point, her family's wealth stabilized, and Milana was able to act full time.
Keep on Moving
Milana first appeared in Barbie commercials when she was younger, but her participation in the web series Let's Talk About Something More Interesting got her recognized for the AT&T gig. After she was the AT&T lady, Milana had enough cash in savings that she was able to participate in the Yahoo! series Other Space. AT&T paid her $500,000 for the commercials she did for them, so she's going to be set for a few years.
Dr. Pepper Girl (1960)
Donna Loren became one of the most famous vocalists in history, but she got her career started as a model. Pepsi picked her up and offered her an opportunity to sing while promoting their product for a measly $500.
What a Rip Off!
Even though she accepted the $500 from Pepsi and did their corporate bidding, Loren never forgot about the way they treated her. Through her career, Loren used this experience with Pepsi as a milestone to understand when she was getting taken advantage of. She ignored all roles that she thought weren't fairly paid, and that shaped the rest of her career.
The Maytag Man
Colin Ferguson is his name, and installing washer and dryer units is his game. Not really though, he actually got his career started by playing a cop on Eureka. He played out the strong, silent, authoritarian type character until he acted in The Vampire Diaries and Christmas in Paradise where he dropped the typecasted personality and dug his heels into being a dramatic actor.
Over Time, Things Change
Ferguson became the Maytag man in 2014, and he hasn't looked back since. That might be because they offered him $1 million to be their mascot. Right now, he's taking a little break, but it's likely he'll return to act some more.
The GoDaddy Nerd
If you watched the Superbowl in 2013, you definitely remember when this dude stole a kiss from Bar Rafaeli on live TV. Actually, this guy is an actor, and being the nerd who gets to kiss models is kind of his niche. This kiss ended up being one of the most talked-about Superbowl commercials of all time, and for good reason.
Jesse the Stud
This actor's name is Jesse Heiman. He didn't have much of a track record before he got picked up for the GoDaddy commercial. This opportunity, and the $900,000 they paid him, helped him set up a career in Hollywood.
The T-Mobile Girl
Well, her name is really Carly Foulkes, and she got this gig by answering a random advertisement she got in her email in 2009. Since then, she became a staple in commercials between 2010 and 2013. She still regularly picks up a paycheck from T-Mobile, and she occasionally makes appearances in their commercials.
Making the Big Bucks
This deal netted Foulks one million dollars. That's enough cash to buy a few speeder bikes and get them custom painted. But, she won't be able to get the traditional T-Mobile pink, because that's now trademarked.
Mr. Dumass
You might think it's actually pronounced Doo-mas, but the actor's name is actually pronounced Stu Williams. This was one of the most popular Superbowl commercials of the 1990s, and for good reason. A&W Rootbeer piled a lot of cash into this ad spot.
Here's the Kicker
Williams actually has extremely fond memories of playing this character. He got paid $50,000, which was a lot of money in the 90s. Recently he started his own personal YouTube channel and was able to upload this commercial and monetize it under his contract with A&W.
The Slingers
Believe it or not, the lady who co-starred with Nick Offerman in the Sling TV ad spot is actually his lovely wife. He and Megan Mullally depict an easy-going (keyword "easy") family and their interest in introducing fellow "slingers" to their lives.
Not That Much Cash Honestly
The Swansons only received roughly $50,000 for their involvement in this commercial series. That doesn't even include their likenesses being used on social media, radio, and print ads for Sling TV (yeah, they use all of those too). Offerman agreed to take a smaller wage in order to work with his wife and to assist the Sling TV business, which was failing before their rebranding process started.
The Snapple Lady
Wendy Kaufman played the role of the Snapple Lady. She did commercials and runs their PR branch that answers all of the fan mail she gets within the company. Even though she was paid a cool $100,000 for doing the ad spots, Snapple really should have paid her more.
Wendy Got Ripped Off
Because of Wendy's commercials, Snapple flew from a $23 million business to a $750 million business within the course of 10 years. Wendy even lost her job when Snapple got bought by Quaker Oats, but they brought her back eventually.
The Red Robin Lady
Melanie Paxson ran the commercial gambit for a few years before she landed her iconic gig with Red Robin. She did a ton of ad spots for Gladware as a commercial actress, but she also had small roles in a ton of famous TV shows. Some, but not all, of these shows include The Drew Carey Show Joey, Kitchen Confidential, CSI, Rules of Engagement, The Exes, and Medium.
Life Today
Nowadays, Paxson plays Sara Brennan on Happy Family, and she couldn't love it more. Her Red Robin commercials completely opened a world of opportunity for the rest of her career. Plus, the $50,249 paycheck didn't hurt.
The Pillsbury Doughboy
Although you may know this character as an adorable lump of dough, the real mastermind behind this little guy was Paul Frees. Frees voiced the Pillsbury Doughboy during the 1960s, but he did a ton more voice acting work prior.
The Little Dough Dude
Frees voice-acted as a ton of different legendary characters. He voiced both Rudolph and Frosty in Rudolph & Frosty, he voiced Santa in Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and he was even Jack Frost in Jack Frost. But, his most legendary achievement sticks with the Pillsbury Dough Boy. For a salary of one million big ones, Paul Frees brought his talent as a man of many voices to Pillsbury, appearing in plenty of ads as the little white creature in the 1960s.
The Pine-Sol Lady
Diane Amos is the lovable, sassy, and beautiful woman who became the permanent face for Pine-Sol no matter how many other individuals they try to stick to the brand. Amos is considered a veteran actress around the board. She had a handful of extra roles in some older features, but she became a TV actress primarily.
The Legacy Fits the Bill
With all the accolades that Amos had in her belt, she earned herself $250,000 from Pine-Sol. Had they hired someone who wasn't as knowledgable of the industry and didn't have a track record, they might have ended up paying the person less, but Amos got hers while she could.
The Sonic Guy (on the Left)
T.J. Jagodowski is an accomplished Chicago actor that graduated from Syracuse University. He is an improv comedian, and Sonic picked up on that when they saw his entry tape for his application. T.J. got to drag one of his improv buddies along (Pete Grosz) and thus, the legendary Sonic guys were born.
The Improv Genius
Jagodowski won the Chicago Improv Festival's highest award, "best improviser" right after the Sonic commercials blew up. He's also gotten roles in Get Hard, The Ice Harvest, Stranger than Fiction, and several more. He even had a role in Prison Break, which aired in the same timeslot that his commercial came on. Jagodowski has been creating Sonic's ads since 2004, which has earned the actor a net worth of $300,000.
The Most Interesting Man in the World
Jonathan Goldsmith has been an actor since 1963. He used to appear only in Western movies for the majority of his career. In fact, you can find Goldsmith in over 25 Western films, each with varying degrees of success.
Glory, Gold and Glitter
That is until he became the most interesting man in the world. When Goldsmith started making commercials with Dos Equis, he singlehandedly increased their profits by 15.4% in one singular year. His original contract stated that he was to get $1 million from Dos Equis for doing the commercials, but it's assumed that they sent him a little thank you for making the company so profitable.
The Toyota Girl
Laurel Coppock started popping off because of her interesting Toyota commercials. She's mostly known as Toyota Jan, but in the past, she played characters in Hot in Cleveland, Arrested Development, The Office, Modern Family, and many more.
The Toyotathon's Biggest Fan
Toyota Jan was someone who loved Toyota so much that she would go to dealerships and pretend to be one of the employees. Toyota loved her back too because they paid Coppock $1 million just to stand in front of the camera and pretend like she knows everything about a car brand. Coppock still picks up roles here and there, but she takes it easy now that her bank account is full.
The "It's Not That Complicated" Guy
Beck Bennett wanted to be an actor since he was a child. He worked his way up through the stage circuit until he started getting commercial gigs. This particular gig from AT&T helped shape the course of the rest of Bennett's future.
The SNL Hero
By playing the "It's Not That Complicated Guy" for AT&T, it not only made him a cool $250,000, but it also helped him snag himself a role on SNL. He's been playing characters like Donald Trump Jr. and Mitch McConnell as if he was one of their distant family members since 2013. Bennett's reign of hilarity doesn't seem like it's going to end any time soon.
The Orbit Gum Girl
Farris Patton is the actress that is better known as the "Orbit Gum Lady." Her telltale commercials featuring her, typically wearing pristine white outfits in strange situations, smiling and simply telling the camera to chew Orbit gum. The premise is simple, but it's effective.
Where She Is Now
Nowadays, she is a skit actor on Jimmy Kimmell Shes starred in a few things, particularly she was the face of Famous Faces, which was a TV movie about the people who make commercials. She's a model, and she earned $500,000 from the gum gig.
The "Can You Hear Me Now" Guy
Paul Marcelli was the face of Verizon for over a decade. He was recently traded to Sprint because of a more lucrative contract situation, but he is still beloved by many Verizon die-hards. Can you imagine getting rich by saying "Can you hear me now?"
Oh, He's Loaded
The "Can you hear me now?" campaign netted Marcelli $9 million in total. That's from 2001-2011. We don't know exactly how much he's making from Sprint, but we can only imagine it's a pretty penny.
Mr. Mayhem
Mayhem can show up at any time, that's why Allstate hired Dean Winters to tell us all about it. Mr. Mayhem is one of Allstate's best marketing campaigns. Actually, he's one of the highest performing Insurance company mascots of all time (second only to the Geico gecko).
He's Not Just In Commercials
Because of his successful ad fellowship with Allstate, Dean Winters landed himself some roles on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Law & Order SVU, Rescue Me, 30 Rock, and Battle Creek. He has actually become more of a TV actor now that Allstate doesn't run his commercials as frequently as they used to. Oh, by the way, he made $4,750 every time one of them airs. That's a LOT of money.
ShamWow Vince (Among Other Things)
Vince wasn't really "supposed" to become a celebrity, but by proxy, he kind of accidentally became one. Vince Offer (yes that is his real name) got his career started as a comedian and a writer, but he started acting as a way to pay the bills. Acting turned into commercial gigs, and Vince took the opportunity to start doing infomercials because they were a bit longer than standard commercials.
Smarter Than You'd Think
Not only did Vince star in all of his commercials, but he also wrote and directed them. Seriously, every single infomercial that he's been in, he wrote. That might be the treatment that you'd expect when you're someone who collects $2 million from doing the ShamWow commercial.
Flo, From Progressive
Stephanie Courtney plays Flo, who is arguably the most recognizable insurance salesperson on TV. Flo is known for her upbeat attitude, curiosity, and unwavering passion for quality insurance. Stephanie Courtney, however, isn't like that all the time (although she does seem very nice).
The Face Behind the Character
Courtney was part of an underground theater club before she got her debut break. She has been seen in Mad Men, Cavemen, Men of a Certain Age, and The Goldbergs. Her current contract with Progressive is worth $8 million.
Little Mikey
This might be before your time, but Little Mikey was a legendary advertiser of Life cereal. Long story short, Little Mikey doesn't want to try the cereal, but his brothers pressure him to do it, then he likes it. Pretty simple, right? Well, it was so simple and so effective that John Gilchrist (who played Little Mikey) was able to build a career out of it.
Moving on Up
As it turns out, having one of the most successful commercials of all time can put you in a pretty lucrative situation at a young age. Gilchrist has earned roughly $10 million from this commercial. That, and he became the face of a generation.
The Dell Dude
You might remember this guy if you were an avid TV watcher in the early 2000s—his name is Benjamin Curtis, and he is the Dell Dude. He was born in Tennessee, and he was only a commercial actor for a short period of time before he landed his Dell gig. Before all of that, Curtis was actually a highly respected magician.
Oh, How Time Flies
Nowadays, Dell Dude isn't up to much. The $50,000 that he got from doing the Dell spots has dried up and Curtis has had a difficult time returning to jobs from there. While he brought Dell a ton of revenue, it didn't do much for his career longterm.
The 7 Up Guy
His name is Orlando Jones, and he is the 7 Up Guy! You might recognize him from his role on MADtv or from any other of his numerous appearances on sketch comedy shows over the past few decades. Despite being the hilarious face of the lemon-lime soda, Jones actually got into the industry by being a writer.
He's Doing Quite Well
Nowadays, Orlando Jones is sitting quite pretty. After he walked away with $500,000 from 7 Up and took other gigs, so now he's pretty much set for life. What a crazy opportunity!
The Trivago Guy
If you've ever stayed in a hotel, you've probably thought about going through Trivago. You might be doing that because they're the most popular hotel locating website in the world, or you might know about them because of this guy right here. His name is Timothy Williams, and Trivago owes a ton of their success to him.
What a Guy
Timothy Williams is an actor from Germany that was born in Texas and moved to Europe to go to school. He was a German actor for a period of time, but he eventually moved to the states to get into movies and commercials. Trivago wasn't even his biggest gig (he only got paid $20,000), but it definitely was one of the more defining commercial roles that he's played on Television.
The Bush's Baked Beans Guy
Jay Bush is actually one of the owners of Bush's Baked Beans, and the golden retriever that hangs out with him in the commercials is actually his dog, who is named Duke. Jay has shown up in the majority of Bush's Baked Beans commercials since the 1990s, but the new ones have Jay's son, who they also call "Bean Boy."
The Family Lineage
Jay is the grandson of the founder of Bush's Baked Beans. He was tasked with making sure that the secret family recipe doesn't get forgotten along the family lineage. So, because of that, Jay has dropped out of doing Bush's commercials, and now he focuses on maintaining the quality of the family's legendary beans.
That's a Spicy Meatball!
Jack Somack was the face of the Alka-Seltzer commercial that defined a genre of jokes that have been passed down from generation to generation. Seriously, "That's a spicy meatball" is way up there, probably only second to "Where's the beef?" Somack wasn't just a commercial actor though, he appeared in a ton of feature films in the early-mid 1900s.
This Man Has Many Faces
Somack was in The Frisco Kid, Sanford and Son, Carlton Your Doorman, Desperate Characters, Portnoy's Complaint, and many more movies and shows of the past. "That's a spicy meatball" was actually one of the lower-grade gigs that he took. In fact, they only paid him $10,000 for the whole thing.
Mr. Whipple
Dick Wilson played a nosy store clerk who hated when his patrons squeezed his Charmin brand toilet paper. That's literally the extent of the character—he's just a dude who hates when people roughhouse his TP. Dick Wilson was astonished that this role was so simple, and he stuck to it for over 500 commercials worth of time.
The Funniest Man of the 50s
Mr. Whipple was a staple character back in the day. His commercial even helped the younger generation get their start because Adam Savage of Mythbusters eventually became his stockboy. Wilson earned $300,000 from playing this character over the years. We think that's a small price to pay for 500-lifetime commercials.
Captain Morgan's Chief Party Officer
Shortly after his stint in the Comedy Central show Workaholics, Adam Devine took over the responsibility of being the Chief Party Officer of the Captain Morgan company. This was pretty much right after Workaholics got the ax and Pitch Perfect had been released, so Adam Devine was a huge deal. Nothing like a celebrity endorsement to get your product sales up!
Enjoying His Fat Wallet
Devine was paid $3 million in total to be the party man for The Captain. That's some of the easiest money that has ever been earned in Hollywood, all he did was bring rum to parties on camera and then they'd wire him some cash. Although, he did have to break the company record of "most time spent standing on one foot like the iconic Captain Morgan in your front yard" to get the gig.
The Gas Station Pepsi Girl
You definitely know who Cindy Crawford is. She's one of the hottest supermodels and most recognizable faces to ever hit Hollywood. Most people know her from her modeling work, but some people distinctly remember her Pepsi ad more than anything else.
Easy Money
All Crawford had to do for this commercial was to take a sip of Pepsi and look into the camera. This netted her $5 million, which is over $150,000 a second. Crawford even came back to re-enact the same commercial for the 2018 Super Bowl, likely with an even higher price tag.
The Pepperidge Farm Guy
You probably know the joke surrounding his likeness on Family Guy better than you know the character himself. Charles C. Welch, aka the Pepperidge Farm Guy, had a 16 year run as the lovable bow-tied pitchman for Pepperidge Farm's bakery. Unfortunately, he passed away from cancer in 2004.
The Absolute Legend
Welch worked with some extremely famous theater actors of the day, including Sammy Davis, Mary Tyler Moore, and Angela Lansbury. He has made over 400 television appearances, some of them were in General Hospital and Days of Our Lives. Welch was given $200,000 for telling the camera "Pepperidge Farm remembers," and that was some extremely easy money.