Geoffrey Owens appeared on The Cosby Show from 1985 to 1992 and made headlines in 2018 when he was photographed working at a New Jersey Trader Joe’s. Owens, who said he’d been struggling to make a livable wage as a working actor, quit his grocery store gig soon after a customer recognized and photographed him, citing concerns about his privacy going forward. Even after landing more acting work, Owens resumed his Trader Joe’s job to supplement his income.
Six years after he was initially photographed, Owens says he’s still struggling financially. While promoting his film Mr. Santa: A Christmas Extravaganza, he told Atlanta’s V-103 radio station earlier this month that his residual checks, the payout he receives when a film or an episode of TV he’s acted in is rerun on cable or streaming, “were never particularly wonderful.” He also opened up about the common misconception of what an “average middle-class actor” makes in Hollywood.
“Even today, right now, as we speak, I still struggle to make a living,” he said. “I struggle every day to make my ends meet. And people can’t get their heads around that because they see me in movies.”
Past successes with movies and television shows, like The Cosby Show, don’t necessarily equate to a treasure trove of disposable, regenerative income. Before subscription-based streaming platforms became widespread, tracking a film or TV show’s profitability was comparatively straightforward. It’s more complicated now.
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Streamers like Netflix, Hulu and Max “make their money off subscriptions, so [there’s] no way of knowing whether or not my show … is directly correlated to a subscriber coming on board and generating revenue,” a former agent told the Los Angeles Times during the dual Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023 that addressed streaming residuals specifically.
Reservation Dogs actress Jana Schmieding shared in a since deleted post on X that she received just 3 cents for “each quarter for unlimited streams” of the Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo-created series on FX, Hulu and Disney. Greer Grammer, daughter of Kelsey Grammer, took to TikTok to share a handful of streaming residual checks she received from her time on MTV’s Awkward, the highest total gross being 80 cents. Mandy Moore, who earned Emmy and Golden Globe nods for This Is Us, told the Hollywood Reporter that her residual checks for the show’s streaming deal range from a penny to around 81 cents.
The poststrike Screen Actors Guild agreement now includes “success-based bonuses” for streaming productions that take into account the number of views a movie or show has in the first 90 days for eligibility — something that SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher called “essential.”
The amount of residuals an actor gets can range from ridiculously small to substantial enough to help them through times when they don’t have a role in a film or TV show.
On X, Twisters star Glen Powell said that he “survived off of residuals while trying to make it as a working actor.”
But even Hollywood’s biggest movie stars can struggle to stay afloat.
Jim Carrey told Access Hollywood in 2022 that he was taking a break from acting and would only return to the screen if the script was right. Less than two years later, in 2024, he came out of retirement to star in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which hit theaters this December. The decision was prompted by finances, he said.
“I came back to the universe because, first of all, I get to play a genius, which is a bit of a stretch. And I just, I bought a lot of stuff and I need the money, frankly,” he told the Associated Press at the film’s London premiere.
Anyone but You star Sydney Sweeney has also spoken out about the facade of financial stability as an A-list actress. The Euphoria actress told the Hollywood Reporter in 2022 that she doesn’t have the luxury of taking downtime between gigs.
“If I wanted to take a six-month break, I don’t have income to cover that,” she said. “I don’t have someone supporting me, I don’t have anyone I can turn to, to pay my bills or call for help.”
Bills for a high-profile actor likely include what the outlet describes as “nondiscretionary costs.” The “industry standard” is that approximately 30% of an actor’s pay be allocated to their team of representatives, which includes their agent, manager, lawyer and accountant. Publicists, personal assistants, stylists and makeup artists, security and taxes come into play as well.
The laundry list of expenses is perhaps, in part, why some celebrities opt to be paid brand ambassadors. Sweeney, for instance, is also forging partnerships outside Hollywood. On Instagram, in the past month, she’s promoted Samsung and Korean skin care brand Laneige to her 23.2 million followers.
Whether it’s Sweeney’s candor about the financial realities of being an “it” girl, Carrey being forced out of retirement due to a lack of funds or Owens’s and other actors’ struggles to make ends meet, their comments shine a light on what it takes to have and maintain a career in Hollywood.
