What Is Whitney Cummings' Net Worth and Salary?
Whitney Cummings is a model, comedian, actress, writer, and producer who has a net worth of $35 million. As an actress, Whitney Cummings is probably best known for starring in NBC's "Whitney" from 2011 to 2013. As a producer, she earned a fortune thanks to the success (mainly via syndication royalties) of the series she co-created, "2 Broke Girls," which ran from 2011 to 2017. More details on her syndication payday later in this article.
Early Life
Whitney Cummings was born on September 4, 1982, in Washington, D.C. She is the daughter of Patti and Eric Lynn Cummings. Her parents divorced when she was five years old, and Whitney has stated publicly that she grew up in a "dysfunctional, alcoholic household." Cummings began living with her aunt in Virginia when she was twelve years old. She later attended the prestigious St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland, and graduated in 2002. Whitney worked as an intern at WRC-TV, an NBC-owned television news station in Washington, during high school. While in school, Cummings studied acting at Washington D.C.'s Studio Theater.
Whitney started her career in entertainment as a department store model at local shopping malls. She attended the University of Southern California, using her money from modeling to pay for tuition. After a few years, she transferred to the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, where she subsequently graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Communications and Film in three years. Whitney originally aspired to be a journalist.
Career
Cummings developed a love for comedy and started doing stand-up in clubs around the Los Angeles area, where she was discovered by MTV producers and was cast in what would be her breakout role in Ashton Kutcher's "Punk'd" in 2004. Later that year, she starred in a low-budget thriller called "EMR," which screened at Cannes. Meanwhile, she was enjoying moderate success as a stand-up comedian. In 2007, "Variety" named her to its list of "10 Comics to Watch." In 2008, Cummings tried out for the San Francisco audition of "Last Comic Standing," but she didn't pass the showcase round. In 2008, she appeared in "The Tony Rock Project" and the romantic comedy "Made of Honor." Around this time, Whitney began appearing as a regular roundtable guest on E! Network's "Chelsea Lately." She appeared until the conclusion of the show in 2014. In 2008, Cummings was named one of "12 Rising Stars of Comedy" by "Entertainment Weekly."
Whitney also appeared in a series of Comedy Central Roasts, including the roasts of Joan Rivers, David Hasselhoff, and Donald Trump. In August 2010, her first one-hour TV special, "Whitney Cummings: Money Shot," premiered on Comedy Central. She subsequently went on tour with Denis Leary on his "Rescue Me Comedy Tour."
In 2011, Whitney co-created and produced the NBC TV Show "Whitney." The show aired 38 episodes from 2011 to 2013. The majority of Whitney's net worth actually comes from the CBS sitcom "2 Broke Girls," which she co-created and has since been sold widely into syndication around the world. Needless to say, she has a lot more success on the horizon, and her net worth is sure to grow exponentially in the coming years. "2 Broke Girls" was canceled in May 2017 after having run six consecutive and successful seasons. Cummings made her directorial debut later that year with "The Female Brain," in which she also starred. That same year, she published her first book, a collection of personal short stories about her life titled "I'm Fine…And Other Lies." Starting in 2018, Cummings served as a head writer and an executive producer of the revival of "Roseanne." She left the show after its star Roseanne Barr made a series of racially insensitive and inflammatory jokes on her Twitter account, which also resulted in the cancellation of the series.
Cummings' fourth hour-long special, "Can I Touch It?" premiered on Netflix in July 2019. In November 2019, Whitney launched her first podcast entitled "Good for You."
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Whitney Cummings Salary
What was Whitney Cummings' salary per episode of "Whitney"? $60,000.
"2 Broke Girls" Syndication Royalties
"2 Broke Girls" ran from 2011 to 2017. During its run, the show produced 138 episodes over six seasons. In June 2012, the series was first sold into syndication for what was a then-record $1.7 million per episode fee. TBS won the rights after outbidding several other networks. The previous per-episode record was $1.5 million that "Modern Family" earned in 2010 from USA.
By the time "2 Broke Girls" ended its run, it had aired 138 episodes. At $1.7 million per episode, TBS forked over $235.6 million for rights to the first syndication run. Those rights will come up for renewal again after roughly a decade.
During the show's run, Whitney earned fees as both a creator and producer of the show. Perhaps not as much as the show's two stars, Beth Behrs and Kat Dennings, who earned $150,000 per episode apiece. That's around $20 million over the course of the series. Most importantly, Kat, Beth, and Whitney each have a slice of the show's equity points. These points entitle them to a percent of the show's syndication profits. Over the lifetime of the show's syndication run, Whitney, Kat, and Beth will each earn around $50 million in syndication royalties from the series.
Real Estate
In May 2019, Whitney spent $4.3 million on a home in Woodland Hills, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. In 2011, she spent $1.49 million on a home in Studio City, California.
