Ashton Kutcher tops Forbes TV rich list

ASHTON Kutcher has taken Charlie Sheen’s crown as the highest paid TV actor.

The 34-year-old star knocked his rival off the top spot on Forbes’ Highest Paid TV Actor list and is estimated to have banked $24 million for his role on ‘Two And a Half Men’ since replacing him on the sitcom. Charlie failed to make the top 10, despite topping the list last year with $40 million.

Forbes magazine said: ‘’Kutcher took over for Charlie Sheen on ‘Two and a Half Men’ and quickly became one of the highest-paid men on television. Ratings have slipped a bit but the show is still a bona fide hit for CBS. In addition to acting, Kutcher is an active Silicon Valley investor. He got in early on Skype, Spotify and Airbnb which is now worth $1 billion.’’ Charlie was fired from the sitcom following a highly-publicised meltdown, but ‘Two and a Half Men’ ratings have stayed high with 12.4 million viewers per episode.

Ashton’s co-star Jon Cryer came in at number 7, while Ray Romano, Mark Harmon, Patrick Dempsey and Hugh Laurie all made the cut for the second year in a row. Steve Carrell, who came third last year with $15 million in earnings, has also dropped off the list since leaving NBC sitcom ‘The Office’ in 2011. The Forbes list is also devoid of reality stars, unlike its female counterpart which features Kim and Khloe Kardashian at number 2 and 5 respectively.