Charlie Sheen’s Two and a Half Men co-star reveals role still pays for his rent as he talks residuals
Over 10 years after starring on Two And A Half Men, Jon Cryer is still receiving an income stream from the show that allows him to live comfortably.
From 2003 to 2011, Cryer starred opposite Charlie Sheen in the hit comedy series in a show that produced drama both on and off the screen.
While Sheen left the show amid controversy in 2011, Cryer remained for four more years until it officially ended.
Cryer, 61, made just a fraction of the paycheck Sheen, 60, was getting but the role has provided him with the freedom of never having to ‘worry’ about making rent.
‘It still is an engine that’s producing an astonishing amount of money,’ he recently told Page Six.
‘But it’s not [from] residuals as much,” he said. ‘Although, there is still, there are still residual payments that are substantial. It’s mostly because over the course of the years, I was able to get some percentage of the show.’
Jon Cryer revealed he never has to worry about ‘making’ rent thanks to a steady income flow he is still receiving from Two And A Half Men
The odds of getting cast in such a lucrative show are rare – a fact that has never escaped Cryer.
Even now, 11 years since the show ended, he’s never found himself in a position having ‘to worry about making your rent every month’ thanks to the residuals.
It’s also allowed him to pursue roles he is truly passionate about.
‘it transforms the way I deal with things on a daily basis. I really look for work that makes me joyful. I am daily aware of how lucky I am to be able to do that.’
From 2003 to 2015, Cryer played divorced dad Alan Harper, who is attempting to get back on his feet at his brother Charlie Harper’s (Sheen) beachfront mansion.
At the show’s peak, Sheen was earning $1.9 million per episode, according to Forbes.
Cryer, meanwhile, received a raise to $620,000 per episode several years after Sheen left, as claimed by The Hollywood Reporter.
Cryer has also recently revealed he earned one third of Sheen’s salary as he described his frustrations with the disparity during an appearance on the Netflix documentary, aka Charlie Sheen.
‘He’s in the midst of falling apart in every way that I can imagine, and he’s renegotiating his contract for another year of a show that I’m supposed to be on, too,’ he said, according to an account from People.
He went on to compare his troubled co-star — who was eventually dismissed from the show amid personal struggles — to a dictator.
Cryer, pictured with co-stars Sheen and Angus T. Jones, called the show ‘an engine that’s producing an astonishing amount of money’
Cryer has since revealed he made only a third of Sheen’s salary, a disparity that frustrated him
Cryer once compared Sheen to the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il for his ability to get ‘enormous amounts’ of money despite his ‘crazy’ behavior
Cryer stated: ‘The dictator of North Korea was a guy named Kim Jong-Il. He acted crazy all the time and thus got enormous amounts of aid from countries who were so scared of him that they would shovel money at him.
‘Well, that’s what happened here. [Sheen’s] negotiations went off the charts because his life was falling apart. Me, whose life was pretty good at that time, I got a third of that.’
He also revealed that the show’s network, CBS, had motive to ‘spend this astonishing amount of money on Charlie’ because it has ‘pre-sold a couple extra seasons’ of the series.
However, Sheen was let go from the television comedy in 2011 after he publicly criticized show creator Chuck Lorre.
He said about his departure in the Netflix project, ‘I remember saying, “Dude, I dunno man. I’m feeling emotionally done there. And I get there’s a ton of money at stake, and I get there’s a lot more juice to be squeezed out of this thing, but I don’t know how much juice is left in me. And I do fear if I go back, it’s gonna go terribly wrong.” I said those words.’
Following the Wall Street star’s exit, Ashton Kutcher stepped in to replace him for four seasons until the show’s end in 2015.