Actor Tyler James Williams may be currently starring on ABC’s breakout and award-winning “Abbott Elementary,” but it was in another TV series that made history.
As a child actor starring on “Everybody Hates Chris,” he was earning $250,000 per episode, the MsMojo YouTube channel reports. At the time, his salary made him one of the most well-paid child actors of all time, according to Showbiz Cheat Sheet.
“Everyboby Hates Chris” ran for four seasons, from 2005 to 2009 and had a total of 88 episodes or 22 episodes per season. The show was on UPN, which later became The CW network. The show is in reruns and in syndication. It can still be seen on Nick at Nite, TeenNick, TV One, Up, MTV2, VH1, BET and BET Her, and the series is currently airing on Fuse, Bounce TV and the Laff network.
Playing Chris
Williams, 30, has a net worth is $5 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. He has been acting in a starring role since he was a lead character in “Everybody Hates Chris,” playing the role of comedian Chris Rock growing up as a kid in Brooklyn.
Most actors make between $15,000 and $20,000 per episode on a TV or cable network show, and veteran filmmakers earn from $75,000 to $100,000, The Hollywood Reporter wrote in 2015. So Williams’ per-episode salary was impressive.
The actor recently celebrated Everybody Hates Chris’ 15th anniversary, with Williams thanking the people he worked alongside its production.
“15 years ago this little show premiered on a network that no longer exists. It kickstarted my and several other careers of very talented people. I’m forever grateful for that,” Williams said in a celebratory post on Instagram.
Onscreen Career
Prior to his claim to famous role on “Everybody Hates Chris,” a young Williams appeared on TV as an extra on “Saturday Night Live” on three separate episodes between 1999 and 2003; he starred in 10 episodes of the children’s TV series “Sesame Street” in 2000; he was a voice actor for the Nick Jr. series “Little Bill”; and he played a character on the NBC long-running drama “Law and Order Special Victim Unit” in 2005 before he played Chris.
Among several guests appearances over the years, Williams was also featured on “The Walking Dead” and “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.” In 2014, he made appearances on the Netflix series “Dear White People.” In 2017, he appeared in the film “Detroit.”
His return to sitcom acting was due to his friendly relationship with “Abbott Elementary” creator and star Quinta Brunson.
“I felt like at the time, network comedy specifically had gotten very broad,” Williams explained in an interview on the “Tamron Hall” show. “It was a lot of people fighting really hard to get a joke out, and that’s not how I like to do comedy. I like to keep it pretty grounded and play to the real of it all. So, I kind of was not interested at the time I went off, I did some great drama stuff and some interesting indie stuff. Then, when Quinta came to me with this, I was like, this feels like the perfect excuse to come back into people’s living rooms.”
“Abbott Elementary” earned Brunson and Williams Golden Globe awards, with Williams winning in the category for Best Supporting Actor in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy for 2023.
The show also helped Williams win a Screen Actors Guild Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards.
