Friends: How did a simple extra person become a millionaire?

Ten years, ten seasons and counting, proudly showing its 236 episodes, Friends is the series of an entire generation that spoke in unison in front of the TV on the evening of May 6, 2004, with the broadcast of the last episode. The last bow in the form of an apotheosis, which gathered more than 52 million viewers. The most-watched episode of any TV series of the 2000s.

when we think FriendsOf course we are thinking of Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler and Joyce. Also to Gunther, Central Perk’s bartender and Rachel’s secret lover. The fan-adored character was portrayed by the late James Michael Tyler, who died on October 24, 2021 at the age of 59 from prostate cancer diagnosed in 2018. His illness also prevented him from participating in an orchestrated reunion later that year.

From a simple extra at first, the peroxide-haired bartender eventually landed a role that made him rich. Or how the espresso machine made him a millionaire!

Before he was a server at Central Perk, James Michael Tyler was a bartender at a cafe. More precisely, in an institution that responds to the name A bourgeois pig and is located in Los Angeles. A position he would hold concurrently for the first four seasons Friends.

Indeed, his character was originally only supposed to be a minor role. If he was cast as Gunther, it was because he was the only extra who knew how to properly operate the coffee machine at Central Perk.

Michael Tyler was paid $5,000 per episode in the first season. As her character developed and gained more consistency, especially starting in Season 3, her salary increased to $20,000 per episode. In season 5, he received $30,000; From season 7 to the end, the fee will be up to $40,000 per episode.

Appearing in no less than 148 of the series’ 236 episodes, the winnings will be sorted, even if they never touch the equivalent of the band, whose salaries can top a million dollars per episode.

At least Michael Tyler was able to add a small pear to his thirst; In this case, payments of amounts related to the residual rights received thanks to the series, that is, the amounts received at each transfer of the series. At the time of his death, his net worth was estimated at $4 million.

And let’s approve it in 2019 That he wasn’t at all obsessed with getting a paycheck from the show: “I’m very happy to be able to collect the check thanks to the residual rights. If I didn’t get a million dollars per episode, of course, the story would be completely different.

FOr luckily, I’m not an accountant, I stay completely out of the loop. I’m lucky enough to have extra income from Friends, but I’m still a working actor. I kept telling myself I was going to buy an island! Anyway, I couldn’t do that.”