Here's how much TV's biggest stars really make per episode

Kevin Spacey, Kaley Cuoco and Peter Dinklage. Photos / Getty

It definitely pays to work in television.

Variety has revealed just how much the biggest stars on the small screen have been earning in 2017 - and the results may surprise you.

Here's what some of the highest-earning actors and actresses are raking in per episode:

Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar and Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory): $1.14 million. ($1.57m NZ)

Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch (Big Bang Theory): $633,400. ($874,390 NZ)

Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey and Kit Harington (Game of Thrones): $633,400 ($874,390 NZ)

Robert De Niro (Amazon project, untitled): $981,800 ($1,355,347 NZ)

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson (Baller): $823,446 ($1,136,744NZ)

William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum (Shameless): $443,400 ($612,10 NZ)

Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ed O'Neill, Eric Stonestreet and Sofia Vergara (Modern Family): $633,400 ($874,390 NZ)

Sean Hayes, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally and Eric McCormack (Will & Grace): $316,700

Kevin Spacey (House of Cards): $633,400 ($874,390 NZ)

Claire Danes (Homeland): $570,000 ($786,868 NZ)

Jason Bateman and Claire Danes (Ozark): $380,000 ($524,579 NZ)

Meanwhile - unlike actors and actresses - TV hosts receive annual salaries ... Big, fat annual salaries.

Ellen DeGeneres outstrips everybody by a country mile with a yearly paycheck of $69.6 million ($96m NZ), while Judge Judy's Judith Sheindlin earns $59.5 million ($77.9m NZ), and American Idol host Katy Perry brings home $31.6 million ($43.6m NZ).