Real Name: John Hodgman
Salary Deal: $3 million
Appearing in the famously-derided Mac commercials alongside the “Mac” Justin Long, Hodgman is supposed to be seen as the stodgy and outdated Windows PC, yet he is so well-known – and Long’s character so annoying – a lot of people ended up siding with Hodgman.
Hodgman is also a humorist and writer, working with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. His writing has appeared in physical form and online. Apple paid a salary of $3 million. His most recent book, ‘Medallion Status’, came out in October of 2019. He has a degree from Yale in literary criticism and was an agent before becoming a writer.
Carl Hardee, Sr.
Real Name: Chip Esten
Salary Deal : $20,000
With his own musical and television career, Charles “Chip” Esten has done plenty in the entertainment biz. He portrayed Carl Hardee, Sr. in a commercial alongside his fictional son, Carl Junior. Esten played the role of Deacon on Nashville from 2012 until 2018, which helped bring him to greater fame and get his musical career off the ground.
He's also appeared as Josh Porter in The Office and has had bit parts on the shows Thirteen Days and Enlightened. He's also had an appearance on Whose Line Is It Anyway? His role as the Hardee's patriarch was only $20,000, but don't worry – his net worth is estimated at around $4 million.
The Snapple Lady
Real Name: Wendy Kaufman
Salary Deal : $100,000
Kaufman wasn't picked out of a hat to foist flavored tea and juices at us – she got the part because she was the only one at Snapple who would answer fan mail. This caught the eye of the ad agency, who also thought her energetic, bubbly personality would work well on TV.
Snapple sales jumped from $23 million to $750 million in the nineties, and some hold Kaufman accountable. While she was removed for two years after Snapple was sold to Quaker Oats, the company quickly realized what they had lost, and brought her back in. She currently brings in $100,000 a year.
Sandra Savealot
Real Name: Alyssa Milano
Salary Deal: $1 million
Actress, singer, producer, and director Alyssa Milano has made more than her mark on Hollywood, and has a net worth of more than $10 million. A good portion of that comes from her short “Sandra Savealot” role, which got her a million dollars. It was part of MCI's commercials advertising their 1-800-COLLECT service, a collect call business.
In the commercials, a hapless caller might not have the right change for a payphone, but when Sandra Savealot appears, his worries are gone. Milano got the service a lot of press since she starred in the popular sitcom Who's the Boss in the late 80s and early 90s.
Kevin Butler, the PS3 Exec
Real Name: Jerry Lambert
Salary Deal : $10,000
As a way to tout the many features of their new gaming console, Sony created the character of Kevin Butler, played by Jerry Lambert. In the humorous commercials, Kevin Butler was the VP of various, varying departments within Sony, but was mainly in charge of answering fan mail.
The character came from the minds of ad agency Deutsch/LA, which not only ran Jerry Lambert's social media but also wrote the speech he gave at E3 2010. Lambert had a salary deal of $10,000, while the only thing Butler had was an MBA: Master of Being Awesome.