From 'Blossom' to 'Big Bang Theory' to 'Jeopardy!'—Inside Mayim Bialik's Net Worth
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Bialik's doesn't need a Daily Double to make bank.
Ever since Mayim Bialik made a name for herself as a child actor starring on the NBC sitcom Blossom, her career has just kept on blooming—and so has her net worth!
"My job is about playing make believe and having to try things for the first time," the then-45-year-old Bialik told Parade in December 2020 about how she rakes in the big bucks. "Sometimes things are funnier than I thought, and sometimes they’re not as funny as I thought. Those are all surprises I get to live every day."
An actress, neuroscientist and now hostess with the mostess for Jeopardy!, Bialik has remained true to herself over the course of career, choosing eclectic projects and embracing being a nerd. "I am a self-described nerd and geek. I gravitate towards anything academic. Some of my most profound experiences in life revolve around things I have studied as a scientist," she told us. "And I love superhero movies, comic books, Dungeons & Dragons, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I try to surround myself with people who appreciate my individuality. I choose friends who support me being me."
Being true to herself has definitely paid off big time. Keep reading to find out all about Mayim Bialik's net worth and how she made it.
What is Mayim Bialik's net worth?
Mayim Bialik's net worth is estimated at $25 million.
How much did Mayim Bialik make on The Big Bang Theory?
Bialik joined The Big Bang Theory in 2010 as recurring character Amy Farrah Fowler, a neurobiologist and love interest for Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons. She and fellow Big Bang recurring-turned-regular star Melissa Rauch started out reportedly making roughly $45,000 per episode, and when they were bumped up to series regulars, they eventually made about $175,000 per episode.
However, by the show's final seasons, Bialik and Rauch were in hard negotiations for pay parity with their co-stars, who were making $1 million per episode. Those stars—Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Kunal Nayyar and Simon Helberg—each took a $100,000 pay cut so that Bialik and Rauch could get $500,000 per episode for 48 episodes (for an eye-popping total of $24 million!). That's collective bargaining—and class!
How much did Mayim Bialik make on Blossom?
Bialik's big break came in 1990 with the title role in Blossom, which followed Blossom Russo as she grew up in an Italian-American family and tackled issues including divorce, addiction and general teen angst with comedic and heartfelt twists.
While fans still love and adore Blossom to this day (and can probably re-create the show's song-and-dance opening from memory), Bialik once revealed on fellow child star Jaleel White's Ever Actor podcast that she didn't earn that much money from the show, relative to other TV-star salaries of the day.
"I did not have the kind of financial success that would’ve set me up for the rest of my life,” Bialik admitted. “Also, our show was never put into syndication." When White asked her if her Blossom salary cracked the six-figures mark, she replied, "No."
Blossom was a midseason replacement for the low-rated Molloy, in which she also had appeared. The series lasted five seasons and made Bialik a household name at the time. Blossom was canceled in 1995.
Related: Blossom Behind Her, Mayim Bialik Returns To TV
What is Mayim Bialik's Jeopardy! salary?
After the passing of Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, Bialik was named one of the guest hosts of the beloved trivia game show. Her run aired in March 2021, and she became a fan favorite.
TMZ reported that Jeopardy! was interested in having Bialik be the permanent host of show altogether, but that her schedule and other commitments simply didn't allow for it.
Then in July 2022, the show announced an unusual choice: There would be two official hosts, both Jennings and Bialik would continue hosting.
"The fact is, we have so much Jeopardy! to make, and so many plans for the future, that we always knew we would need multiple hosts for the franchise and we are just so grateful that Mayim and Ken stepped in and stepped up to put the show in a position to succeed," Michael Davies, the executive producer of Jeopardy!, said in a statement. "And succeed it has."
As for how much she earns from her Jeopardy! duties, those figures have not been disclosed. While it's been reported that Trebek raked in $18 million a year from Jeopardy!, he did so largely because of his iconic status as the program's longtime host—so Bialik, who is just starting out with the gig, was probably offered far less.
How much did Mayim Bialik make as a neuroscientist?
Bialik graduated high school in 1993, deferring her acceptance to University of California Los Angeles because of her acting commitments. She ultimately graduated from UCLA in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in neuroscience and minors in Jewish studies and Hebrew. She then married college sweetheart Michael Stone on August 31, 2003, before they welcomed sons Miles in 2005 and Frederick in 2008. Throughout those years, Bialik continued her studies (she got her Ph.D. in neuroscience in 2007), raised her kids and worked as a teacher.
As she once explained on Popcorn With Peter Travers about that time in her life, "My then-husband was still working on his master’s degree. I was teaching neuroscience for about five years."
Related: Mayim Bialik’s Brainiac Advantage
According to ZipRecruiter, the average U.S. salary for a neuroscience professor is $66,534 a year. Meanwhile, Glassdoor estimates that a Ph.D. student at UCLA would earn even less, about $33,089 per year on average.
Perhaps that's why around 2005, Bialik decided to pursue acting again for a very relatable reason: She needed health insurance!
“The true story is I was running out of health insurance and figured if I could even get a couple of acting jobs here and there, and if it’s enough to get you your Screen Actors Guild Aftra health insurance, we would at least have insurance," she explained to Travers. "I was not expecting to be a full-time actor."
How much has Mayim Bialik made as an author, blogger and podcaster?
Bialik is, as of this writing, the author of four books.
In 2012, Bialik released a book about attachment parenting called Beyond the Sling: A Real Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way.
Two years later, she released vegan cookbook Mayim's Vegan Table: More Than 100 Great-Tasting and Healthy Recipes From My Family to Yours.
Bialik released Girling Up: How to Be Strong, Smart and Spectacular in 2017. She said on Popcorn With Peter Travers that it's essentially a book she would have loved to have as a resource when she was growing up.
“I wrote a book kind of about all things female, from puberty and sex and dating and hormones, to how we learn and what we put in our bodies, how we cope with difficult things and how ultimately we can make an impact in the world. The book’s written for 10- to 18-year-old girls. But other people can read it who know girls in that age range,” she said.
Related: The Big Bang Theory's Mayim Bialik Talks Amy and Sheldon Finally Having Sex…Again!
“When I was growing up, that was when no one talked about things. And I don’t just mean in my home, I mean socially we don’t talk about things," she explained. "And when I was 15, if someone had said to me, 'Things are going to hurt in your life, and you’re going to feel these emotions and this is what it does to your body if you don’t take care of them, here are the three things that you can do, you can teach yourself to breathe, you can teach yourself to meditate, you can find solace in friendship, in music, in art' — if someone had said those things to me, I think it would have saved me a lot of heartache and a lot of difficulty. So what I decided to do with this book is write the book that I wish that I had had.”
In 2018, Bialik released the sister (or brother!) book to Girling Up, Boying Up: How to Be Brave, Bold and Brilliant.
Bialik launched the lifestyle site Grok Nation in 2016. While the site is still active, it hasn't had new content since 2019.
She also co-hosts the podcast Mayim Bialik's Breakdown with boyfriend Cohen. They started the project together during the COVID-19 pandemic as an effort to raise mental health awareness. She told Parade of the project, "I noticed during the quarantine that people who already had mental health struggles were struggling more, and people who never had them were starting to struggle.I’ve always been very open about the challenges that my family and I have faced," she continued. "I have a YouTube channel with almost a million subscribers and I’ve made a lot of videos about mental health in particular. It was part of my neuroscience studies, because I studied mental health as part of my training. So, on the podcast, we either talk to someone who’s living with something, and often they’re celebrity friends of mine, or we talk to experts in the field or people who are taking different approaches to mental health."
Related: The Big Bang Theory's Mayim Bialik Shares the Weirdest Thing She’s Been Served as ‘the Vegan’
Mayim Bialik has had endorsements for her brainpower and activism
In 2019, Bialik teamed up with Sabra to create a hotline, 1-866-CODE-VEGAN, with vegan recipes for non-vegan hosts.
In March 2021, Bialik appeared in ads for nutritional supplement Neuriva. The ads frequently aired while she guest-hosted Jeopardy!. A month later, she announced her partnership with Purina Pro Plan.
Mayim Bialik has been a working actress for most of her life
Bialik got her start in television in 1987 with a guest role on Beauty and the Beast, followed by guest starring stints on The Facts of Life and Webster in 1988. She also made her big screen debut in 1988 with horror cult classic Pumpkinhead, then Beaches alongside Bette Midler later that year. More TV appearances followed, including guest roles on Empty Nest, MacGyver, The Wonder Years, Murphy Brown and Doogie Howser, M.D..
Mayim Bialik continued working post-Blossom
Though she wouldn't have another star turn for some time, Bialik was a steadily working actress after Blossom concluded its run. She did voice acting in numerous animated series, including Jonny Quest, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Johnny Bravo, Hey Arnold and Recess. She also appeared in live-action shows, including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Bones, 7th Heaven, Saving Grace, Til Death and The Secret Life of The American Teenager. She continued doing voiceovers while starring in The Big Bang Theory.
Related: Mayim Bialik on Dealing with Divorce and Hopes for Amy and Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory
Are Kaley Cuoco and Mayim Bialik friends?
Kaley Cuoco and Bialik remain friendly, going out for a coffee date with Cuoco's sister as recently as early 2020. Bialik shared a pic of billboard promoting Cuoco's reboot of Night Court. In the post, the called Cuoco a "brilliant comedienne and powerhouse who I’m blessed to call my friend!!! 💕"
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Mayim Bialik's pet projects are Call Me Kat and As Sick As They Made Us
Bialik currently stars in Call Me Kat, based on the British TV series Miranda. She and TBBT co-star and pal Parsons are co-executive producers of the comedy, which is currently airing its third season.
"Jim Parsons brought this to me, and his company and I are producing it," she told Parade of the show. "Darlene Hunt, who’s our showrunner, she pitched this idea of this woman and her pitch was out of sight. We shopped it literally on her description of the show. And we got a season bought from that pitch. So it’s a really unbelievable little engine that could."
She added of working with Parson, "It’s really fun. Honestly, we were so aligned as actors that I’m not surprised that we’re often very aligned on decisions as producers. He has a really wonderful support team in his company and it’s been a really, really lovely partnership. It’s such an honor to be included in his life after Big Bang."
Bialik also wrote and will direct her first feature film, As Sick As They Made Us, which came out in 2022.
Next, Try Mayim Bialik's Delicious Recipe for Pecan Pie Truffles!
