Real Name: Betty White
Salary Deal: $5 million
She was one of the Golden Girls, and a leading lady in the world of television, but even the late Betty got hungry. That’s why she appeared in the “You’re not you when you’re hungry” ad for Snickers, which netted her $5 million.
Madam White credited Snickers for helping her get more acting roles as the years have gone on. The commercial came out in 2010, with Betty playing a pro lineman, and its success not only led to more roles for Betty during the later years in her career but for plenty of other “Hungry” ads with other long-time acting names.
The Old Spice Guy
Real Name: Isaiah Mustafa
Salary Deal: $5 million
He's the man your man could smell like. His name is Isaiah Mustafa, and he's on a horse. He's also a former wide receiver in the NFL, playing for the Oilers (a team that doesn't even exist anymore) in the 1990s – he was also on the practice squads for the Browns and the Raiders but left football for acting.
He appeared on the soap opera Days of Our Lives before signing a deal with NBC for Horrible Bosses. He went on to star in It Two. Mustafa expressed interest in playing Marvel character Luke Cage before losing the role to Idris Elba, though the product never materialized. His deal with Old Spice was $5 million.
The Cingular Wireless Umbrella Girl
Real Name: Angela Sarafyan
Salary Deal : $75,000
It's likely you're much more familiar with this Armenian actress now than you were when she grabbed an umbrella and shilled for Cingular Wireless for a measly seventy-five grand. She's exploded into a promising talent and rising star, with big roles in Westworld, Repo Chick, Never, and The Immigrant. She's also appeared in Judging Amy, The Division, 24, Criminal Minds, Nikita, The Mentalist, and many more.
Sarafyan comes from a family of artists – her father is an actor, and her mother is a painter. She moved to America when she was four.
Mr. Mayhem from the Allstate Commercials
Real Name: Dean Winters
Salary Deal: $4,750 per aired commercial
Mr. Mayhem has been causing incredible destruction and problems for all kinds of people on his large campaign of ads for insurance company Allstate. The ingenious part of his contract is that it's not a flat fee – Winters gets $4,750 every time one of his commercials airs. It's enough to keep him in slim gray suits and face bandages for years to come.
Winters has had a recurring role as Ryan in prison drama Oz, and other television credits include Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Law & Order SVU, Rescue me, 30 Rock, and Battle Creek.
Speedy Alka Seltzer
Real Name: Dick Beals
Salary Deal : $20,000
A throwback from long ago, the Speedy Alka Seltzer Kid is a character with a human head and an Alka seltzer body, paired with human arms and legs. Bob Watkins of the Wade Agency in Chicago created this character in 1951 – it originally went by the name “Sparky.”
He became Speedy in 1963 and was voiced by young Dick Beals for a yearly $20,000. The character's first appearance wasn't on television, however – women's magazines found him gracing their pages and offering antacid relief with his “effervescent” wand. Speedy's tagline was “plop, plop, fizz, fizz,”, which was written that way so people remember to take the pills two at a time.