Tiffani Thiessen earned almost nothing on Saved by the Bell, real money came with 90210
The actress reveals her residuals from the NBC sitcom have turned negative, and financial stability only arrived after she joined Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1994.
Tiffani Thiessen has opened up about the surprisingly modest compensation she received during her years on Saved by the Bell, saying the cast “made nothing” while working on the hit NBC sitcom that ran from 1989 to 1993.
“We made nothing and we just did our job,” Thiessen said during a recent interview with SiriusXM’s Page Six Radio. The actress, who played Kelly Kapowski from 1989 onward, also said the young cast members had little control over the show’s operations or any say in its decisions.
Limited influence on set
Thiessen recalled that despite their growing recognition among viewers, the cast lacked negotiating power. “We didn’t have any pull,” she explained. The actors were not given advance copies of episodes before they aired on television, watching the show the same way audiences did. “But we would watch it when it came out,” she said. Pay did increase slightly when the show moved to primetime for one season, but only marginally.
The Beverly Hills, 90210 turning point
Thiessen’s financial circumstances changed dramatically when she left Bayside High. “I didn’t start making real money until I went to 90210,” she said. She joined the Fox teen drama in 1994 as Valerie Malone, taking over the role after Shannen Doherty’s departure. She remained with the series through its ninth season and made a guest appearance in the final season.
Residuals now in the red
When discussing the ongoing payments from Saved by the Bell, Thiessen was blunt about their current value. According to Page Six, she said her residuals had become “negative now” and that “it costs more to print the check.” She referenced a Los Angeles venue called Residuals where actors could historically redeem nominal checks for drinks.
A broader pattern among the cast
Thiessen’s account aligns with comments from other cast members. In 2019, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who played Zach Morris, told Andy Cohen that the cast had negotiated poorly. “We made really bad deals,” he said. “Poor deals, back then. It is what it is. You move on, you learn. Great experience.” More recently, Mario Lopez, who played A.C. Slater, validated Thiessen’s account by calling her residuals reveal “real talk” on social media. According to a Hollywood Demons podcast episode from May, Lopez earned approximately $1,500 per episode early in the show’s run, though the series was generating roughly $15 million in advertising revenue by its second season in 1991.
This article was compiled by the Glamorade editorial desk from the official announcements and reporting listed under Sources.
