The Student Room Group

Forbes Magazine - Highest Paid Celebrities

Overall, the top 10 men still earned more than the top 10 women, but the gap has closed since last year.

As well as Parsons, who plays Sheldon in the CBS sitcom, there is Johnny Galecki, who plays Leonard, Kaley Cuoco (Penny), Kunal Nayyar (Raj) and Simon Helberg (Howard), who earned between $23.5m (£18.2m) and $25m (£19.4m) each.

But their pay has dropped since last year's list after they reportedly took pay cuts in order to give co-stars Mayim Bialik (Amy) and Melissa Rauch (Bernadette) pay rises. As a result, that pair are now on the list of the 10 best-paid actresses for the first time, on $12m (£9.3m) each.

Quick Reply