Wil Wheaton

Wil Wheaton’s first appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation was as an innocent, young Wesley Crusher. Over the course of the series, Wesley took on a more central role in the show. That would explain the $65,000 per episode the actor was making at such a young age.

He was only 18 at the time and didn’t understand quite how to leverage his acting credits for future roles. As a result, he never enjoyed the level of success he was looking for with future roles. At least until he played himself on the smash hit The Big Bang Theory.