RJ Mitte spoke about his earnings from Breaking Bad 11 months before his death at the age of 34.
The late actor rose to fame playing Walter White Jr in the hit drug-dealing drama, which ran for five seasons from 2008 to 2013 and went on to become a cultural phenomenon. It recently topped the New York Times’ list of the best shows of the 21st century.
Mitte, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, used his platform and role as a character who also had the condition to advocate for disability rights. Tributes have poured in since his death, including from the show’s star Bryan Cranston.
The actor opened up about his earnings from Breaking Bad during a resurfaced interview filmed in November last year, during which he said the show did not make him a millionaire.
‘Not even close. I’ve paid more in taxes than I got from Breaking Bad,’ Mitte said on The Iced Coffee Hour podcast.
Mitte said he was paid the ‘minimum’ Screen Actors Guild amount for the show pilot, which he filmed aged 15, because it was his first speaking role.
He added: ‘We did not have a lot of money. Breaking Bad was not very lucrative across the board. Every season we were told that we were cancelled.
‘We just did not have the viewership until streaming. That was our big moment, when streaming came in and people binge-viewed Breaking Bad.’
But the actor went on to say that the popularity of the show on streaming did not translate into residual cheques for the actors involved.
‘Streaming is good for the networks themselves, but as for the artists, you’re kind of getting the minimum,’ he said.
‘You get more reach. You can make a name for yourself. But it’s not what it used to be.’
However, he then caveated his comments by saying: ‘I’m not saying that they weren’t paying people on Breaking Bad, but I was the youngest kid on the show. You know what I mean? It was my very first role.’
Mitte detailed how during the height of his fame, he was ‘paying to keep his career going’, employing a ‘big team’ to help him.
He said he had a Coogan Account, which is a type of trust geared towards protecting a minor’s earnings as a performer, setting aside a percentage until they are adults, but he said his account was ‘not even close to triple digits’.
The podcast interviewers cited his net worth result on the Google AI overview, which had claimed Mitte was worth between $3million and $5million (approximately £2.26m to £3.78m). They asked where that number might have been pulled from.
‘I honestly don’t know,’ said the actor. ‘I think it’s what I’ve earned in my entire life.’
He went on to claim that he had landed in a financial hole after he employed an accountant who he said had cashed his tax cheques, leaving him with a tax bill that took a decade to pay off.
Mitte said he was largely earning money from speaking engagements and regular film roles.