Anthony Ramos is sharing the downside of being a Broadway actor and why pay is a big factor in that.
The actor appeared on the SoFi podcast Richer Lives where he shared how much he made as part of the cast of Hamilton.
"Yo, it was nice," Ramos began. "Well, no, no, actually it wasn't because we were Off-Broadway, and I was making like $420 a week."
Once the show got moved to Broadway, Ramos' paycheck got bigger, but it still was relatively small given the success of the play.
"You get paid better on Broadway, but even on Broadway it can still be tough. If you're an ensemble member, you're a chorus member, you're probably making like $1,800 a week," he shared. "But they're paying their agent, 10 percent to the agent, 10 percent to the manager, 20 percent of the top and then in New York you're paying, 30 percent, 40 percent tax."
"You're probably coming home with, like, $1,000 a week, maybe like $1,100 a week. Getting that first paycheck was great because I was getting paid to do something I loved, but I was still struggling in New York. It's got to even out, somehow," he continued.
Ramos went on to discuss how being on Broadway made him want to splurge a little when it came to certain things.
"You can't think, 'Oh, I'm on Broadway! Let me just throw the bag.' When we start to make money—people in general—we get excited, and we start spending. It's fine to treat yourself, right? Because I think we should do that for ourselves. We should go out for a nice meal. We should buy that thing. I would [just] say don't get irresponsible. I'm speaking from experience. I learned. I thought I was much better with money than I actually was," he revealed.
"If you're not smart with your money, you're beat. You know what I'm saying? You're beat!" he said as a warning.
Hamilton became one of the most successful musicals of the last century, being nominated for 16 Tony Awards, winning 11 of them. Additionally, the play earned a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the soundtrack for the musical went on to be certified Diamond in the United States for selling over 10 million copies.
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