Sofia, Kim, Eva: TV's highest paid actresses

Sofia Vergara ($19 million): The Colombian beauty tops the Forbes list of Best Paid Actresses on Television. The 40-year-old actress' hit show Modern Family which is averaging 12 million viewers in its third season and a range of endorsement and licensing deals has kept her paychecks fat. Also her media company LatinWE had a top-earning year with $27 million in revenues, which makes her the top earning actress in American television.

Kim Kardashian ($18 million): Reality television star Kim, whose 72 day long made-for-TV wedding to Kris Humphries grabbed 10 million viewers, ranks second on the list. The Kardashians' $30 million deal with American channel E! for three more seasons of their show Keeping Up With The Kardashians contributed in no small way to her earnings. If that was not all, apart from her perfume line which earned $6 million, the actress also designed a clothing line, Kardashian Kollection for Sears with sisters Kourtney and Khloe.

Eva Longoria ($15 million): The face of L'Oreal Paris and Pepsi, actress Eva Longoria slips from last year's top spot to number three. She earned a whopping $375,000 per episode on the eighth and final season of Desperate Housewives. Eva also turned producer with two television shows, Devious Maids and dating reality show Ready For Love.

Bethenny Frankel ($12 million): This entrepreneur and Real Housewife turned writer with her first novel, Skinnydipping, expanded her alcohol line called Skinnygirl Cocktails and witnessed a strong viewership of approximately 1 million viewers each week for her reality show, Bethenny Ever After.

Khloe Kardashian ($11 million): The 28-year-old third Kardashian sister is one of the big names in the running to replace Steve Jones as the host of US X Factor. Khloe and her husband Lamar Odom were rating favourites for the channel E! in 2012. She also hosted a radio show for a local radio station in Houston, designed a clothing line with sisters Kourtney and Kim and opened a new family boutique in Manhattan's upmarket Soho neighbourhood.

Tina Fey ($11 million): The 30 Rock star's immense popularity has once again made her one of the top 10 highest paid television actress. But she slides from last year's second position to this year's sixth. As the creator of the 30 Rock series, Tina kept the cash registers ringing for the show as well as for herself as it went into syndication with TV channels Comedy Central and WGN America.

Mariska Hargitay ($10 million): With an average of 53 million viewership each week, sex crimes detective Olivia Benson from the TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit takes the seventh position in the list. Mariska, who has received an Emmy and Golden Globe for the role, is also the founder of the non-profit organisation, The Joyful Heart Foundation, which provides support to sexually-abused women.

Zooey Deschanel ($9 million): The New Girl on the block, Zooey enjoyed a career revival of sorts after her divorce from rocker husband Ben Gibbard. She launched hellogiggles.com, a website for women which recently signed a partnership deal to distribute original web series The Single Life, and signed endorsement deals with Pantene, Apple and Rimmel London. The singer turned actress' new TV series New Girl is storming up the TV ratings.

Felicity Huffman ($9 million): The Desperate Housewives star earned a whopping $8 million for her Emmy Award-winning role in the final season of the TV series. The actress also bagged a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this year.

Ellen Pompeo ($9 million): The Grey's Anatomy actress receives the highest per-episode salary among women in American television, with an estimated take home of $275,000 an episode for the eighth season of the TV series. Apart from this, Ellen also launched her own production company, Calamity Jane, which went into a deal with ABC channel for its first project.