Piers Morgan says he's 'highest-paid actor per-second ever' after brief movie cameo

Piers Morgan – best known for his role as a judge on America's Got Talent, and hosting CNN's Piers Morgan Live – has claimed a new title for himself as the highest-paid actor in Hollywood on an hourly basis. He's been featured in nine major films, always playing himself, and he's shared the screen with a veritable Who's Who of A-listers.

He popped up alongside Denzel Washington in Flight, Kevin Costner in Criminal, James Corden in One Chance, Brad Pitt in World War Z, Liam Neeson in Men In Black International, Jeremy Piven in Entourage, and Will Ferrell in The Campaign.

It's this last flick, which Morgan describes as "the biggest political comedy in Hollywood history," that gave him his most lucrative payday.

Writing in The Spectator magazine, Morgan boasts about the enduring financial benefits of his brief cameo, revealing that he still receives residuals, including a payment of $789.68 just last month, despite appearing on screen for just 22 seconds.

Morgan even cheekily compares his earnings to those of the leading stars, suggesting that while they may be picking up larger paychecks, they also invest significantly more time and effort into their roles.

He recounts a conversation with Dame Joan Collins where he quipped: "Surely this makes me, per second of airtime, the highest-paid movie star ever?". Piers Morgan counts Dame Joan among his many celebrity friends.

One of his first high-profile jobs was running a celebrity gossip column, and the habit of shameless name-dropping he learned in that role has never left him.

Recalling his days as a showbiz journalist, Morgan bragged: "I became The Friend of the Stars, a rampant egomaniac, pictured all the time with famous people – Madonna, Stallone, Bowie, Paul McCartney, hundreds of them. It was shameless, as they didn't know me from Adam.”

Morgan's single most famous celebrity pal is almost certainly President Donald Trump. Morgan has sat down with Trump for interviews multiple times, including a memorable encounter where he pressed the president on his 2020 election loss. That interview ended with Trump storming off and branding Morgan a member of the "fake news media."

But all that seems water under the bridge now, as Morgan pens adoring pieces about Trump and teases the possibility of another sit-down, musing: "Maybe interviewing Trump and Elon together at the White House would be good," though he admits "no dates have been set."

Morgan's YouTube channel, Uncensored, could hit the jackpot with such an interview, as he boasts of its skyrocketing viewership: "We just got two million from the last piece of content; before that a million, a million, two million, two million, one-and-a-half million, nearly four-and-a-half million, a million, a million," he claims.

"I can't think of anyone in the world on YouTube – other than Joe Rogan – in the news, interview, opinion space getting numbers like that."

With such earnings from his interviews, he could soon be making more than what he earns from his movie paychecks.