‘I was a Nickelodeon child star — the pay wasn’t that good and I’d gone broke by 25’

A former Nickelodeon star has claimed child actors aren’t as well paid as you’d think as he revealed he went broke by the time he was 25.

Devon Werkheiser shot to fame when he was cast as the lead in Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide.

The hit comedy show, which first aired in 2004, saw 13-year-old Devon starring as Ned Bigby as he shared tips and tricks for navigating middle school life.

READ MORE: Jurassic Park child star unrecognisable 30 years on as she recreates iconic jelly scene

The actor, who’s now 32 years old, thought the huge role would catapult him to success in the acting industry but when the show came to an end three seasons later in 2007, he soon realised the reality was very different.

While he continued to land roles in TV movies and other series, Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide remains the actor’s biggest job to date and this is something he’s struggled to come to terms with.

Opening up about his career since becoming a child star during a recent appearance on The Iced Coffee Hour podcast, he said: “I was the lead on my own show and so I knew 100% I am meant to do and be great in this industry that I love.

“I’m meant to be in movies that are great, I’m meant to be in more shows that are great and I still haven’t done anything as big as Ned’s and that is some weird thing to reckon with that continues to humble me.”

Devon, who grew up near Atlanta, Georgia, was cast on the Nickelodeon show during his second season auditioning in Los Angeles but claims acting as a child wasn’t a lucrative career.

When quizzed about how much he was paid for his first season of the show, he responded: “Whatever it was, it’s less than what any of you think it is.”

But while he got paid a lower amount for season one, he revealed his pay per episode went up during the second and third seasons.

“Somewhere up between $10,000 and $15,000 makes sense for the final seasons,” he added.

It might sound like a hefty sum but actors on other series such as Modern Family have reportedly been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per episode.

Explaining why his pay was lower, Devon said: “Kids shows were always less, as a kid it was something you know, it’s not nothing.”

He also revealed he doesn’t get any royalties for Ned’s because a “crazy deal” between Nickelodeon and the acting union AFTRA at the time meant leading actors didn’t get any residuals while supporting actors did.

“The fact that it’s sold all over the word repeatedly since and there’s no residuals on it is just some shrewd business from Nickelodeon,” he said.

Despite being a kid when he signed the contracts, Devon said he knew exactly what he was getting into.

He added: “We knew, I mean it’s not like I didn’t have lawyers and parents, no we knew exactly what we were signing they just will not change that.”

There was a total of 41 episodes during seasons two and three of Ned’s Declassified Survival Guide — meaning Devon would have been paid somewhere between $410,000 to $615,000, on top of any earnings from season one.

But by the age of 25, he’d blown through all his savings.

He told Insider earlier this year: “My savings, which I’d been living pretty modestly on, inevitably ran out when I was around 25. I just wasn’t paying attention and suddenly it was like ‘Oh shit, I need to start making a living.'”

He added: “I was never ridiculous with my money, but I would eat out or go on trips when I wanted to. I’d always be living on my savings until the next job came and refilled it, then I’d live on my savings some more.

“Over the years, supporting-role jobs started paying less in the industry, and at the same time I was booking less and less.”

For the first time in his life, Devon was forced to get a nine-to-five job to support himself.

But while he’d spent years trying to get away from his Ned character, he eventually realised leaning into it could be the key to being able to be “creative on a regular basis”.

Six months ago he launched the Growing Up with Devon Werkheiser podcast — an “Adulthood Survival Guide” which sees the former child star discussing adult-hood struggles with an array of guests.

He also reunited with Ned’s co-stars Linsey Shaw and Daniel Curtis Lee for re-watch podcast Ned’s Declassified Podcast Survival Guide.

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk