Anthony Ramos earned just $420 a week for his first 'Hamilton' paycheques.
The 33-year-old actor played John Laurens and Philip Hamilton in the original Broadway cast of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical, but starring in 'Hamilton' wasn't as glamorous as it sounds in the early days.
He told SoFi's 'Richer Lives' podcast: "Yo, it was nice. Well, no, no, actually it wasn’t because we were Off-Broadway, and I was making like $420 a week.”
Anthony started to earn more when 'Hamilton' moved to Broadway itself, although he wasn't seeing a lot of his pay.
He explained "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.
“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 paycheque 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.”
The 'In The Heights' actor admitted there was a struggle between wanting to "treat" himself after making it onto Broadway, but knowing he needed to be sensible at the same time.
He said: "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.
“If you’re not smart with your money, you’re beat! You know what I’m saying? You’re beat!”
