Katie Maloney Sheds New Light on Her Career as a Background Actor, Including Her Salary

Before she made a splash on Vanderpump Rules, Katie Maloney was working as an actor in Los Angeles. During a Feb. 12 episode of her podcast, Disrespectfully, Katie went into deep detail about the work she took on as a background actor years ago. 

"I only lived in LA maybe a year or something like that [...] you get with an agency, whatever that gets you that type of work," Katie began on the podcast she co-hosts with Vanderpump Rules alum Dayna Kathan. "The thing with background work is that because there's always usually a consistent bunch of people that do it, that you often see the same people or you make friends, which I didn't become aware of obviously until I started doing more of it, but definitely had no idea about that on this day on set." 

Katie revealed she was doing background work for the 2009 romantic comedy, He's Just Not That Into You. After waiting a while on set, she befriended an assistant director who would occasionally check on her. Eventually, he asked her to join a bar scene. 

"He walks me right up to this bar and the camera is right there. I was like, 'Oh, he's like...all right!'" she revealed. "So it was me and another girl he brought. [He said] 'It's like, your two friends are going to come in. One of them's crying, you know, just had a guy break her heart and you're just trying to hype her up and make her feel, you know, that like men are s--t and she deserves better.' I'm like, 'Oh, I got this. So yeah, that's exactly how it happened."

Katie continued: "I tried to like sneak in some words, some lines, because if they kept it, then you get a pay bump. I still got a bump because I was featured, which was pretty sick." 

Ultimately, Katie was paid "the standard rate," which was "next to nothing."  "We're talking like $100 maybe, but I think I got $250 or something," she revealed. 

Katie Maloney's past acting work led her to Jenna Willis, previously featured on VPR 

Further in the podcast, Katie noted she worked on the TV series Numb3rs, which aired from 2005-2010. 

"It was fun. You kind of get to know the crew and it feels familiar," Katie shared, then revealing how she met an interesting figure in Vanderpump Rules history: Jenna Willis, who had a brief fling with one of the SURvers in Season 4.

"I'm sure a lot of people that are listening kind of remember Jenna from a little bit of Vanderpump Rules, but she's just got this infectious laugh and she's just so like spunky and funny," Katie shared, then noting she and Jenna were roommates for two years.