Cameo’s Most Bankable Star Might Surprise You

Last year for my wife’s birthday I hired five of her favorite TV stars to wish her happy birthday in recorded video messages. The platform that enabled my gift for her was Cameo, a site that has grown exponentially over the past year and a half. Right now you can request short greetings for any occasion from your favorite musicians, actors and others directly on the platform. As Cameo founder Steven Galanis recently revealed, one of the top earners on the platform who took home over $1 million dollars last year was no A-lister. It was actor Brian Baumgartner, best known for playing Kevin Malone on the hit TV show The Office.

When asked about his popularity, Baumgartner credits his success to the fact that during the pandemic, “people wanted to make a connection. It’s not really about me. I’m the person who gets two people together.” That’s some beautiful humility there, but I think his popularity is at least a little bit about him. I mean, the scene where he unsuccessfully brings his homemade chili into the office is probably one of the funniest acting I’ve ever seen. I wonder how much he would charge to recreate that on a Cameo?