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Richest actor on Earth is worth $3,000,000,000 but only made a tiny fraction of that from films and TV
Home>Film & TV>News
Updated 16:48 20 Nov 2024 GMTPublished 16:29 20 Nov 2024 GMT

Richest actor on Earth is worth $3,000,000,000 but only made a tiny fraction of that from films and TV

The actress is worth more than the the likes of Margot Robbie and Robert De Niro

Ellie Kemp

Ellie Kemp

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Featured Image Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic/EJ Camp /American Broadcasting Companies via Getty Images

Topics: Business, Celebrity, Film and TV, Hollywood, Money, NBA, Sport

Ellie Kemp
Ellie Kemp

Ellie joined UNILAD in 2024, specialising in SEO and trending content. She moved from Reach PLC where she worked as a senior journalist at the UK’s largest regional news title, the Manchester Evening News. She also covered TV and entertainment for national brands including the Mirror, Star and Express. In her spare time, Ellie enjoys watching true crime documentaries and curating the perfect Spotify playlist.

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The world's richest actor is worth a huge $3,000,000,000 - but you've likely never heard of her.

Jami Gertz got her big break as a child, and she's appeared in some 28 movies and 174 episodes of TV throughout her career.

Over the years, the 59-year-old is best known for roles in Twister, The Lost Boys, Still Standing, and Sixteen Candles.

She also led the cast of ABC sitcom The Neighbors, centering around a family who move to an estate full of extraterrestrial beings.

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Gertz was said to be worth a whopping $3 billion as of 2023 - beating the likes Margot Robbie, Robert De Niro, and Jennifer Lopez to be named richest actor in the world.

Yet, she has only made a teeny, tiny portion of that wealth from her acting career - which is still more than most of us would ever see in a lifetime, let's be clear.

Jami Gertz in The Neighbors (Warner Bros)
Jami Gertz in The Neighbors (Warner Bros)

In fact, it's her business endevors away from Hollywood that have really helped her financial success.

Gertz and businessman husband Tony Ressler have used their wealth to invest in sports teams and are part owners of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. They're also minority owners of the baseball team Milwaukee Beavers.

Ressler himself has a net worth of $10.5 billion, as per Forbes, largely thanks to his two finance firms, Apollo Global Management and Ares Management.

The couple wed in 1989, with Ressler founding Apollo Global a year later and starting up Ares in 1997.

Gertz told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018 that 'everyone thinks I married a rich guy' but that she made 'way more' money than Ressler when she met him.

"I paid for our first vacation. I married him because I fell in love with him," she said.

Jami Gurtz and Tony Ressler in 1989, the same year they wed (Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Jami Gurtz and Tony Ressler in 1989, the same year they wed (Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

So, how much did Gertz make from her acting career alone?

First, let's look at the movies...

According to figures from industry talent website Backstage, main cast members are expected to earn a minimum of $65,000 per shoot.

Gertz featured in the main cast of around 15 movies, so doing the math, she would've made at least $975,000 from those appearances alone.

She had minor roles in 13 movies, so, assuming each appearance took an average of two days to shoot, she would’ve got paid a minimum rate of $3,000, according to the Backstage figures.

Jami Gertz and husband Tony Ressler sure are a power couple (Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for An American Fantasy)
Jami Gertz and husband Tony Ressler sure are a power couple (Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for An American Fantasy)

This would've made her $39,000 - bringing her grand total earned through films to a decent $1,014,000.

Gertz made 174 TV episode appearances, 123 of these as the lead or part of the main cast. The figures for these are harder to calculate, as usually, series actors are paid weekly rather than episodically.

Backstage calculates that series regulars are paid $5,364 per week for shooting six episodes of half-hour programs - which works out as just $894 per episode.

Applying that shooting schedule to Jami’s 123 leading episodes, she could’ve made $109,962.

However, it's likely she'd have been paid a lot more than this, especially for shows like The Neighbors and Still Standing, for which she was cast as the central character.

She then made minor appearances in 51 other show episodes.

Backstage figures say actors are paid $1,158 for one-off, one-day shoots - so, assuming, again, that each appearance took just one day to film, she'd have earned $59,058 from those, bringing the total she'd have made from TV shows to $169,020.

For all of her film and TV roles combined, Gertz would have made a minimum of $1,183,020.

This figure is just 0.039 percent of her total net worth today.

The calculations don't take into account royalty payments, commission or inflation, so the total number is likely to be even larger - but even then, it's unlikely to scratch the surface of her current wealth.

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