The Richest Actor In Hollywood Is Worth $3 Billion – But It’s Not Who You Think
Who are the richest actors in Hollywood? Names like Tyler Perry, George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Robert Downey Jr., and Margot Robbie probably come to mind immediately. But one actor surpasses them all, and not only does her wealth triple that of her nearest rival, but she made all her money without headlining a single blockbuster, Oscar winner, or franchise tentpole.
That actor is 58-year-old Jami Gertz, best known for her roles in the movies “Less Than Zero” and “The Lost Boys,” as well as TV series like “Square Pegs” and “Still Standing.” According to multiple reports, Gertz is worth $3 billion (three times as much as Tyler Perry, who’s good for $1 billion), with some surveys suggesting that she is worth as much as $8 billion. That’s not bad for an actor whose highest grossing movie (“Twister”) earned $496 million at the box office back in 1996, but who otherwise never starred in a film that made more than $40 million.
Gertz, it turns out, got married in 1989 to Antony Ressler, a businessman, investor and co-founder of the Apollo Global Management and Ares Management investment firms. Between the two companies, as well as their ownership stakes in the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and MLB’s Milwaukee Brewers, Ressler and Gertz — who have four children — have earned billions.
Jami Gertz was a breakout star in the 1980s
Jami Gertz began her acting career in 1981 with roles in the films “On the Right Track” and “Endless Love,” before landing her first major TV stint in the 1982 CBS sitcom “Square Pegs,” co-starring with Sarah Jessica Parker. Gertz went on to appear in several seminal films of the ’80s, including “Sixteen Candles” opposite Molly Ringwald, “The Lost Boys” with Jason Patric and Kiefer Sutherland, and “Less Than Zero” opposite Andrew McCarthy and future MCU superstar Robert Downey Jr.
Film roles became sparser in the ’90s, although she did play Bill Paxton’s fiancée, Dr. Melissa Reeves, in “Twister,” a part which unfortunately earned her a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress. TV has proven more fruitful for Gertz in the decades since, with guest and recurring parts on “Seinfeld,” “Entourage,” “Ally McBeal” (for which she was nominated for an Emmy), “ER,” and “This is Us,” plus main cast roles in shows such as “Sibs,” “Still Standing,” and “The Neighbors.”
Since the latter series ended in 2014, Gertz’s onscreen work has become more sporadic, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t been busy. She was the Hawks’ representative in the unveiling of the NBA draft picks for three years in a row, from 2018 to 2020, and she and Ressler also fund the Ressler-Gertz Foundation, which has given millions to various recipients such as Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, the L.A. County Museum of Art, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and more.