How much is Aaron Paul worth?
| Net Worth: | $15 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Actor |
| Date of Birth: | August 27, 1979 (age 43) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
About Aaron Paul
Aaron Paul is best known for his starring role as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad, a baby-faced drug dealer and meth addict in Albuquerque. Paul’s face is instantly recognizable, and if one can’t see him, one will definitely recognize his distinct voice in the iconic BoJack Horseman and others.
Before winning the hearts of America in the crushingly heartbreaking finale of Breaking Bad, Aaron Paul, like anybody starting out, was a struggling actor who scored minor roles on procedural shows like C.S.I., Melrose Place, Third Rock From The Sun, and ER. Sometimes the now iconic TV-star would record commercials for products such as cereals and sodas. He would also earn roles in movies, but the roles were so small that his character would have a name in the credits like “Wasted Guy” in Van Wilder.
After he scored a small role in the HBO series Big Love in 2007, acting alongside huge actors such as Bill Paxton, Amanda Seyfried, Bruce Dern, he wouldn’t have to live paycheck to paycheck again. Not long after, it was Breaking Bad that shot him into stardom. For his role as the beanie wearing Jesse Pinkman, Paul won awards including being nominated for an Emmy almost every single year that the show was running, winning three of them.
Breaking Bad became a cult phenomenon, especially when the show began to stream on Netflix. It has remained in the pop-culture zeitgeist ever since, constantly being parodied to no end, even by Aaron Paul and co-star Bryan Cranston, playing the role on late-night shows and even on an episode of The Simpsons. The characters are incredibly popular Halloween costumes, and there are even cocktails and candy based on the iconic blue crystal meth the characters make in the show. The relationship between Paul and Netflix didn’t end after the show. Paul voiced Todd Chavez in the animated Netflix original series BoJack Horseman, for which he also served as executive producer.
Aaron Paul started earning major movie roles almost immediately after the first season of Breaking Bad, playing the antagonist in the remake of The Last House On The Left, a modern day retelling of Wes Craven’s original. The remake was moderately successful for a horror movie of that budget despite negative reviews from critics. Since the record-breaking show ended, Paul has starred in several high concept movies, most notably in the video-game adaptation, Need For Speed. Though Need For Speed didn’t flop, it certainly under-performed and was a critical failure, not reaching the heights of its clear competitor, the Fast & Furious franchise.
After several of these types of commercially underwhelming movies, Paul did the best thing he possibly could, return to TV and continue producing high-level shows. Way back when, Paul only had $6,000 to his name when he moved to Los Angeles, he appeared on the show The Price Is Right losing money after incorrectly guessing the price of a car.
Eventually after literally dozens of small TV roles and a few movies, including a tiny role in Mission: Impossible III, Breaking Bad earned Aaron Paul a fortune. In its final season, the actor made an estimated $200,000 per episode. Being an actor and producer on his shows have earned him even more money too.
Not only that, but his ventures outside of acting have proven successful too. Wanting to continue working with Bryan Cranston, Paul’s charismatic Breaking Bad co-star, the two went in to business together and created a spirit, like most celebrities – Dwayne Johnson, Dan Aykroyd, and George Clooney – seemingly get the itch to do. The spirit is a Mezcal using the agave plant from Oaxaca, Mexico, and called Dos Hombres.
Paul and Cranston used their fame and online prowess to market the spirit, fooling fans into thinking this would be a “Breaking Bad reunion”, not a business venture. Despite the prank, the spirit has been massively successful and is used by bartenders to create cocktails all around North America. While the exact net worth figure of how much Dos Hombres is worth is not available, the brand is estimated to be worth eight figures.
Paul’s Total Net Worth
While Aaron Paul may be world famous for his role as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad, he isn’t as rich as many might think. His total income from the show was only around $11.5 million and he has earned about another $15 million on top of that from his other appearances.
He grew up in Idaho but moved to Los Angeles after he graduated from high school in 1997. He only had $6,000 to his name and has since had total career earnings of $26.5 million dollars. Of course, living and working in California is a lot more costly on taxes than it is in Idaho. Before paying his taxes, as a self-employed individual, Paul will have been able to deduct his business costs.
Therefore of his total career earnings, $2-3 million is expected to have been paid in business related costs. The remainder, $24 million, will have been taxed at a rate of around 48% as Paul resided in the state of California during his high earning years. After tax, it is estimated that his career earnings are at around $12.48 million dollars, having paid $11.52 million dollars in taxes.
Aaron Paul married Lauren Parsekian in 2013 and they have remained together. They have two children together, Story Annabelle and Ryden Caspian Paul. In his personal life, Aaron has kept his head screwed on tightly even through periods of extreme fame that very few would understand or know what that is like. In fact Paul has kept himself busy, in charity he has helped raise $1.8 million for his wife’s non-profit anti-bullying organization, the Kind Campaign.
Originally, it seems that Paul’s spending habits were mostly business focused. He paid $1.4 million dollars for a property above the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, in 2012, while filming Breaking Bad. He later listed the property for $2.5 million dollars in 2019 and bought one of Jim Parson’s Los Angeles properties for $6.95 million.
Nowadays, Paul has spent more time back in his original home state of Idaho and built an incredible rustic riverside property for himself and his family. It seems less of an investment into his finances and more of an investment in his own family lifestyle and enjoyment. That said, it is also concluded that Paul has invested some of his money into stocks and other securities. While these activities almost invariably entail some loss, it is certainly speculated that Paul will have since made substantial gains.
In his personal life Paul has likely spent $2-3 million dollars of his career earnings but also probably possesses assets valued at around $1 million, not including investment assets. In his investments, he may have earned investment returns of $4-6 million dollars. Therefore, it is estimated that Aaron Paul has a net worth of a rounded down $15 million dollars.
Aaron Paul probably wouldn’t be where he is today if it wasn’t for his likability. Paul was supposed to be killed off at the end of season one of Breaking Bad, but the crew and cast loved him, and instead of being left as a forgettable bit part villain, he went on to co-starring in all five seasons, starred in his own spin-off movie El Camino, and he appeared in the final season of Better Call Saul. Paul’s voiceover work doesn’t begin and end with ‘BoJack,’ either. He has also done voiceover work in video games such as Final Fantasy XV.
It isn’t just being likable that got Aaron Paul to where he is today. The actor is extremely intelligent. Paul fully understands the future of his industry as he has a hand in shows on most of the major streaming services; he’s working on The Path, a Hulu exclusive, Westworld, a HBO exclusive, Truth Be Told, an AppleTV+ exclusive, and of course, BoJack Horseman, a Netflix exclusive.
Summing-Up
After starring in several movies, Paul has now moved back to the medium that made him famous in the first place, and has a recurring role in Westworld, the HBO series with a huge budget and one that takes pride in its storytelling and cinematography, just like Breaking Bad. In total, he has been nominated for 27 major awards, and has won 20 of them, making him an extremely reputable and in demand actor.
