David Schwimmer Net Worth

How much is David Schwimmer worth?

Net Worth:$100 Million
Profession:Professional Actor
Date of Birth:November 2, 1966 (age 56)
Country:United States of America
Height:
6 ft (1.85 m)

About David Schwimmer

David Lawrence Schwimmer was born on November 2, 1966 and is an American actor, comedian, director and producer with an estimated net worth of $100 million. David Schwimmer is best known for his role as Ross Geller in one of the most successful television sitcoms of all time, Friends. He is well-seasoned in the world of TV comedy, featuring in both Curb Your Enthusiasm and Will & Grace.

Though he isn’t known for much other work outside of the seminal TV show, Schwimmer is a talented award winning dramatic actor and a very successful movie director in his own right, with his most popular movie being Run, Fatboy, Run. On top of his directorial efforts, Schwimmer has become synonymous with the multi-billion dollar animated movie franchise, Madagascar, playing the comic relief giraffe, Melman.

American actor, director and producer David Schwimmer has an estimated net worth of $100 million dollars, as of 2023. Schwimmer gained worldwide recognition for playing Ross Geller in the sitcom, Friends.

Schwimmer was only 28 when he scored the role of Ross in Friends, just three years in to his career. In the show, Ross was a dedicated paleontologist and was the nerd of the group. He was somewhat of a fan favorite largely due to his on-screen on again, off again relationship with Rachel, played by Jennifer Aniston.

The show was obviously a massive sensation, as it lasted for 10 years and had over 236 episodes. It was nominated for an astonishing 62 Primetime Emmy Awards, and was named the seventh greatest television show of all time by Empire. During the filming of Friends, Schwimmer struck up a great lasting friendship with Matt LeBlanc, who played Joey, and encouraged Schwimmer to direct two episodes of the Friends spin-off, Joey.

After the success of Friends, Schwimmer never reached those heights of popularity again, nor did any of his co-stars (except for Aniston), but he appeared in several other acclaimed shows, including having a major part in season four of Curb Your Enthusiasm. In the show, Schwimmer plays an exaggerated version of himself who regrettably stars in a broadway production of The Producers with the show’s lead, Larry David.

The season is ranked amongst fans as being the best season of the show, mostly owing to the chemistry between David and Schwimmer. The actor also had a major role in the comeback of Will & Grace, which was regarded as an alternative to Friends in the late 90s and early 2000s. He also began to appear in more movies, including in Six Days, Seven Nights.

Though many children might not know the face of the voice, millions of kids are overly familiar with Schwimmer’s work, as the comedy actor has voiced Melman in the Madagascar series for every single movie in the franchise. Madagascar follows a group of domesticated Zoo animals who flee New York Zoo, and by no fault of their own, end up in Madagascar. It is a kids’ favorite and is one of the most popular animated series ever made, largely thanks to the outlandish and animated voices of not only Schwimmer, but Chris Rock and Ben Stiller too.

Most recently, Schwimmer took on a dramatic role in the one-off series, The People vs. OJ Simpson, the first dramatic role the actor has had in years. He starred alongside John Travolta and other movie stars, and he played Robert Kardashian, a close personal friend of OJ and one of the lawyers who defended him. The actor’s resemblance to the Kardashian is uncanny, but his performance was praised for being completely emotionally driven than for his likeness to the real-life character.

Friends clearly made Schwimmer more money than he could ever imagine it would, as the cast thought it was destined to fail in the first season. But it has been relentlessly documented how overpaid the entire cast of the show was. Over the entire run of the show, Schwimmer earned close to $90 million, and by the sitcom’s ninth season, he was getting paid one million dollars per episode.

Schwimmer also makes a handsome amount from royalties too, and some years the royalties amount to more than what he earned when the show was still running. Each year, Schwimmer can make between $10 – $20 million in royalties alone, according to The Independent.

Though Schwimmer hasn’t had many huge pay days outside of Friends, his work with Dreamworks on one of it’s biggest franchises has helped the actor make his millions. Though you’re not likely to find this animal in a Zoo, Schwimmer helped turn Madagascar in to a cash cow. Despite the sequels’ arguable dips in quality, each consecutive movie in the series became more successful than the last.

The original film made over $530 million, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa made over $600 million, and the third movie of the trilogy, Europe’s Most Wanted, made an incredible $750 million worldwide. Schwimmer’s salaries for these movies might not be disclosed, but the box office results must have surely yielded millions of dollars per movie for the actor.

Schwimmer might have proven that he is a terrific dramatic actor in many instances, but the actor’s shockwave of success boils down to two things, the first of which is his ability to perform in sitcoms, which is its own type of acting and should be respected more than it is. When it comes to sitcoms, performers have to act in time with the audience’s laughter and applause, act more animated, and also more dramatic at the same time. Acting for a sitcom requires juggling so many different things at the same time, and Schwimmer possibly does this better than any of his acting partners on Friends.

The actor is also technically proficient as part of the crew as well, as he has always taken a huge interesting in to what is going on behind the camera just as much as what is in front of it. It’s these two reasons why he is so good at directing comedy, and especially comedy shot in front of a studio audience, because he understands the craft much better than most, he has a great grasp on what is and what is not funny, and he knows how to direct.

Summing-Up

Though it might have come down to beating out a bunch of actors in one audition, whereas it would take other actors years of building a portfolio before they ever got recognized, there was no other actors in the world who could have played Ross better. And he might only be remembered for that one role in decades to come, but is that really a bad thing? After playing the iconic character for ten years, and finding heaps of success in voice acting, David Schwimmer has been significantly financially rewarded, as he currently sits on an estimated net worth of $100 million. In the coming months, HBO will shoot a Friends reunion with all six actors returning, including Schwimmer, though the details of the reunion remain a secret.

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