How much is Jim Carrey worth?
| Net Worth: | $200 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Actor |
| Date of Birth: | January 17, 1962 (age 61) |
| Birth Place: | Newmarket, Canada |
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
About Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey is a Canadian actor and comedian who rose to fame in the 1990s and became one of the highest earning actors of that decade. From starting out in stand-up comedy, the star became possibly the most critic-proof Hollywood actor there has ever been, as most of his comedies have been panned year-in, year-out ever since the 1990s. Never mind the reviews, Carrey’s movies have been some of the most profitable comedy films of all times.
Jim Carrey had been in several movies in the late 1980s and early 90s, but it was in 1994 when Carrey became an absolute phenomenon by starring in, not one, not two, but three successful movies in a single year. The three releases were Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb And Dumber respectively. They are three of the most beloved kid’s movies of all time. A year later, Carrey was paid a record setting $20 million for his role as The Cable Guy.
For Pet Detective, Carrey also worked on the screenplay, essentially forming his own character’s narrative. Something that he has become known for, bringing such uniqueness to his many different roles.
Following Pet Detective was the superhero movie, The Mask, a strange comic-book to adapt as the superhero was never kid-friendly and had a much darker tone that involved brutal murders. The result of the adaptation was a goofy, childish romp starring an actor who was loved by youngsters, but featured a heavy amount of violence, smoking, sexual references, and bad language.
On paper, the movie would be doomed. It was marketed terribly, as the marketing executives couldn’t grasp what type of audience the movie should be promoted towards. With all of this stacked up against it, The Mask nevertheless became one of the most popular movies of that year despite the marketing and negative comments from critics.
The movie’s success was largely thanks to Jim Carrey making the role his own. Cameron Diaz also shot to stardom after the success too. A sequel to The Mask was followed up 11 years later without Carrey starring and more heavily oriented to children, it wasn’t anywhere near as successful, and it lost millions. Further proving Carrey’s powers as a bankable movie star.
Even though The Mask was received negatively by critics, the movie went on to be hugely influential. The movie franchise Deadpool looked to The Mask and lifted from the movie heavily, as Deadpool featured a superhero whose face was fully covered, a hero who smack-talked and made badly-timed jokes, and most importantly, broke the fourth wall. Similarly, if it wasn’t for the choice of actor, in Deadpool’s case, Ryan Reynolds, the movie would not have likely done so well at the box-office.
Jim Carrey would continue to smash out movie after movie that would always open with top box office earnings, including some of his biggest movies Bruce Almighty, Liar Liar, Me Myself & Irene, and How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
In 1985, long before Jim Carrey was rich or famous, he wrote himself a $10 million dollar check and dated it for 10 years in the future, keeping it safe inside his wallet. He did this because it was always his goal to get paid $10 million dollars for a single movie part… a goal he realized in 1995 when he was cast in Dumb and Dumber for the royal payment of $10 million dollars.
Dumb and Dumber went on to gross $247.3 million from Jim’s incredibly hilarious performance. Carrey has since starred in dozens of other high-grossing movies; The Mask which grossed $351.6 million, The Truman Show which grossed $264.1 million, and Bruce Almighty which grossed $484.6 million. His performances made Jim Carrey one of Hollywoods most bankable comedy actors in the 90s and early 2000s.
The movie Jim Carrey made the most money from may come as a surprise to most people as the film isn’t even close to one of his most successful releases. In 2008, Carrey agreed to star in Yes Man without taking a salary, instead he made a deal to earn 36.2% of the box office gross profit, which ended up earning the actor $37 million dollars.
All through the 90s and 2000s, Carrey would consistently accept salaries anywhere between $15 million and $30 million per movie. There would be no dispute because the studios knew Carrey could carry the film and get audiences to the cinemas in flocks. In total, Jim Carrey’s films have grossed over $2.5 billion at the box office. Which is saying a lot, because “Jim Carrey’s films” means Jim Carrey’s films. He has consistently been the lead in the movies that he has appeared in, he didn’t rack up numbers off the back of any bigger Hollywood star.
In the mid 2000s, Carrey acted alongside drama heavyweights Kate Winslet and Mark Ruffalo in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which probably wouldn’t have been made if it wasn’t for Carrey agreeing to star. In Hollywood, smaller movies with a concept that isn’t easy to explain usually never get picked up unless an A-list bankable star is interested in starring.
Carrey is also a painter, and a very talented one at that. He owns his own studio in Los Angeles and sells his paintings at galleries. Carrey’s paintings are often satirical portraits of politicians. Though making money from his art is a great added income, it’s barely a drop in the ocean compared to his earnings from acting. Another small income stream for the actor has been his many appearances that he has made as himself. Carrey has made hundreds of appearances as himself during his career and has always been prepared to make sure that the audiences get a special experience that they can walk away with.
For 20 years, Carrey was shooting an average of a movie a year all the way up to 2014, though he took a break for personal reasons and never fully returned until 2020. When he did return it was with a bang, starring as the evil dr. Robotnik alongside a blue CGI hedgehog.
Sonic The Hedgehog (2020) broke box office records and a lot of that can be attributed to the return of Jim Carrey, whose characteristics and slapstick comedy remains unchanged after all these years, creating comedy out of his body movements and the odd flexibility of his face.
Even despite the major issues the movie had in the marketing stages, everyone involved with the making of the movie couldn’t be happier. It ended up grossing $306.8 million. Carrey reprised his role in 2022’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which earned even more, an astounding $402.2 million proving that the first film wasn’t just a fluke.
Carrey’s Total Net Worth
Jim Carrey earned a tremendous amount of money from his kid’s comedy movies. He then went on to do what many comedy actors try, which is to prove themselves as a professional actor by taking on more serious roles. He arguably pulled this off better than just about anybody when he played the titular role in The Truman Show.
The Truman Show led critics to finally begin respecting Carrey as an actor. He pulled it off even more in the Andy Kaufman biopic, Man on the Moon, which went on to have a documentary made about the production of the movie by Netflix.
Overall, from his acting work, it is estimated that Carrey has accrued some $400 million dollars in total career earnings. That is, considering after his first big salary of $25,000 per episode for In Living Color, he was soon earning a reported $7 million dollars for Dumb & Dumber. Then in 1995, he was the first actor in history to be paid $20 million dollar for a movie, when he was cast in The Cable Guy. A major record at the time but a feat he repeated in Batman Forever, Liar Liar, Me, Myself & Irene and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Not only has he earned from his movie salaries but he has also often earned a backend percentage of the profits. Like the 36.2% from Yes Man making a total of $37 million dollars from that single movie alone. What is more, for movies like How the Grinch Stole Christmas Carrey was also made a partner on merchandising.
Of course, all of that money will have needed to be taxed. Having been based in California was what made making movies like Carrey did in the 90s possible. For the privilege, he will have paid quite some in taxes, and federal taxes were around 39.6% in some of Carrey’s highest earning years as well. That said, there were also some lower tax years in the 2000s, and California state taxes were not as high back then as they are today. Therefore, it’s likely that Carrey paid somewhere in the region of 50% tax on his total income.
Of course, being self-employed Carrey will have been able to deduct his business costs first. If an agent is being paid 10% for getting an actor a movie part, the actor is not liable to pay tax on the 10% that was accrued as revenue but was actually an expense as it was paid to an agent. In the case of Carrey however, he was such a unique act that he has likely not needed an agent as much as many of his contemporaries.
Of his $400 million dollars income, $24-36 million is expected to have been paid in business related costs. The remainder, $370 million, will have become $185 million, having paid around half of his earnings in taxes.
Jim Carrey married Melissa Womer in 1987, they had one child together Jane Erin Carrey. Unfortunately the couple divorced some eight years later, in 1995. The years of their marriage were very high earning years for Jim, what is more, there was a time when allegedly “Melisa was working two jobs while Jim was earning $25 per standup gig”.
During the divorce settlement proceedings Melissa reported to The Spokesman-Review that Jim’s lawyers had initially offered a settlement of just $500,000 in addition to $25,000 per month in spousal support. Rolling Stone magazine’s sources report that she declined the offer “demanding between $5 million and $10 million dollars.”
Melissa’s lawyers claimed that she had come accustomed to a lavish lifestyle including horseback riding lessons for Jane, many luxury cars, private security and many extravagant purchases. In addition, her lawyers pointed to evidence of Carrey’s massive wealth including private jet travel and mansions.
In the end, it has been reported that Carrey agreed to pay Womer $3.5 million dollars and an additional $7 million dollars since the first initial payment. Just one year after their divorce was finalized in 1995, Jim married Lauren Holly in 1996. They divorced a year later.
In terms of investing, Jim Carrey has bought a little real estate, however it is speculated that he has kept more of his wealth in various securities like stocks and bonds. A large property purchase that he did make was in 2002 when he paid $9.75 million for a beachfront mansion in Malibu, California. He sold the property for $13.4 million in 2013. He also owned a home that he purchased for $3.8 million dollars in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, in 1994, and is said to own an apartment in New York City.
Carrey spends a lot of money. Far more than most other movie stars, in fact. He’s known for renting superyachts like the one that he leased from a Saudi Prince, the Golden Odyssey Yacht. It has sixteen cabins and was the vessel of choice for Carrey to float around the Balearic Islands with friends, in 2003.
He doesn’t only rent, either. Carrey paid $59 million for a Gulfstream V jet and paid about another $5-8 million to have it modified and converted, not to mention stored in a private hanger. He also owns a collection of cars including a Mercedes-AMG SL63 and the Porsche Panamera, among many others.
Fortunately for Carrey, he has likely earned more from having his money sitting in equities. It is estimated that with capital like his and the years when he earned so much of his money, he has earned some $59-85 million dollars from his investments. Still, it is estimated that he may have spent $80-90 million but also possesses around $40-50 million in assets, not including his investment assets. Therefore, it is estimated that Jim Carrey has a net worth of over $200 million dollars.
Summing-Up
Jim Carrey was hated by critics in the 90s, but it was the audiences that loved him. There isn’t a single other comedian that can do what Jim Carrey does, nor would they want to. On paper, what Jim Carrey does seems so unprofessional and embarrassing, but at the same time it’s exciting and completely free of pretension. With a penchant for taking up adaptations of Dr. Seuss novels and Christmas movies, and a love of entertaining children no matter how goofy he comes off, Jim Carrey is willing to do the hardest possible job, including his own stunts. With his blend of humor alongside world class acting it makes Jim Carrey difficult to typecast and a unique talent in his own right.
