How much is Linda Hamilton worth?
| Net Worth: | $80 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Actress |
| Date of Birth: | September 26, 1956 (age 66) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
About Linda Hamilton
Linda Carol Hamilton is an American film and television actress that is best known for her highly praised portrayal of the character Sarah Connor in the Terminator film series. Linda started acting in the 1970s. She first gained popularity with her leading role of Catherine Chandler in the television series Beauty and the Beast from 1987 to 1990. She has appeared in all six of the Terminator films from 1984 to 2019 and has starred in a total of nearly 80 films and television series.
She was born in Salisbury, Maryland on September 26, 1956. Her father, Carol Hamilton worked as a physician, he died when she was just five years old. She has an identical sister Leslie, that passed away in 2020. Both were raised by their mother who later married a police chief. Growing up, Linda was a fan of reading and read a lot of books.
She attended the Wicomico Junior (now known as Wicomico Middle School) and High Schools alongside her twin sister. After her graduation from high school in 1974, she enrolled at the Washington College, based in Chestertown, Maryland. She remained in college for two years before dropping out and moving to New York City to pursue a career in acing. Throughout the rest of the decade, she attended various acting workshops by Lee Strasberg through which she was able to improve her acting skills.
Her television debut came on an episode of the 1980 NBC comedy-drama Shirley. That year, she took part in two television movies – Reunion, Rape and Marriage and landed her first major role as Lisa Rogers in the CBS soap opera Secrets of Midland Heights. In 1982, she made her big-screen debut in the critical success Tag: Assassination Games.
In 1984, Linda secured roles in three different films – The Children of the Corn, The Stone Boys, and The Terminator. In the latter, she portrayed the role of Sarah Connor. The movie was a huge commercial and critical success that grossed $78 million in the box office.
Throughout the early years of the 1980s, she also starred in various series such as King’s Crossing, Hill Street Blues, and Murder, She Wrote.
In 1987, she landed her first major role in a television series – Beauty and the Beast. She played the main role of Catherine Chandler from 1987 to 1990. Besides receiving one Emmy and two Golden Globe Award nominations, she was also a top earning actress of that era.
Besides her action-packed roles in the Terminator franchise and her roles in other films, Linda Hamilton also became a voice actress. She used her voice in various series such as The New Batman Adventures, Hercules, and Batman Beyond. Over the past couple of years, she has occasionally portrayed leading characters in television series.
Her most popular television roles are in the series The Line, Weeds, Chuck, and Defiance. She continued to play Sarah Connor in the remaining films of the box-office franchise. Her last appearance was in the sixth and final installment titled Terminator: The Dark Fate, released in October 2019.
Not only has Hamilton earned large movie paychecks, when the films are syndicated actors and actresses often get paid royalties as per their contract which has likely added substantially to her net worth.
Hamilton’s Total Net Worth
Starring successfully in films and television series at the same time caused Linda Hamilton to become very rich. In the 1990s, the career of Linda Hamilton hit its peak and at one point she was perhaps the most popular female action actresses in the world. She reprised her role of Sarah Connor in Terminator 2, and appeared in other big-screen projects Mr. Destiny, Separate Lives, Dante’s Peak, and Shadow Conspiracies.
Most recently, she has appeared in TV series Claws for 7 episodes and Resident Alien for 6 episodes. She has also appeared on SNL, since 1991.
It is estimated that Linda Hamilton’s overall earnings could be $25 million dollars. Of that amount, $2-3 million will have been paid in business related costs. The remainder, $22.5 million, will have been taxed at 50% considering the years in which Hamilton earned and also as she has been residing in the state of California. After tax, it is estimated that her career earnings are at around $11.25 million dollars, having paid the same amount in taxes.
Linda Hamilton married Bruce Abbott in 1982 and they later divorced seven years later, in 1989. Abbott is also an actor and had accrued a high net worth himself. They had one child together but the marriage did not end well. It is also not clear whom paid alimony however costs will have been incurred by Hamilton for her child nonetheless. More importantly, Linda Hamilton married James Cameron in 1997, they had already had one child together in 1993. In 1997 they ended in divorce and, in what turned out to be one of the highest celebrity divorce settlements of all time, Cameron paid Hamilton $50 million dollars.
In 2005 Hamilton made an appearance on Larry King Live, she discussed her depression and bipolar disorder. She also talked about how she eventually received therapy and medication to manage the condition. It is unclear how this may have impacted her management of her finances, including her investments. Very little is know about Hamilton’s investments, however with the revenue produced from her career and the $50 million divorce settlement money. It is concluded that much of that money must have been invested somewhere.
It is known that she has made some small property investments. Including a property that she purchased for $998,000 in Lucketts, Virginia in 2012, that she later sold for $1.3 million in 2016. She also sold a home in Malibu for $4 million at a profit. Considering her net worth, these property plays are small and likely not real estate investments but rather successfully management of her living costs. Earning a profit in the process, Hamilton has been able to relocate her home and life rather well. Leading one to believe that, despite her past condition, she has managed her life and finances well.
“I try to keep a balance,” she has said. “I actually believe that children want normal parents, they don’t want celebrities or important parents or anything different from all the other parents,” These type of statements leads one to consider that indeed, Hamilton has been in good shape mentally and financially.
In her personal life Hamilton has likely spent $8-10 million dollars of her career earnings but also probably possesses assets valued at around $5-6 million, not including investment assets. In her investments, she may have earned investment returns of $20-30 million dollars. Therefore, it is estimated that Linda Hamilton has a net worth of over $80 million dollars.
Summing-Up
Linda Hamilton is one of the most-widely recognized action actresses in the United States. She started her career in the entertainment business in the mid to late-1970s just after she dropped out of college. One decade later, her impressive abilities helped her land roles in the likes of The Beauty and The Beast and Terminator, two projects that helped her name rise to stardom. For the past four decades, the three-time Golden Globe Award nominee has earned not only international fame but also more than $80 million dollars.
