How much is Mickey Rourke worth?
| Net Worth: | $10 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Actor |
| Date of Birth: | September 16, 1952 (age 70) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 5 ft 10 in (1.8 m) |
About Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre “Mickey” Rourke Jr. was born on September 16, 1952 and is an American actor, screenwriter, activist, and former boxer with an estimated net worth of $10 million. Rourke started his career in the boxing ring before making a move to the silver screen. But it was when he combined both of his worlds in The Wrestler that he earned an Oscar nomination for “Best Actor”.
Mickey Rourke primarily appeared in action, drama, and thriller films as the leading man. Born on September 16, 1952, the multi-talented actor began his career as an actor in 1979 and 10 years later, in 1991, as a boxer.
Among some of his most popular roles are in the movies Diner, Rumble Fish, and The Pope of the Greenwich Village in the early 1980s. Throughout the 1990s, he still starred in various films, however, he also paid a lot of attention to his boxing career. His boxing career, however, did not last long and ended 3 years after it began. Shortly after, Rourke took part in more movies that further increased his net worth.
Mickey Rourke became famous after he took part in some of the most mainstream movies in Hollywood. Born in Schenectady, New York, but raised in Miami, Florida, Rourke soon graduated from the Miami Beach Senior High School. During his teen years, he was more interested in sports and even took a self-defense training class at the BGCA (Boys and Girls Club of America) in Miami. During that time, he grew an interest in doing boxing and learned boxing skills.
In what was his very first boxing match, at the age of 12, Rourke won as a 112-pound flyweight. During his first boxing matches, he used the name, Phil Rourke. Throughout the rest of the 1960s, Rourke took part in many boxing training classes and matches. His most notable sparring was with the former World Champion Luis Rodriguez, who at the time was the highly-rated middleweight boxer in the world.
Rourke’s amateur boxing career officially began in July 1964 and ended in August 1973. For almost 10 years, he was able to score 27 wins (including over the likes of Javier Villanueva and Ronnie Carter) and suffered 3 losses. He decided to temporarily retire from the ring after he suffered a concussion at the 1971 Florida Golden Gloves.
After his career as an amateur boxer he began training as an actor and became one of the most popular stars of the 1980s. He appeared in Rumble Fish, Angel Heart and 9½ Weeks to name just a few. Everything he appeared in was a near perfect fit for him and he couldn’t go wrong. At this time he may have earned a net worth as high as $25 million. But then it all started to go wrong for him. He appeared in a string of bad movies and turned down roles in some of the biggest movies of all time. Including Rain Man, Platoon and The Untouchables.
Rourke eventually became sidelined from Hollywood and lost his credibility. Even worse, Rourke has said, he lost his house, his wife, his career, everything at one time. His rebuttal to his life troubles speaks volumes about his character, though “You’ve got to look in the mirror and go ‘It’s your fault.'”
In 1991, after a divorce from Debra Feuer, and appearing in “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man”, Mickey Rourke was back in the boxing ring at 38 years old. He fought as a light heavyweight and life circumstances must have been in his corner because he retired four years late in 1995 undefeated. Just goes to show that sometimes when you hit rock bottom. You are being made ready for a period of sweet victory, more than money can buy.
Mickey Rourke ended his professional boxing career with a record of 6 wins and 2 draws.
After that Rourke was back in Hollywood. He appeared in Bullet, Double Team, Love in Paris, The Rainmaker and Buffalo 66 before the year 2000. He had also appeared in White Sands and The Last Outlaw during his professional boxing career.
In addition to his return to boxing for a few matches in 2014, Rourke also appeared in the WWE’s shows in 2009. He began a storyline with wrestler Chris Jericho which climaxed at the company’s flagship show Wrestlemania (XXV).
In 2020 Rourke played the role of Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2. His character became entangled with the role of Justin Hammer, played by Sam Rockwell, as the two had the common enemy of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). Through his performances since the 1980s, Mickey Rourke’s net worth is estimated to be about $10 million.
He made his acting debut in 1971 while he was a senior at his high school. He took part in the school play The Serpent, and while at this time he was more interested in boxing. Following a concussion, Rourke’s aspirations to be a full-time boxer changed his plans so he focused his attention on acting. At that time, a friend of his from the University of Miami told him about the Deathwatch play that he was directing, which caught the attention of Rourke.
After he moved to New York where he worked various jobs, Mickey Rourke met Sandra Seacat who motivated him to find his father who he hadn’t seen in 20 years. At the beginning of his acting career, Rourke appeared mainly in television films like 1941, Fade to Black, and Body Heat. The actor first received significant attention after his performance as an arsonist in the classic Body Heat from 1981. Other movies that really boosted his popularity were Diner, The Outsiders, and The Pope of the Greenwich Village.
Rourke became a sex symbol in the mid-1980s after he earned leading roles in a few classic movies – Barfy, 9 1/2, and Year of the Dragon. In 9 1/2, he worked with Kim Basinger where the two had a lot of sexual scenes. In the late 1980s, Rourke took part in David Bowie’s Never Let Me Down album, and around that time he created his first-ever screenplay – Homeboy. In 1987, he rose to prominence after his role in Angel Heart. Both the film and the actor were nominated for many prestigious awards and received only positive reviews.
Mickey Rourke always brings 100% dedication to what he does. He goes all in. That’s why he wanted to decide early on in his career whether he would become a professional boxer, or professional actor because he was prepared to invest everything he had to achieve success in his career. After suffering a concussion he chose to go all in on his acting career and soon became one of the most well known and loved actors of his generation.
The true success of Mickey Rourke came after he retired from boxing and returned to acting at the end of the 20th century. However he did in fact return to boxing after he had already become a successful actor. His return to boxing came in 1991. Immediately after his return, Rourke was undefeated in eight fights and scored six wins, four of which by knockout and two draws. His trainer during most of his career was Chuck Zito, a famous celebrity bodyguard, actor, and member of Hells Angels. During the 3 years of his boxing career, Rourke traveled internationally and participated mainly in Japan, Germany, and Spain. Besides a short term memory loss, he also had a physical change and his face needed a reconstructive surgery so his injuries could be mended.
After spending some time away, Rourke returned to acting in the early 1990s. He was offered a role in the cult Pulp Fiction, which he denied and was later given to Bruce Willis. Rourke did however agree to star in other supporting roles throughout the 1990s – The Rainmaker, Animal Factory, The Pledge, and Bullet. After deciding to reinvent his acting career and focus only on it, the actor was given several roles that further elevated his career.
Among the roles that helped him were from the movies Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Sin City. For the latter, Rourke received a lot of awards such as IFTA, and the Chicago Film Critics Award. To this day, one of his most successful works is in the movie The Wrestler, in which Rourke implemented a lot of events that he endured during his boxing career. The film was highly praised and his performance earned him both a BAFTA and Golden Globe Award.
Summing-Up
Throughout the past 40 years, Mickey Rourke has been both a successful actor, boxer, and screenwriter. Although his boxing career wasn’t as successful as his acting, the multi-talented actor proved why he’s received so many roles in commercially successful films such as Iron Man, The Expendables, and Immortals. As of 2023 he continues to establish himself as one of the most successful actors from the 20th century.
