How much is Pierce Brosnan worth?
| Net Worth: | $175 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Actor |
| Date of Birth: | May 16, 1953 (age 69) |
| Birth Place: | Drogheda, Ireland |
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.86 m) |
About Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan is an Irish-American actor who rose to fame after starring in the TV crime drama, Remington Steele, but most people may know him as Timothy Dalton’s successor to James Bond, starring in four films as the iconic British spy. At the height of his career, Pierce Brosnan earned income equal to a salary of around $15-25 million dollars per year (not adjusted for inflation).
Brosnan had a rough childhood, “I was an only child from a fractured family,” and he had an even rougher adulthood, but the actor has said that acting found him and that it was at a very low point in his life. Brosnan used his pent up frustration, anger, and sadness, and funneled it into his acting, which is what helped him reach the heights of his career and deliver hair-raising performances. It was for these performances that the actor was made an honorary Officer of the British Order by Queen Elizabeth herself.
Some of his notable performances outside of the James Bond franchise, have been in the movie adaptation of the ABBA broadway musical, Mamma Mia. As well as at the start of his career acting alongside Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire. Outside of his work in film, Brosnan is well known for his charitable work and he spent most of the ’90s speaking up against the nuclear arms race and supporting same sex marriage.
In 1983, Brosnan began to become famous from the NBC romantic crime drama, Remington Steele, which follows a female private investigator who opens a detective agency under the name of “Remington Steele” as potential clients wouldn’t hire a female investigator. Playing a conman, Brosnan takes the fictitious name of Remington Steele and starts working for the company. The show was successful and lasted for five seasons with Brosnan appearing in all 94 episodes.
Influenced by film noir, critics have mentioned that the show has stood the test of time due to it’s terrific acting and ahead of its time storytelling, and it didn’t only launch Brosnan’s career, but it spring-boarded him into stardom.
His first starring role in a major Hollywood movie was as Stuart Dunmire in Mrs. Doubtfire, a businessman who starts dating Robin Williams’ ex-wife. The film is a classic, as it follows Robin Williams pretending to be his children’s nanny just so he can spend time with them, and it was a smash at the box office as it made over $441.3 million worldwide. It became the second highest grossing movie worldwide of 1993, after Jurassic Park.
Brosnan was praised for his performance in the movie, and though many people thought he’d be typecast to this kind of role, he managed to surprise everybody with what he’d do next. 1995 saw the release of the first James Bond movie starring Brosnan, Goldeneye. Not only was the movie famous for introducing Brosnan into the franchise, but it was also the first James Bond film not to follow any story written by James Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming.
The movie also brought James Bond into a modern setting, bringing in more technology, and a much smarter narrative than what fans of the series were used to seeing. Overall, critics and audiences thought Brosnan settled into the decades old character well and the movie went on to gross $356.4 million worldwide. In total, the four movies Brosnan starred in earned the franchise $1.48 billion.
His next tent pole movie after handing back the keys of the Aston Martin to the studio execs, and getting musical, subverted expectations once again. After spending the last 10 years as the most iconic spy of all time, Brosnan starred in the movie adaptation of the ABBA Broadway musical, Mamma Mia. It was the feel-good movie of the year, becoming one the highest grossing movies of 2008. It also made first place in Seventeen’s “Best Feel-Good Movies” in 2022. The film racked up $609.8 million globally, which is incredible for a movie with a budget of just $52 million.
Being a deadly assassin doesn’t come without a fat paycheck, as Brosnan earned a reported $4 million dollars for his first mission as Bond in Goldeneye, which is around $7.8 million adjusted for inflation. With each globe trotting installment his salaries got bigger and bigger, earning more than double in the follow up, Tomorrow Never Dies, with a reported $8.2 million. Two years after that he earned a reported $12.4 million for The World Is Not Enough, and finally, a reported $16.5 million for Die Another Day. After adjusting for inflation that is the most money any actor has made from a single Bond movie, coming in at over $27 million dollars. The most Daniel Craig has earned was $25 million for No Time to Die (2021).
In total, Brosnan earned $41.1 million for his tenure as James Bond. While the role as the gadget carrying master of seduction clearly made him the vast majority of his wealth. The actor has also made a lot of financially savvy business decisions when it comes to producing movies. Some of the movies that Brosnan has served as executive producer on include The Misfits, The Greatest, and The November Man. He also had by 2012 completely reinvented his image with roles like Philip, in Love Is All You Need.
Brosnan has scored a lot of his roles thanks to his dashing good looks, perfect hair, and fascinating charisma. In 2001, he was voted as not just one of the sexiest men in the world, but the sexiest man in the world by People magazine. However, it wasn’t just his dashing good looks and Irish charm that got him roles in Mrs. Doubtfire and the James Bond movies, as he has seen most of his success thanks to his dramatic acting skills. The Ghost Writer being one such example.
For his role in Goldeneye, the actor was nominated for a Saturn Award for “Best Actor”, and he even won the Empire Award for “Best Actor” as well. He also won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for “Favorite Actor in a Drama/Romance” for his role as Thomas Crown, in The Thomas Crown Affair.
Brosnan’s Total Net Worth
Pierce Brosnan may be most well known for his appearances as James Bond in the late ’90s and early 2000s, but he has also earned a reputation for appearing in romantic comedies and dramas as well. He has produced over a dozen films and made hundreds of appearances as himself over the years, not to mention he has been involved with film soundtracks and many more features behind the scenes.
Brosnan founded his production company, Irish DreamTime, in 1996. Funds are invested by various parties to finance films, revenue is realized back and expenses deducted. There is a profit/loss to this model and his earnings can come in the form of a taxable dividend, which is less than individual tax as corporate tax has already been deducted.
In total, it is estimated that Brosnan’s total acting and producing career earnings are at about $160 million dollars. While he has starred in many of the films that he has appeared in, they were often low budget. Likely, films that were made more for the fun of acting and producing and the occasional big box office hit. Some actors simply work for a paycheck, while others work the industry like a business. Often agreeing to enroll in a project for a low, or sometimes no, upfront payment, but with the stipulation of a percentage of the money derived from the box office gross.
Brosnan has also earned from his endorsements, as well. It is estimated that he has earned about $20-35 million for lending his face to brands of the likes of L’Oreal and Visa. While that may not seem like a lot considering the revenues of those companies, and Pierce Brosnan’s star factor, many of the advertisements and endorsements that he has been in were some 25 years ago when the dollar was worth far more. He has also had deals with Cuervo Tequila and Sky Broadband.
Pierce Brosnan became an American citizenship in 2004, and even before that, living and working in California will have made him obligated to pay both federal and state income taxes. No distinction is generally made between US citizens and green card holders.
Of his $187.5 million dollars income, $14-24 million is expected to have been paid in business related costs. The remainder, $168.5 million, will have been taxed at around 50%, as Brosnan has been resided in the state of California. When he was starting his career, tax rates were much higher both in Ireland and in the United States. The top federal tax bracket in the US was 70% up to and including 1981, however by 1993 tax rates had dropped to 39.6% for earnings over $250,000. In 2003, tax rates dropped, especially for high earners like Brosnan, and some of his high earnings years were taxed at around 45%.
After tax, it is estimated that his career earnings are at around $84.25 million dollars, having paid around the same amount in taxes.
In his personal life, Pierce Brosnan married Cassandra Harris in 1980. They had one child together, Sean, and later adopted Charlotte and Christopher. Then in 1987, while Pierce was filming The Deceivers in Rajasthan, India, he received a phone call that his wife Cassandra had become seriously ill. She was soon after diagnosed with ovarian cancer and died on December 28, 1991 at age 43. His adopted child, Charlotte, sadly also died in 2013.
“When you’re dealing with death. You’re dealing with the possibility of death and dying. Your timetable and reference for your normal routines and the way you view life, all this changes,” Brosnan has said.
In 2001, Pierce married Keely Shaye Smith and they remain together. They have two children together, Dylan and Paris Brosnan. While Malibu, California has been their home, they have also enjoyed a second home in Hawaii as well as Irish residences in Dublin and County Meath.
The first property that Brosnan purchased in America was in 1996, with a $600,000 deal to snatch up a Malibu property out of foreclosure. In 2012, he sold that same property for a reported $2.6 million. In the year 2000 Pierce, and his soon to be wife Keely Shaye Smith, purchased a beachfront property in Malibu. Some time later they paid $7.4 million to acquire the adjacent property complete with one acre of land. The couple then had the existing structures leveled and upon the land, built a 13,000 square-foot Tahitian style mansion. The property spans two large beachfront plots in Malibu, California.
The mansion was given the name the “Orchid House” and rented during high season for as high as a reported $250,000 per month. In 2015 the home was valued at $18 million dollars when it was reported that on February 11 of that year, it had caught fire. But that seems to account only for the land, with no house at all. The property had caught fire and sustained $1 million in damages. Not only that, but it was reported that the garage was completed engulfed in flames destroying Brosnan’s 2002 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish. Fortunately, there were no injuries.
In 2019, the property sustained damage again in the devastating Malibu Woolsey Fire. The property has been valued at different amounts over the years, it had recently been on the market for some $100 million.
It is likely that Brosnan will have invested some of his career earnings in the stock market and in other securities, including bonds and precious metals. However, it is clear that he has allocated quite some of his money to properties that he and his family have been enjoying. It is estimated that he has earned in property appreciation the equivalent of about $40-85 million, after deducting the likely investment capital to buy, build and renovate the properties.
When it comes to investments outside of real estate and in the stock market and in other securities, it is speculated that he has performed well there as well. When including the money earned from leasing his properties, in addition to his likely returns from his securities, and deducting fees and the principle, it is estimated that Brosnan has earned $24-50 million dollars in investment returns.
It is unlikely that Brosnan has lost that much money or overspent in his life. He will have likely lost some money in his early investment career. Yet in his personal life, it is unlikely that he has done so. He attends Mass and has stated in 2008 that “the teachings of Buddhist philosophy is a faith that is a comfort to me when the night is long.”
It is also worth noting that his properties contain many beautiful artworks and statues. It seems that Brosnan is one to enjoy serenity now, and not engage in high risk investments or risky behaviors. He will have likely profited well from relatively safe investments in stock, based on the years that his earnings were so high and the growth in the FTSE 100 and the S&P 500.
Brosnan has said that much of his free time between film shoots is spent in front of his easel. “I always wanted to be an artist, a painter. I started as a trainee artist in a small studio in South London,” he has said. In his personal life, it is estimated that Brosnan may have spent $10-17 million dollars of his career earnings, including his donations, personal staffing costs, travel and so on.
He also probably possesses assets valued at around $3-9 million, not including investment assets, but including things like furniture and artwork that is displayed, as well as automobiles and memorabilia. It may be more than these estimates. However, overall, it is likely that Pierce Brosnan possesses a net worth of a rounded up $175 million dollars.
Summing-Up
With ridiculous good looks coupled with amazing training in dramatic acting, Brosnan has appeared in movies that demonstrate his skills as one of the best in the world. Thanks to his talent, charm and charisma, and a lot of hard work, Brosnan has earned a huge net worth of $175 million.
