How much is Tommy Wiseau worth?
| Net Worth: | $3.5 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Actor |
| Date of Birth: | October 3, 1955 (age 67) |
| Country: | Polish-born American |
| Height: | 5 ft 8 in (1.74 m) |
“As a director, it’s my job to provoke, and when people decided ‘The Room’ be called a phenomenon, or whatever you call it, it’s fine with me.” Tommy Wiseau
About Tommy Wiseau
Tommy Wiseau, whose full name is Thomas Pierre Wiseau, is a Polish-American actor and filmmaker. He gained international popularity in 2003 after the release of the independent drama film The Room, which he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in. The film attained mainstream recognition relatively quickly and ever since has been described as one of the worst films ever made, which also gained it a cult status.
“I studied movies for many years, but I am professionally an actor because I, my background is actually a stage actor and acting.” Tommy Wiseau
The creator of the independent drama film became famous when he created his project The Room and released it in 2003. His real full name is Thomas Pierre Wiseau, which was legally changed when he moved to America in the early 2000s. His real name is supposedly Tomasz Piotr Wieczorkiewicz and he is believed to be from Poland. Tommy is very secretive about his early life and is believed to have lived in France. He was born on October 3, 1955, in Poznan, Poland.
“When I was a little kid, I wanted to be, like, you know, a movie star, you know? Or, I always have interest in movie, you know? Because I like the visual aspect of the movies, et cetera.” Tommy Wiseau
He moved to America in the late years of the century and then legally changed his name. He gained the nickname “The Birdman” and enrolled at the Laney Community College in Oakland, from which he earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. In the 1980s, he moved to the San Francisco and began working a variety of jobs. Among some of the jobs that he worked are hospital worker, restaurant busboy, and then ran a business called Street Fashion USA that sold irregular products, especially irregular blue jeans at discontinued prices.
Besides The Room, there are other productions that helped Wiseau become rich. In the late 1980s, influenced by the films Citizen Kane and The Guns of Navarone, he ventured into acting. With his biggest inspirations being James Dean and Marlon Brando, he soon began auditioning for various roles on television. One of the earliest projects that he starred in is a VHS tape. He also directed a student film called Robbery Does Not Pay in the Westwood area of Los Angeles.
After attaining little recognition from his film and television projects, Tommy Wiseau’s breakthrough finally came in the early 2000s. In 2003, he released his film The Room, which was created with a budget of $6 million. Based on an unpublished book written by Wiseau himself, the movie was immediately lambasted by the critics and became a cult classic. Initially, it received very little at the box office, however, when checked today it says that the box office earnings are totaling $4.978 million. So only a $1 million dollar loss on production, which of course is not nothing but it seems to have performed better than has been reported.
The filmmaker’s wealth continued to grow as he amassed an estimated $1.5 million, by 2009.
“When I was a little kid, I wanted to be, like, you know, a movie star, you know? Or, I always have interest in movie, you know? Because I like the visual aspect of the movies, et cetera.” Tommy Wiseau
Besides The Room and the aforementioned projects, Wiseau continued to work as a director and producer in other productions – The Neighbours and Corsica Arts Club to name a few. Since the late years of the decade, he has taken part in many television series such as Car Bots, Best F(r)tends, The Disaster Artist, Nerdist Presents, and Big Shark. In the film adaptation of The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero from 2017, James Franco portrayed Wiseau, which also won him a Golden Globe Award in the category “Best Actor”.
In the early years of the new millennium, he had many appearances on television in documentaries and television series such as Homeless in America, Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show, and La La Land. In the early 2010s, he produced and hosted his own television projects – Tommy Explains It All (a documentary) and The Tommy Wi-Show (a talk show).
Outside of acting and directing, in mid-November 2017, the eccentric public figure created his own YouTube channel. As of now, he has 67.5K subscribers, and the 66 videos uploaded have accumulated more than 7 million views in total.
Wiseau’s Total Net Worth
Tommy Wiseau has earned a net worth estimated to be around $3.5 million and he has certainly earned every penny that he has made. Unlike being an actor, and being paid a certain amount for a certain role, a director and filmmaker is really an entrepreneur. They need to come up with an idea, pitch it to raise investment capital and then run the movie production like any other business project. Wiseau has managed to do this and more in his career and has invested his earnings into real estate. It has been reported that Wiseau owns apartments in Hollywood and San Francisco.
Summing-Up
Tommy Wiseau is known for his film The Room but besides that one, he has taken part in several productions, including films, television series, and web shows. He made cameo appearances on Cold Moon, The Disaster Artist, and Best F(r)iends. Despite the controversy surrounding his career in the film industry, he has earned himself fame and an estimated $3.5 million dollars ever since the late 1990s.
