How much is Wil Wheaton worth?
| Net Worth: | $1 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Actor |
| Date of Birth: | July 29, 1972 (age 50) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 5 ft 10 in (1.8 m) |
About Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton, whose full name is Richard William Wheaton III, is an American actor, blogger, television personality, voice actor, and writer. He made his film debut in the 1982 coming-of-age film Stand by Me. Several years later, he landed his breakthrough role of Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Throughout the next few decades, he continued to take part in various projects in the film industry such as Toy Soldier, Flubber, Legion of Super-Heroes, and The Guild among many others. Since the 2000s, he is also a best-selling author of multiple novels such as Dancing Barefoot, Just a Geek, The Happiest Days, and Memoirs of the Future.
He was born on July 29, 1972, in Burbank, California. He’s one of the three children to Richard, a medical specialist, and Debra Wheaton, a well-known actress. Both of his siblings, sister Amy and brother Jeremy, had uncredited roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation and his sister also appeared in the 1987 film The Curse, where Wil also has a leading role.
He attended the Crescenta Valley High School from which he graduated in 1990. A couple of years before that, when he was just nine years old, he made his television debut in the television film A Long Way Home. The following year, he landed his first cinema role in the animated film The Secret of NIMHand took part in the coming-of-age film Stand by Me (a film adaptation of Stephen King’s The Body), which helped him gain some popularity and other acting roles in the entertainment business. Around 1993, he also earned a bachelor’s degree from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles).
The actor became rich for his age when he joined the television series Star Trek in the early stages of his acting career. In the mid-1980s, Wheaton was already landing multiple roles on television. In 1987, he landed his breakthrough role in the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. He went on to reprise the leading role of Wesley Crusher in the series for the first four seasons from September 1987 to June 1991.
Shortly after his inclusion in the popular series, Wil’s notoriety continued to be highlighted by a number of webcomics such as Arcane Times, Something Positive, and Abstruse Goose. He continued his post-Star Trek momentum with roles in the films Toy Soldiers, and several independent films, including The Good Things from 2001.
Concurrently with his acting, Wheaton also became a voice actor. He has used his voice for multiple animations, audiobooks, and video games such as Grand Theft Auto, Teen Titans Go, Family Guy, and Generation Rex to name a few. Among some of the audio books that he narrated are Ready Player One, Armada, Redshirts, and Chronicles of Amber.
He’s also a proactive writer who runs his own blog and has founded a few publishing companies. After founding his independent publishing company Monolith Press, he released his memoir titled Dancing Barefoot. He is also a known politics fan who has supported and campaigned for many foundations and politicians such as EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundations), Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders. Most recently, while appearing in the television projects Dark Matter, Supergirl, and Rent-A-Pa!, he began working as the moderator of the MATHCOUNTS National Competition.
Wheaton’s Total Net Worth
Wil Wheaton has been active in his acting career since his appearance as Donald Branch in A Long Way Home in 1981. He has also been active in his appearances as himself, with 100 credits to his name, in addition to his 141 acting credits. Most of his most popular acting work took place in the 80s and early 90s. He appeared as Martin in The Secret of N-I-M-H and Gordie Lachance in Stand by Me for which he earned small sums. He then earned an estimated $500,000 for his role as Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
From all of his other acting appearances, including The Big Bang Theory, Toy Soldiers, Flubber, The Ready Room and so on. As well as his earnings from his books, audiobooks, games and narrations. Wheaton has earned an estimated $2 million. For his appearances as himself on The Big Bang Theory, he earned $20,000 per episode.
Wil Wheaton’s career earnings are at about $2.5 million. Earnings which have been made somewhat steadily since 1981. His average per year earnings have been about $61,000 which means his tax obligations have been less than many of the other actors who appear on this site. There have been some years when he has earned more and in other years less, still with a few tax optimizations here and there he has likely only paid about 29% tax on his career earnings in total, despite some years being more for the taxman than others. Therefore, Wil Wheaton’s post-tax earnings are at about $1.78 million, having paid $720,000 in taxes.
Wil Wheaton married Anne Wheaton in 1999 and they remain together. He has been sober from alcohol since 2016, however it has been reported that he struggles with some anxiety disorder and chronic depression. He works to support mental health nonprofit organizations in raising awareness on these conditions and helping others.
It seems likely that Wheaton may not have managed his early finances well considering his age and other conditions. However, more recently he has done well. Throughout his career he has had no legal problems. In fact it was he who settled for an undisclosed payment to him in a lawsuit that he brought in the amount of $100,000 that alleged he was swindled out of profits from a web series he created. There are also living costs to take into consideration over the last four decades of his career, some expected losses and perhaps some small investment gains. He will have also incurred quite some management and agent fees. Overall, and all things considered, Wil Wheaton has a net worth of $1 million.
Summing-Up
Wil Wheaton is a multi-talented television star. During his four-decades-long career in the film industry, he has starred in hundreds of television series, films, video games, web shows, and animation. Most recently, he became a producer and host of several projects such as Table Top and Titansgrave: The Ashes of Valkana. From all of his work and professions, the Star Trek actor has earned many awards and currently has an estimated net worth of $1 million.
