With a net worth of $3 billion, Jami Gertz has surpassed Brad Pitt and George Clooney, who have fortunes of $300 million and $500 million, respectively, to become the richest actor in the world. Gertz became famous in Hollywood, but her riches is mostly from business endeavours and wise investments rather than from her acting salary.
Born in 1965 in Chicago, Gertz became well-known in the 1980s after being found through a talent search. In addition to her most well-known performance in 1987’s The Lost Boys, she starred in Endless Love (1981) and Less Than Zero (1987). She did not experience significant success in box office lead roles, and she eventually relegated herself to a supporting role with notable performances in Twister in 1996 and the popular TV series Ally McBeal. Though Twister was not a commercial hit, Ally McBeal established her as an actress, including an Emmy nomination. Her latest film is I Want You Back (2022), a cameo role though acting is not even one tenth of her overall earnings.
Her wealth is primarily due to her business ventures with her husband, Tony Ressler, a billionaire businessman and co-founder of Apollo Global Management and Ares Management. They own a minority ownership in the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team and a portion of the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA, among other sports teams. They also oversee the administration of the Ressler-Gertz Foundation, which funds charitable endeavours in the fields of education, healthcare, the arts, and Jewish organisations.
Despite being a professional actor, Gertz only makes $1.18 million from Hollywood, which is a relatively small percentage of her vast wealth, which is primarily derived from her investments and charitable giving.
