How much is James Spader worth?
| Net Worth: | $15 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Actor |
| Date of Birth: | February 7, 1960 (age 63) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
About James Spader
James Spader is most well known for his seasoned roles in the major television dramas Boston Legal and The Blacklist, both of which have become massively successful. Outside of television roles, the actor survived through the 1990s by starring in various films including erotic dramas, like Dream Lover, and you can hear his smooth iconic voice in one of the highest grossing movies of all time, Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Off a budget of less than two million dollars, Sex, Lies, and Videotape is one of those success stories you rarely hear about anymore, as the movie went to gross close to $40 million, which is a huge success compared to the minuscule budget. It was the first lead role Spader had in a movie that received so much acclaim and attention. The movie won the most prestigious award a film can ever get, the Palme D’or at the Cannes Film Festival.
American actor and producer James Spader has an estimated net worth of $15 million dollars, as of 2023. Spader is known for his portrayal eccentric characters in films such as the drama Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989).It is rare that Spader ever features in movies anymore, but on his rise to fame he regularly starred in films that had a specific niche. Besides sci-fi movies, Spader’s forte was in erotic romantic dramas. The actor worked on White Palace, Storyville, Dream Lover, and Crash, which was highly controversial as it follows characters who get turned on by fatal car crashes.
Though many of these films weren’t successful upon release, a lot of them have gone on to become cult classics in recent years. Spader’s career trajectory worked in reverse compared to those of other actors. It is common that actors first get cast in minor roles in television shows, then get bigger roles on the same platform, and then eventually make their way in to film.
However, Spader had quickly become a movie star in the late 1980s and early 1990s, most notable taking the lead role in the giant blockbuster, Stargate. It was later on that the actor would turn to television in the early 2000s, first appearing in the final season of The Practice. Spader’s character was so beloved that he earned his own spin off show, Boston Legal, which even became more popular than its predecessor.
Boston Legal was nominated for and won several Emmy Awards, and in its first season, had an average viewership of 12.5 million. Surprisingly, the show managed to retain almost as many viewers by the final season with almost 10 million.
His most popular role, and the one that has run the longest, is as Raymond Reddington in The Blacklist. The crime drama follows a high profile criminal, played by Spader, who works with the FBI to track down his peers in the criminal underworld. The Blacklist peaked in its first season, receiving an average of almost 15 million viewers per episode.
The average amount of viewers have decreased year on year, but that isn’t indicative of a decrease in quality. Of the show’s entire eight seasons, there hasn’t been a single one that has been received negatively. The latest season has an average viewership of almost seven million households, which is still extremely impressive.
Like many actors, Spader was inducted in to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2015 when he starred as the titular villain in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The movie was a turning point in the series and went on to make over $1.5 billion and become one of the highest grossing movies of all time. Though it isn’t clear the villain is played by Spader as the role was completely motion capture, Ultron is known to be one of the most menacing on screen villains in the franchise due to Spader’s terrifying, almost speculative way of delivering dialogue.
When The Blacklist first aired over seven years ago, the actor was getting paid an estimated $130,000 per episode, which is extremely impressive for an actor’s salary in a show’s first season.
Now Spader makes an estimated $300,000 per episode, or $6.6 million per season, and because of this he has become the highest paid actor on NBC.
Though Spader has starred in a lot of low budget movies that fail to chart well at the box office, he has the ability to work on those passion projects thanks to his successful summer blockbuster movies. For example, Stargate made almost $200 million at the box office. Spader even joined the brat pack in one of their later films, Pretty In Pink, which scored huge box office numbers in North America.
Surprisingly enough, Spader has remained where he became so successful in the first place; television. Though Spader has featured in several blockbuster movies, he remains comfortable playing the now iconic role of Reddington on The Blacklist.
Spader is not only the star of The Blacklist, but he is also one of the show’s producers, giving the actor a lot more creative control than any other actor on TV ordinarily would have. And that is a big part of why the show has seen so much success and has enjoyed massive viewer numbers ever since its inception. It is also why Spader enjoys working on the show and why the show doesn’t have any signs of stretch marks eight years in.
The actor’s work on television in the 2010s does not begin and end with The Blacklist. Spader guest featured in several episodes in the later seasons of The Office: An American Workplace.
The actor was one of the replacements for Steve Carell after he retired the lovable role of Michael Scott. Despite there being many different replacements for Michael Scott before Spader (even including Will Ferrell,) none had been as successful. Spader’s role of Robert California became one of the more popular guests among fans and his self proclamation of being “the lizard king” has since become a viral meme.
Summing-Up
Though James Spader has enjoyed success at the box office with major blockbuster hits and has balanced it out with much lower budgeted art films, it is due to the sheer success and creative consistency of The Blacklist that has enabled the actor to reach a mammoth estimated net worth of $15 million. Spader has not had a role in a movie in over five years, let alone a starring role, but that is completely by choice. The actor is fully complacent starring in The Blacklist for what seems like years to come.
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