What Is Billy West's Net Worth?
Billy West is an American voice actor, singer, comedian, writer, director, and producer who has a net worth of $15 million. West is best known for voicing Doug Funnie on "Doug" (1991–1994), Ren Höek and Stimpy J. Cat on "The Ren & Stimpy Show" (1991–1996), and Philip J. Fry, Zapp Brannigan, Professor Farnsworth, and Dr. Zoidberg on "Futurama" (1999–2013). Billy has more than 260 voice credits to his name, including the films "Space Jam" (1996) and "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island" (1998) and the television series "Extreme Ghostbusters" (1997), "King of the Hill" (1997–1999), "The New Woody Woodpecker Show" (1999–2002), and "Disenchantment" (2018–present).
West has also lent his voice to numerous video games, such as "Atomic Bomberman" (1997), "Tiny Toon Adventures: Toonenstein" (1999), "The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night" (2007), and "Minecraft: Story Mode" (2015). Billy co-wrote and co-produced 2004's "Comic Book: The Movie" with Mark Hamill, and he directed the 2002 TV documentary "Pet Star." As a musician, he has released the album "Me-Pod" (2004) with Billy West and The Grief Counselors, and he has toured with Brian Wilson and Roy Orbison as a guitarist.
Early Life
Billy West was born William Richard Werstine on April 16, 1952, in Detroit, Michigan. Billy was born with autism and ADHD, and he was abused by his father during his childhood. West told "Wikinews" reporter David Shankbone, "My dad was a certifiable psycho and he made my life a living hell and it was a horror chamber where I grew up and when I grew up. The guy used to beat the daylights out of me left and right, for any random reason. He was a raving alchie. I grew up with him making fun of me. I was forced to retreat into a world where I couldn't get hurt or beat up or anything like that." West began doing voices as an escape, and his mother eventually left his father and moved Billy and his two brothers to Boston. West began playing trumpet at age 10 and appeared in school plays. During the Nixon administration, Billy was subject to the 1969 Draft lottery for the Vietnam War. Though the draft number he was assigned was low enough to result in West being drafted, he ended up not having to enlist after he was classified '4-F' due to flat feet and hypertension.
Career
In the early '80s, Billy was in the oldies band The Shutdowns. He worked at the Boston radio station WBCN and performed comedic routines on the show "The Big Mattress," then in 1988, he moved to New York City and got a job at K-Rock Radio. West was a regular on "The Howard Stern Show" until 1995, doing impersonations of Marge Schott, the owner of the Cincinnati Reds, and Larry Fine of the Three Stooges. After leaving "The Howard Stern Show," Billy moved to Los Angeles. His first television voice role was Cecil on "The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil" in 1988, and in 1991, he found success on Nickelodeon, voicing the title roles on "Doug" and "The Ren & Stimpy Show." In 1996, West voiced Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in "Space Jam," then he voiced Norville "Shaggy" Rogers in 1998's "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island." In 1997, he served as the announcer and the voice of Harvey the Wonder Hamster on "The Weird Al Show," and he voiced Slimer on "Extreme Ghostbusters." In 1999, Billy began voicing several characters on "Futurama," which aired on Fox until 2003 and on Comedy Central from 2008 to 2013. The series aired 140 episodes over seven seasons, and West reprised his roles in several direct-to-video movies.
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In the 2000s, Billy voiced characters in the films "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie" (2000), "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" (2001), "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" (2001), "Garfield" (2004), "Curious George" (2006), "Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes" (2010), "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water" (2015), "Pixels" (2015), and "Scoob!" (2020). He voiced Woody Woodpecker, Wally Walrus, Smedley, and Doug Knutts on "The New Woody Woodpecker Show" from 1999 to 2002 and followed it with voice roles in "The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" (2002–2006), "My Life as a Teenage Robot" (2003–2009), "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" (2004), "Justice League Unlimited" (2004), "Loonatics Unleashed" (2005–2007), "Drawn Together" (2006–2007), "Squirrel Boy" (2006–2007), and "SpongeBob SquarePants" (2007). West voiced Elmer Fudd on "The Looney Tunes Show" from 2011 to 2014 and Bashful on "The 7D" from 2014 to 2016. In 2018, he reunited with "Futurama" creator Matt Groening for the Netflix series "Disenchantment," voicing Sorcerio, Mertz, The Jester, King Rulo the Elf, and Pops the Elf. That year Billy also began voicing Mortimer Mousewell on "Rockin' South," and in 2020, he joined the cast of the British television puppet show "Spitting Image," on which he has voiced political figures and celebrities such as Joe Biden, William Shatner, and Vladimir Putin.
Personal Life
Billy married Violet Benny in 1992, and they divorced in 2009. West has voiced criticism against the Republican party, describing the party's senators as "old men with bad breath and dandruff." Billy began drinking alcohol and doing drugs at age 21, and he went to rehab after getting into a few car accidents, one of which nearly killed him. He said of that time in his life, "There is a point that you can reach in your life where you don't want to live but you haven't made the decision to die."
(Photo by Joe Scarnici/FilmMagic)
Awards and Nominations
West has been nominated for 13 Behind the Voice Actors Awards, 10 for "Futurama," two for "The 7D," and one for "Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon." He has won eight of those awards: Best Male Lead Vocal Performance in a Television Series for "Futurama" in 2012, Best Vocal Ensemble in a Television Series (BTVA Television Voice Acting Award and BTVA People's Choice Voice Acting Award) for "Futurama" in 2012, Best Vocal Ensemble in a Television Series – Comedy/Musical (BTVA Television Voice Acting Award and BTVA People's Choice Voice Acting Award) for "Futurama" in 2013, Best Vocal Ensemble in a Television Series – Comedy/Musical (BTVA Television Voice Acting Award) for "Futurama" in 2014, Best Vocal Ensemble in a New Television Series (BTVA Television Voice Acting Award) for "The 7D" in 2015, and Best Vocal Ensemble in a Television Series (BTVA Television Voice Acting Award) for "The 7D" in 2016. Billy also earned an Annie Award nomination for Best Achievement for Voice Acting for "The Ren & Stimpy Show" in 1994 and an Online Film & Television Association Award nomination for Best Voice-Over Performance for "Futurama" in 2014.
Real Estate
In 1998, West paid $480,000 for a 2,446-square-foot home in Hollywood Hills West. He sold the four-bedroom, three-bathroom home for $1.18 million in 2016.
