What Is Melissa Leo's Net Worth?
Melissa Leo is an American actress and producer who has a net worth of $4 million. Melissa Leo made her acting debut as Linda Warner on the soap opera "All My Children" in 1984, earning a Daytime Emmy nomination for her performance. Melissa has won more than 50 awards for her work, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a Primetime Emmy.
She has more than 130 acting credits to her name, such as the films "The 24 Hour Woman" (1999), "21 Grams" (2003), "Frozen River" (2008), "Righteous Kill" (2008), "The Fighter" (2010), "Red State" (2011), "Olympus Has Fallen" (2013), "The Equalizer" (2014), "The Big Short" (2015), "Novitiate" (2017), and "The Most Hated Woman in America" (2017) and the television series "The Young Riders" (1989–1990), "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993–1997), "Treme" (2010–2013), "Wayward Pines" (2015–2016), and "I'm Dying Up Here" (2017–2018). Leo also produced the 2015 short films "Mother's Day" and "The Butterfly, the Harp and the Timepiece" and the 2018 film "Furlough."
Early Life
Melissa Leo was born Melissa Chessington Leo on September 14, 1960, in New York City. Melissa is the daughter of teacher Margaret Chessington and editor Arnold Leo III. Besides being an editor at Grove Press, Arnold formerly served as a spokesman for the East Hampton Baymen's Association. Leo and her older brother, Erik, were raised on the Lower East Side, and after their parents divorced, they moved to Vermont's Red Clover Commune with their mother. As a child, Melissa started performing with the Bread and Puppet Theater Company in Vermont, and she later attended Bellows Falls High School and took acting classes at London's Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and New York's SUNY Purchase. Leo left school before graduating to move to New York City to pursue an acting career.
Career
From 1984 to 1988, Melissa played Linda Warner on the ABC soap opera "All My Children," and around this time she also appeared in the films "Always" (1985), "Streetwalkin'" (1985), "Deadtime Stories" (1986), and "A Time of Destiny" (1988) and the TV movies "Silent Witness" (1985) and "Nasty Boys" (1989). She guest-starred on "The Equalizer" (1985), "Spenser: For Hire" (1987), and "Miami Vice" (1988), and from 1989 to 1990, she starred as Emma Shannon on ABC's "The Young Riders." In the 1990s, Leo appeared in films such as "Venice/Venice" (1992), "The Ballad of Little Jo" (1993), "Last Summer in the Hamptons" (1995), "Under the Bridge" (1997), and "The 24 Hour Woman" (1999), and she played Sergeant Kay Howard on the NBC police drama "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993–1997). She reprised the role of Sergeant Kay Howard in the 2000 television film "Homicide: The Movie." During the first decade of the 2000s, Melissa starred in more than three dozen films, including "21 Grams" (2003), which co-starred Sean Penn and Naomi Watts, "First Breath" (2004), "Hide and Seek" (2005), "Runaway" (2005), "Confess" (2005), "Stephanie Daley" (2006), "Falling Objects" (2006), "Midnight Son" (2007), "Mr. Woodcock" (2007), "Lullaby" (2008), "Righteous Kill" (2008), "Veronika Decides to Die" (2009), and "Everybody's Fine" (2009). She earned her first Academy Award nomination for the 2008 crime drama "Frozen River."
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Melissa guest-starred on "Veronica Mars" (2004), "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2004), "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (2005), "The L Word" (2005), "Criminal Minds" (2007), and "Cold Case" (2007), and from 2010 to 2013, she played Toni Bernette on the HBO drama "Treme." Leo won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and several other awards for her performance as Alice Eklund-Ward in the 2010 sports drama "The Fighter," and she played Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan in "Olympus Has Fallen" (2013) and "London Has Fallen" (2016) and Susan Plummer in "The Equalizer" (2014), "The Equalizer 2" (2018), and "The Equalizer 3" (2023). Leo appeared in the films "Welcome to the Rileys" (2010), "The Space Between" (2010), "Conviction" (2010), "Red State" (2011), "Francine" (2012), "Oblivion" (2013), "Prisoners" (2013), "Charlie Countryman" (2013), "The Angriest Man in Brooklyn" (2014), "Snowden" (2016), "Novitiate" (2017), "The Most Hated Woman in America" (2017), "Unlovable" (2018), and "Furlough" (2018), and she played Georgia Hale in 2015's "The Big Short," which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.
Melissa received a Primetime Emmy nomination for the 2011 miniseries "Mildred Pierce," and she won an Emmy for guest-starring in a 2012 episode of the FX series "Louie." From 2015 to 2016, she starred as Nurse Pam Pilcher on Fox's "Wayward Pines," and in 2016, she portrayed Lady Bird Johnson in the HBO movie "All the Way," earning her third Primetime Emmy nomination. From 2017 to 2018, Leo played comedy club owner Golda 'Goldie' Herschlag on Showtime's "I'm Dying Up Here," and in 2020, she starred in the HBO miniseries "I Know This Much Is True." In 2021, she appeared in the films "Body Brokers," "Thunder Force," "Ida Red," and "Coast," followed by "Measure of Revenge," "Alone Together," and "Jane" in 2022.
Personal Life
Melissa was in a relationship with actor John Heard from 1986 to 1988, and they welcomed son John (better known as Jack) in 1987. Leo and Heard were engaged in a custody battle for years, but they eventually settled on a joint custody agreement. In 1991, John was arrested and charged with third-degree assault after allegedly slapping Melissa. A 1997 article in "The Baltimore Sun" reported on later offenses by Heard, stating that he "was accused of harassing his ex-girlfriend, actress Melissa Leo, 36, through several phone calls he made to her Fells Point home during a four-month period last year. He called the house in attempts to speak with their 9-year-old son. He also was charged with harassing and assaulting Leo's live-in boyfriend, John A. E. Russell."
Real Estate
In 2004 Melissa paid $200,000 for an 11-acre property in Stone Ridge, New York. The property features a 1,700 square foot home that was built in 1810.
Awards and Nominations
Leo won an Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role and a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for "The Fighter," and she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for "Frozen River." "The Fighter" also earned her awards from the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, Capri Awards, National Society of Film Critics Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and several film critics' associations. For "Frozen River," Melissa won a Gotham Award, Independent Spirit Award, Florida Film Critics Circle Award, Marrakech International Film Festival Award, San Sebastián International Film Festival Award, Santa Barbara International Film Festival Virtuoso Award, Utah Film Critics Association Award, and Women Film Critics Circle Award.
Leo has received three Primetime Emmy nominations, winning Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for "Louie" in 2013. Her other nominations were for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for "Mildred Pierce" in 2011 and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie for "All the Way" in 2016. In 1985, Melissa earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for "All My Children." In 2008, she was named Best Actress for "Lullaby" at the Method Fest Independent Film Festival Award, and in 2011, she won Best Actress awards for the short film "The Sea Is All I Know" at the California Independent Film Festival Slate Award and the Rhode Island International Film Festival. In 2015, Leo and her "The Big Short" co-stars won a National Board of Review Award for Best Cast and earned a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Melissa was honored with the Tribute Award for Excellence in Acting at the 2012 Baja International Film Festival and the Evolution Icon Award at the 2018 Evolution International Film Festival.
