What Is Aaron Paul's Net Worth and Salary?
Aaron Paul is an American actor, producer, and director who has a net worth of $25 million. Aaron Paul is most famous for his work on the critical smash-hit AMC TV series "Breaking Bad," for which he won several prominent awards. Aaron appeared in all 62 of the show's episodes over five seasons between 2008 and 2013. Outside of "Breaking Bad," he is known for appearing in series like "Big Love," "BoJack Horseman," Westworld," and "The Path." His film career includes movies like "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie," and "Need for Speed."
Breaking Bad Salary
At the peak of "Breaking Bad" for the show's final two seasons, Aaron Paul earned a salary of $200,000 per episode. There were 13 episodes in season five and 16 episodes in season six, the final season. So over those two seasons alone, Aaron earned $5.8 million in total salary.
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Early Life
Aaron Paul Sturtevant was born on August 27, 1979, in Emmett, Idaho. His parents are Darla and Robert Sturtevant, and his father is a Baptist minister. Paul is the youngest of four children and was born a month premature in his parents' bathroom. He graduated from Centennial High School in Boise, Idaho, in 1997, after which he drove to Los Angeles with only $6,000 in savings to pursue an acting career. While in Los Angeles, Aaron worked as a movie theater usher at Universal Studios in Hollywood and also had a brief appearance as a contestant on the game show "The Price Is Right" in January 2000.
Early Career
Paul was runner-up in the 1996 International Modeling and Talent Association competition in Los Angeles and was signed with a manager. He began his acting career by appearing in music videos, such as for Korn's song "Thoughtless" and Everlast's song "White Trash Beautiful." He also appeared in television commercials for brands like Juicy Fruit, Corn Pops, and Vanilla Coke.
His early films include "Whatever It Takes" (2000), "Help! I'm a Fish!" (2001), "K-PAX (2001), "National Lampoon's Van Wilder" (2002), "Bad Girls From Valley High" (2005), "Choking Man" (2006), "Mission: Impossible III" (2006) and "The Last House on the Left" (2009). Paul also had many guest-starring roles on television shows such as "The Guardian," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "CSI: Miami," "ER," "Sleeper Cell," "Veronica Mars," "The X-Files," "Ghost Whisperer," "Criminal Minds," "Bones" and "3rd Rock from the Sun."
"Breaking Bad"
However, the two roles that really solidified his acting career were his roles on the shows "Big Love" and "Breaking Bad." Paul played the role of Scott Quittman in fourteen episodes of the HBO show "Big Love," a role that helped him become more widely known in the public eye. Then, his role as Jesse Pinkman on the AMC series "Breaking Bad" opposite Bryan Cranston launched him into stardom. Paul appeared in all five seasons of "Breaking Bad," which aired from January 2008 to September 2013. He was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014; he won the award in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Other awards Paul has won for his work on "Breaking Bad" include the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2014), Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film (2013). He has also won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television three times (2010, 2012, 2014).
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After "Breaking Bad"
Since "Breaking Bad," Paul has continued to act in multiple projects. He starred in the film "Smashed" (2012), which became one of the official selections for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. He also joined the Hulu series "The Path" in 2016, the Apple TV+ crime drama series "Truth Be Told" in 2018, and the cast of the HBO science-fiction series "Westworld" for the show's third season. Additionally, Aaron has also worked as a voice actor for several shows, including "Tron: Uprising" from 2012 to 2013 and "BoJack Horseman" on Netflix from 2014 to 2020. He was also the voice narrator for a 2015 Mazda commercial. Paul starred in 2022's "Dual" alongside Karen Gillan and Jesse Eisenberg, and in 2023 took on a main role in an episode in the sixth season of "Black Mirror" titled "Beyond the Sea." Also in 2023, Aaron was featured alongside Bryan Cranston in an episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
Personal Life
Paul has been married to Lauren Parsekian since 2013. The couple first met at the Coachella Festival in California and became engaged in Paris in January 2012. In 2018, Paul and Parsekian welcomed their first child, daughter Story Annabelle. In April 2022, the couple had a son, Ryden Caspian.
His wife, Lauren, has a non-profit organization, the Kind Campaign, that promotes a message of anti-bullying. Paul helped raise $1.8 million for the organization in 2013 via a contest that awarded the winners with a trip to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery screening of the final episode of "Breaking Bad."
A fun fact regarding Paul is that October 1st was declared "Aaron Paul Sturtevant Day" by Idaho Governor Butch Otter in a ceremony at the Egyptian Theatre in Boise, Idaho.
In 2019, Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston released their own line of mezcal called Dos Hombres.
Aaron legally dropped Sturtevant from his full name in November 2022.
Real Estate
In 2012, Paul spent $1.4 million on a home above the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. He listed this home for sale in 2019 for $2.5 million and sold it in 2020 for $2.2 million.
In April 2019, Aaron paid $6.95 million for a home in Los Angeles. The seller was actor Jim Parsons.
In 2014, Paul bought a home in Boise, Idaho, with a built-in hot spring. In 2022, he listed the property for sale at $1.35 million.
