What is Christopher McQuarrie's Net Worth?
Christopher McQuarrie is a film director, screenwriter, and producer who has a net worth of $40 million. Christopher McQuarrie's credits include "The Usual Suspects," "Jack Reacher," "Edge of Tomorrow," "Top Gun: Maverick," and multiple films in the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, starting with 2015's "Rogue Nation." For "The Usual Suspects," he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Among his other work, McQuarrie created the short-lived mystery drama television series "Persons Unknown."
Early Life and Education
Christopher McQuarrie was born on October 25, 1968 in Princeton, New Jersey. As a teenager, he attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, graduating in 1986. McQuarrie then moved to Australia and became an assistant at Christ Church Grammar School in Perth. He was ultimately fired after nine months. Subsequently, he hitchhiked around Australia for a few months before returning to the United States. McQuarrie then worked for a detective agency for four years.
Film Career
The first feature film McQuarrie worked on was "Public Access," which premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival. He co-wrote the film's screenplay with Michael Feit Dougan and Bryan Singer, the latter of whom directed the film. McQuarrie went on to reunite with Singer for the 1995 crime thriller "The Usual Suspects," which McQuarrie wrote and Singer directed. Revolving around the interrogation of an enigmatic conman who survived a massacre, the film was a major critical and commercial success, and earned McQuarrie the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. His next film was the 2000 neo-Western heist thriller "The Way of the Gun," which was also his directorial debut. Starring Ryan Phillippe and Benicio del Toro as a pair of low-level criminals who kidnap a pregnant woman, the film earned mixed reviews and underwhelmed at the box office. McQuarrie didn't work on another feature film for a while after that.
Reuniting with director Bryan Singer, McQuarrie co-wrote the historical thriller "Valkyrie" with Nathan Alexander. Released in 2008, the Tom Cruise-starring film depicts the 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. "Valkyrie" was a box-office hit. McQuarrie subsequently co-wrote the 2010 romantic thriller "The Tourist" with Julian Fellowes and director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, it too was a commercial success. McQuarrie's second feature film as director, the action thriller "Jack Reacher," was released in 2012. An adaptation of Lee Child's novel "One Shot," the ninth book in the "Jack Reacher" series, the hit film stars Tom Cruise as the titular former US Army MP investigator. Next, McQuarrie co-wrote the 2013 fantasy adventure film "Jack the Giant Slayer" with Darren Lemke and Dan Studney; it was his fourth screenplay to be directed by Bryan Singer.
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With Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, McQuarrie co-wrote the 2014 science-fiction action film "Edge of Tomorrow," directed by Doug Liman and starring Tom Cruise. He reunited with Cruise for 2015's "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation," the fifth installment in the "Mission: Impossible" film series. The film was a massive commercial success. Continuing his work on Tom Cruise-starring films, McQuarrie co-wrote the 2017 fantasy adventure film "The Mummy," a reboot of the "Mummy" franchise. After that, he wrote and directed 2018's "Mission: Impossible – Fallout," which was another big hit in the popular franchise. McQuarrie continued his success as a co-writer and co-producer of "Top Gun: Maverick," directed by Joseph Kosinski and released in 2022. A sequel to 1986's "Top Gun," the film was an enormous commercial success and earned McQuarrie two Academy Award nominations. He went on to co-write and direct "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One," which came out in 2023.
Television Career
Although primarily a filmmaker, McQuarrie has done some work for television. He created the mystery drama series "Persons Unknown," which premiered in 2010 on NBC. The series focused on a group of strangers who wake up to find themselves imprisoned inside a ghost town. "Persons Unknown" was ultimately short-lived, running for 13 episodes. Later, in 2022, McQuarrie became an executive producer of the Amazon Prime Video series "Reacher," continuing his involvement with the "Jack Reacher" franchise.
Personal Life & Real Estate
McQuarrie is married to wife Heather. They primarily live in Seattle. In July 1988, they paid $1.52 million for a home in Seattle. They sold this home in December 2019 for $3.6 million after listing it for $4.2 million.
