What Is Brian Cox's Net Worth?
Brian Cox CBE is a Scottish actor, producer, theatre director, and author who has a net worth of $15 million. Brian Cox has enjoyed a successful career in the entertainment industry for several decades, both onstage and onscreen. To recent audiences, he is probably best known for playing the role of Logan Roy on the HBO drama "Succession," which aired from 2018-2023.
Cox has more than 230 acting credits to his name, including the films "Manhunter" (1986), "Rob Roy" (1995), "Braveheart" (1995), "The Bourne Identity" (2002), "X2" (2003), and "Zodiac" (2007) and the miniseries "Nuremberg" (2000). He has appeared on Broadway in "Strange Interlude" (1985), "Art" (1998), "Rock 'n' Roll" (2007), "That Championship Season" (2011), and "The Great Society" (2019), and he has directed productions of "Richard III," "Sinners," "Mrs. Warren's Profession," "I Love My Life," "The Crucible," "The Philanderer," "Julius Caesar," and "The Master Builder."
Brian produced the 2008 film "The Escapist" and the 2020 TV series "From Now," and he has written the books "Salem to Moscow: An Actors Odyssey" (1992), "The Lear Diaries: The Story of the Royal National Theatre's Productions of Shakespeare's Richard III and King Lear" (1995), and "Putting the Rabbit in the Hat" (2021). In 2002, Cox was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Early Life
Brian Cox was born Brian Denis Cox on June 1, 1946, in Dundee, Scotland. He grew up in a Roman Catholic household with mother Mary Ann, father Charles, and four older siblings. His mother worked as a spinner in jute mills and had several nervous breakdowns when Brian was a child. His father was a police officer and shopkeeper, and he passed away when Cox was just 8 years old.
Brian attended St Mary's Forebank Primary School and St Michael's Junior Secondary School, and he dropped out when he was 15 years old. He spent a few years working at Dundee Repertory Theatre, and at age 17, he enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, graduating in 1965.
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Career
Cox began acting at age 14, and he later became a founding member of the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh. He worked at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre from 1966 to 1968, and in 1967, he played Orlando in a Vaudeville Theatre production of "As You Like It" in London. Cox has worked with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and he has appeared in London productions of "Titus Andronicus" (1987), "Dublin Carol" (2000), and "The Weir" (2014). He also taught at the Moscow Arts Theatre School. Brian made his television debut in an episode of "The Wednesday Play" in 1965, and his first film was 1971's "Nicholas and Alexandra."
He portrayed King Henry II of England in the 1978 BBC2 series "The Devil's Crown," then he starred in the TV movies "King Lear" (1983), "Pope John Paul II" (1984), and "Florence Nightingale" (1985). Cox played Dr. Hannibal Lecktor in the 1986 film "Manhunter," and he appeared in 1994's "Iron Will" and 1995's "Rob Roy" and "Braveheart." He co-starred with Samuel L. Jackson and Geena Davis in 1996's "The Long Kiss Goodnight," and in 1997, he appeared in the film adaptation of the James Patterson novel "Kiss the Girls." Brian then appeared in the films "Desperate Measures" (1998), "Rushmore" (1998), "The Corruptor" (1999), and "For Love of the Game" (1999).
In 2000, Cox gave an Emmy-winning performance as Hermann Göring in "Nuremberg," and he guest-starred on "Frasier" the following year. He appeared in "Super Troopers" (2001), "The Affair of the Necklace" (2001), "The Rookie" (2002), "The Ring" (2002), "Adaptation." (2002), and "Troy" (2004), and he played William Stryker in 2003's "X2" and Ward Abbott in 2002's "The Bourne Identity" and 2004's "The Bourne Supremacy." In 2006, Brian had a recurring role as Jack Langrishe on HBO's "Deadwood" and appeared in the films "The Flying Scotsman" and "Running with Scissors." He voiced General Hemmer in 2007's "Battle for Terra," and that year he also portrayed lawyer Melvin Belli in "Zodiac."
He played Harry Montebello on the Australian series "The Straits" (2012) and the title role on the British series "Bob Servant" (2013–2014), and he voiced Alan Watts in the film "Her" (2013). In 2015, Cox starred as Manolis Apostolou on the NBC miniseries "The Slap," and he appeared in the films "Pixels" and "Forsaken." He portrayed Mikhail Kutuzov on BBC One's "War & Peace" (2016), Bernardo Guadagni on the Italian drama "Medici: Masters of Florence" (2016), and Winston Churchill in the film "Churchill" (2017). Since 2018, Brian has played billionaire Logan Roy on HBO's "Succession," and in recent years, he has appeared in the films "Remember Me" (2019), "Strange but True" (2019), "Last Moment of Clarity" (2020), "The Bay of Silence" (2020), and "Separation" (2021).
Succession Salary
Today Brian is probably best-known for his role on the massively successful HBO series Succession.
For the show's first two seasons Brian earned a salary per episode of $200,000. There were 10 episodes in the first and second seasons. That works out to $2 million per season, $4 million in total heading into the third season. For the third season Brian's salary was boosted to $500,000 per episode. That works out to $5 million for the season.
(Photo by David Levenson/Getty Images)
Personal Life
Brian married Caroline Burt in 1968, and they welcomed daughter Margaret and son Alan before divorcing in 1986. Alan followed in his father's footsteps and became an actor, and he is best known for playing teenage Dr. Watson in the 1985 film "Young Sherlock Holmes."
Cox married actress Nicole Ansari in 2002, and they have two sons, Torin and Orson. Brian has received honorary doctorates from the University of Dundee (Honorary Doctor of Laws Honouris Causa), Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (Honorary Doctorate of Drama), Queen Margaret University (Honorary Doctor of Letters), Napier University (Honorary Doctor of Drama), and Kingston University (Honorary Doctor of Letters). In 2010, students elected him the 12th Rector of the University of Dundee, and he was re-elected three years later.
In 2018, Cox was named the head of the Golden Unicorn Awards' international jury. Brian is a patron of The Old Rep Theatre, "THE SPACE" (a Dundee training facility for dancers and actors), Scottish Youth Theatre, and British American Drama Academy, and the Scottish Youth Theatre houses the Brian Cox Studio Theatre. In 2012 and 2020, he served as Grand Marshal of the New York City Tartan Day Parade, and he received Scotland's Tartan Day International Ambassador Award in 2005.
Awards and Nominations
Cox has been nominated for three Primetime Emmys, winning Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for "Nuremberg" in 2001; his other nominations were for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for "Frasier" (2002) and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for "Succession" (2020). He won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama for "Succession" in 2020 and earned a nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for "Nuremberg" in 2001.
The Scottish BAFTA Awards honored Brian with an Outstanding Achievement Award in 2004, and he won the award for Best Acting Performance in Film for "The Escapist" in 2008. He received the Icon Award at the 2006 Empire Awards and a Career Achievement Award for "The Carer" at the 2016 Stony Brook Film Festival. Cox earned a Boston Society of Film Critics Award and a Satellite Award for his performance in "L.I.E.," and he won a Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series for "Nuremberg."
Brian was named Best Actor for "The Good Heart" at the 2010 Method Fest, and "A Modern Magician" earned him a Jury Prize for Best Voice Actor at the 2019 Overcome Film Festival. He has received Best Narrator awards from the Mindfield Film Festival Albuquerque ("A Castle in Brooklyn, King Arthur") and United International Film Festival ("Andrew Carnegie: Rags to Riches, Power to Peace"), and he was named Best Actor for "Red" at the 2008 Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival. Cox and his "The Etruscan Smile" co-stars won the Best Ensemble Cast award at the 2018 Boston Film Festival, and the "Succession" cast was named Best TV Ensemble at the 2019 IGN Summer Movie Awards. For his theatre work, Cox has won awards from the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, British Theatre Association Drama Awards, Laurence Olivier Awards, and Lucille Lortel Awards.
