What Is Alfonso Cuarón's Net Worth?
Alfonso Cuarón is a Mexican director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor who has a net worth of $50 million. Alfonso Cuarón became an international sensation with his 2001 film "Y tu mamá también," which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Alfonso has gone on to direct the feature films "Great Expectations" (1998), "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (2004), "Children of Men" (2006), "Gravity" (2013), and "Roma" (2018), and he also wrote, produced, and edited "Gravity" and "Roma." Cuarón has served as the cinematographer on "Roma" and several of his short films. As of this writing, he has received 12 Academy Award nominations, winning five of them. Alfonso co-created the 2014 NBC series "Believe," and he was a writer and director on the show. He also wrote and directed episodes of the Mexican anthology series "La hora marcada" (1988–1989) and directed a 1993 episode of Showtime's "Fallen Angels." Cuarón has produced several films that that he did not direct, such as "The Assassination of Richard Nixon" (2004), "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006), "The Witches" (2020), and "Raymond & Ray" (2022). He owns the production company Esperanto Filmoj, and he entered into an overall TV deal with Apple in 2019.
Early Life
Alfonso Cuarón was born Alfonso Cuarón Orozco on November 28, 1961, in Mexico City, Mexico. He is the son of pharmaceutical biochemist Cristina Orozco and doctor Alfredo Cuarón, who specialized in nuclear medicine. Alfonso has three siblings, Christina, Carlos, and Alfredo. Carlos wrote the screenplay for Alfonso's 1991 film "Sólo con tu pareja," and the brothers co-wrote 2001's "Y tu mamá también." Cuarón attended the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he studied philosophy, then he studied filmmaking at the school's Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos. He met cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and director Carlos Marcovich there, and the three collaborated on Alfonso's first short film, 1983's "Vengeance Is Mine."
(Photo by Stefania M. D'Alessandro/Getty Images for RFF)
Career
Cuarón worked as a technician on television projects in Mexico before he began directing for TV. His work on television led to him being hired as an assistant director on film productions such as "La Gran Fiesta" (1985) and "Romero" (1989). In 1991, he directed the Mexican comedy "Sólo con tu pareja," which he also wrote, produced, and edited. Alfonso then directed the 1995 American film "A Little Princess" and wrote the 1997 short film "Sístole diástole." In 1998, he directed a film adaptation of the 1861 Charles Dickens novel "Great Expectations," which starred Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hank Azaria, Chris Cooper, Anne Bancroft, and Robert De Niro and earned him an ALMA Award nomination for Outstanding Latino Director of a Feature Film. Next, Cuarón directed, co-wrote, produced, and edited 2001's "Y tu mamá también." The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, BAFTA Award nominations for Best Film not in the English Language and Best Original Screenplay, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, and it won a New York Film Critics Circle Award and a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film and an Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film.
Alfonso directed the 2004 blockbuster "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," which grossed $804 million at the box office and earned him a Saturn Award nomination for Best Director. In 2006, he directed Clive Owen and Julianne Moore in "Children of Men," which was included on numerous lists of the year's best films. Cuarón also co-wrote and edited the film. He then directed, co-wrote, produced, and edited 2013's "Gravity." The science-fiction film starred Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, brought in $723.2 million at the box office, and won more than 230 awards. "Gravity" earned 10 Academy Award nominations, and Alfonso won for Best Director and Best Film Editing. Cuarón wrote, directed, produced, co-edited, and served as the cinematographer on the 2018 Netflix film "Roma." The film won more than 250 awards, including Academy Awards and Golden Globes for Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film.
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Personal Life
Alfonso married Mariana Elizondo in 1980, and they welcomed son Jonás in 1981. Jonás followed in his father's footsteps and became a director; he also co-wrote the "Gravity" screenplay with Alfonso. Cuarón and Elizondo divorced in 1993, then Alfonso wed actress/journalist Annalisa Bugliani in 2001. They had two children together, Tess (born December 2003) and Olmo (born January 2005), before divorcing in 2008. Cuarón follows a vegetarian diet, and he has lived in London since 2000. In October 2023, he was one of more than 200 artists to sign an open letter to President Joe Biden urging "an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza and Israel."
Awards and Nominations
Cuarón has won more than 250 awards for his work. He has earned 12 Academy Award nominations, winning Best Director and Best Film Editing for "Gravity" (2014) and Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best International Feature Film for "Roma" (2019). Alfonso has won seven BAFTA Awards: Best Film Not in the English Language for "Pan's Labyrinth" (2007), Best Director and Best British Film for "Gravity" (2014), and Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Not in the English Language for "Roma" (2019). He has received six Golden Globe Award nominations, taking home the prize for Best Director – Motion Picture for "Gravity" and Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language and Best Director – Motion Picture for "Roma." Cuarón won Directors Guild Awards for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film for "Gravity" and "Roma," and he earned a Grammy nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media for "Y Tu Mamá También" (2003). Alfonso was honored with a Lifetime Achievement – Artistic Excellence Award at the 2018 Morelia International Film Festival and a Sonny Bono Visionary Award at the 2019 Palm Springs International Film Festival.
