What is Louis Theroux's Net Worth?
Louis Theroux is a British-American broadcaster and journalist who has a net worth of $4 million. Louis Theroux is best known for delving deeply into subjects considered unusual or taboo and introducing such matters to the public at large. The New Yorker magazine described him as "a piercingly humane, slyly funny guide through the funkier passages of American culture."
Early Years
Louis Sebastian Theroux was born on May 20, 1970, in Singapore, Southeast Asia, the son of Ann Castle and Paul Edward Theroux, an American novelist and travel writer. His parents met while they were both teaching in East Africa. They married in 1967 and divorced in 1993.
When he was a year old, Theroux's family relocated to England and he was raised there in Catford, a district in southeast London. He obtained his early education at Tower House School, an independent prep school for boys in Richmond Park, and Westminster School, a public institution in Westminster, London.
Theroux graduated from Magdalen College in Oxford with first-class honors and moved to the United States, where he gained employment as a journalist for the free weekly newspaper Metro Silicon Valley, published in California. He also wrote for the monthly satire magazine Spy.
Documenting the Unusual
In 1994, Louis Theroux began working as a correspondent on "TV Nation," American film producer Michael Moore's satirical news magazine television series which focused on offbeat subjects. When the series ended in 1995, Theroux began making documentaries for the British Broadcasting Corporation. From 1998 to 2000, he presented the television series "Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends" which gave viewers a look into worlds they might not otherwise have access to by tackling such subjects as white separatism, the enlightenment of Indian gurus, hypnotism, porn, and unidentified flying objects. From 2000 to 2002, Theroux presented the television series "When Louis Met…" in which he accompanied different British celebrities on their day-to-day business. Since 2003, he has done 50 BBC Two Specials, which take a sympathetic look at such subjects as sex workers, those with extreme plastic surgery, crystal meth addicts and anorexics.
In 2014, Theroux presented "LA Stories," his first of several series comprised of three broadcasts. It was followed by "LA Stories" and, in 2017, "Dark States," which focused on heroin, sex trafficking and murder. Lastly, in 2018, the three-broadcast series "Altered States" concerned polyamorous relationships, right-to-die laws, and adoption.
In 2015, Theroux wrote and appeared in the documentary "My Scientology Movie," produced by Simon Chin, founder of Red Box Films. The film documents Theroux's attempts to gain access to the Church of Scientology after the church refused to cooperate in the making of the film.
Interviews and Podcasts
Louis Theroux began conducting interviews with celebrities in 2020 for the BBC series "Louis Theroux Interviews." The sixty-minute interviews over Zoom included conversations with guests such as American filmmaker Oliver Stone, actress and former Scientologist Leah Remini, and singer Sia. The podcast won a 2020 Unmissables Award for Podcast of the Year from the English entertainment magazine "Heat." That same year, he presented the four-episode series "Life on the Edge" about the process of creating his documentaries. In 2022, he presented a three-part series, "Forbidden America," focusing on social media use by white supremacists, members of the "trap rap" community and porn stars.
In early 2023, Theroux released his documentary "KSI: In Real Life" about the life and career of musician, professional boxer, and YouTube influencer Olajide Olatunji, otherwise known as KSI.
In June of 2023, as part of a deal with the Swedish audio streaming and media service provider Spotify, Theroux began hosting "The Louis Theroux Podcast."
Books
Louis Theroux authored the book "The Call of the Weird: Travels in American Subcultures," which was published in Britain in 2005. In the book, he tracks down his former subjects to discern what changes have occurred in their lives since he last spoke to them. Subjects include a porn star, a prostitute, a white supremacist, and a religious cult survivor.
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Awards & Nominations
In 1995, Louis Theroux was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series for "TV Nation."
In 2001, he won a Richard Dimbleby Award for Best Presenter (Factual, Features, and News) for "Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends." The following year, he won the Richard Dimbleby Award for the Best Presenter (Factual, Features and News) for "When Louis Met…"
In 2002, Theroux was nominated for a Flaherty Documentary Award for "When Louis Met…" for the episode in which British politician Neil Hamilton and his wife were arrested during filming due to allegations of indecent assault, later found to be false. That same year, he was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award for "When Louis Met…"
In 2010, Theroux won a Royal Television Society Award for Best Presenter for producing and presenting the British documentary "A Place for Paedophiles," an hour-long presentation filmed at a mental hospital for sexually violent predators in California.
Personal Life
Louis Theroux married Susanna Kleeman in 1994. They were divorced in 2001. He then married Nancy Strang on July 13, 2012. He and Strang have three children and reside in London, England, and Los Angeles, California.
