What is Al Pacino's net worth and salary?
Al Pacino is an American Actor of both stage and screen who has a net worth of $40 million. Al Pacino's net worth should be much, much higher, but he is famously horrible with money. At his peak in the 1990s, Al was spending as much as $400,000 per month on his lifestyle. He was paying his landscaper $400,000 per year. He also lost a significant amount of money in the 2000s as a result of a bad accountant who subsequently went to jail. According to his 2024 memoir, Al agreed to appear alongside Adam Sandler in the 2011 film "Jack and Jill," because at that time "had no more money." In the memoir, he also admits to taking the movies "Righteous Kill" (2008) and "88 Minutes" (2007) purely for the money. Al has an open-ended deal with HBO, where he earns $10 million per HBO-exclusive movie. He has made three such movies to date. He earned $20 million in 2019 to star in Martin Scorcese's "The Irishman."
With a career that has spanned more than five decades, Al Pacino is considered one of the greatest actors of all time. As of this writing, he has won an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards.
Pacino rose to prominence after his breakthrough role as Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" (1972). His poignant portrayal of the reluctant mobster earned him an Academy Award nomination. He reprised the role in the film's equally celebrated sequels, solidifying his status as a Hollywood icon. Pacino's illustrious career is filled with a litany of critically acclaimed performances, including his roles in "Serpico" (1973), "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975), and "Scarface" (1983). He won his first and only Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a blind lieutenant colonel in "Scent of a Woman" (1992).
In addition to his film work, Pacino has been a dominant force in theater. He received Tony Awards for "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?" (1969) and "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel" (1977).
Early Life
Al Pacino was born Alfredo James Pacino on April 25th, 1940, in East Harlem, Manhattan. Pacino's parents divorced when he was two years old. Subsequently, Al and his mother moved in with his grandparents in the Bronx. His grandparents were Italian immigrants who, coincidentally, came from Corleone, Sicily. Al's father, who was born in San Fratello, Sicily, moved to Covino, California, during Al's childhood.
Pacino did not enjoy school. He attended Herman Ridder Junior High School but dropped out of most classes, minus English. He then auditioned for and was accepted into the High School of Performing Arts. His mother was furious at this decision, and after an argument, Al moved out on his own. He supported himself outside of school with a series of odd jobs, including working as a janitor, messenger, and a busboy.
Struggling Actor
Al acted anywhere he could during this period. He was also frequently unemployed and homeless. He performed in basement plays in NYC's theater underground. He auditioned for acting companies but was largely rejected. He was eventually accepted into HB Studio, where the teacher, Charlie Laughton, took Al under his wing and became a mentor/best friend.
After four years with HB Studio, he auditioned and was finally accepted into the Actors Studio, an organization of the country's top professional actors, playwrights, and theater directors. He studied method acting under famed coach Lee Strasberg. Pacino would later reflect:
"The Actors Studio meant so much to me in my life. Lee Strasberg hasn't been given the credit he deserves … Next to Charlie, it sort of launched me. It really did. That was a remarkable turning point in my life. It was directly responsible for getting me to quit all those jobs and just stay acting."
In 1967, Al worked for a season at a playhouse in Boston, performing in a play called "Awake and Sing!". He earned a then career-high $125 per week from the role.
In 1968, he starred in Israel Horovitz's (father of Beastie Boys' Adam Horowitz) play "The Indian Wants the Bronx". The play ran for 177 performances. Entertainment manager Martin Bergman saw the play and was so impressed by Pacino's performance that he signed the up-and-coming actor on the spot, securing a relationship that would last many fruitful years. It was Bergman who would later pressure Pacino to accept roles in The Godfather, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon, which cemented his standing as one of the best actors in the world.
Success
Al made his film debut in 1969 in the film "Me, Natalie." He would soon follow it up with "The Panic in Needle Park." This gained him enough attention that Francis Ford Coppola cast him in the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather. The part would produce Al's first Oscar nomination. Pacino would go on to star in such classics as "Serpico," "And Justice for All," "Dog Day Afternoon," and "The Godfather Part 2" (years later, he would also star in "The Godfather Part 3".)
The 1980s were somewhat less productive for Pacino. Though, in 1983, he would star as Tony Montana in "Scarface". Despite being critically panned, the movie was a box office success and would go on to become one of Pacino's most memorable and iconic roles.
Other notable film roles in Pacino's career include "Dick Tracey," "Scent of a Woman," "The Devil's Advocate," "Any Given Sunday," "Insomnia," "Phil Spector," "Paterno," "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" and "The Irishman." He won the 1993 Best Actor Academy Award for "Scent of a Woman." As of this writing, he has been nominated for 8 Oscars, with just the one win.
Salary Highlights
Al earned $35,000 for his role in the first Godfather in 1972. That's the same as around $215,000 today after adjusting for inflation. For the second Godfather his salary was upped to $500,000, which is the same as $2.6 million in today's dollars. More importantly, he earned 10% of the film's gross after break-even, which over time would translate into tens of millions in bonus earnings. For the third installment, Al demanded $7 million plus a percentage of gross receipts BEFORE costs; Francis Ford Coppola refused and even threatened to make the opening scene of the third movie, Michael Corleone's funeral. Al eventually accepted a flat $5 million.
Pacino earned $1.5 million for 1992's "Glengarry Glen Ross" and $6 million for 1993's "Carlito's Way. By the mid-1990s, he was earning a consistent $10+ million per movie appearance, no matter how big or small. For example, he earned $11 million for 2002's "S1m0ne", a relative bomb in his career.
Al has a multi-year ongoing deal with HBO that guarantees him a flat payday of $10 million for any feature film he stars in for the network. So far, three films have been produced through this deal, "You Don't Know Jack," "Paterno" and "Phil Spector."
The Irishman Salary
Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci each earned a reported $20 million to appear in Martin Scorsese's 2019 Netflix drama The Irishman. Their salaries alone took up a little under half of the film's total budget. It's a career-high salary (before backend royalties) for all three actors.
Financial Problems
According to his 2024 memoir, "Sonny Boy," in 2011 he started to see red flags that his accountant was not to be trusted. First off, the accountant was paying "a ridiculous amount of money to rent some big fancy house in Beverly Hills." Then, when he took his entire family to Europe for a vacation, he flew everyone out "on a gorgeous Gulfstream 550" and "rented out a whole floor of the Dorchester hotel in London." At some point thereafter, Al learned he had no more money left. "I was broke. I had $50 million, and then I had nothing. I had property, but I didn't have any money"
"In this business, when you make $10 million dollars for a film, it's not $10 million. Because after the lawyers, and the agents, and the publicist, and the government, it's not $10 million, it's $4.5 million in your pocket. But you're living above that because you're high on the hog. And that's how you lose it. It's very strange, the way it happens. The more money you make, the less you have."
"The kind of money I was spending and where it was going was just a crazy montage of loss. The landscaper was getting $400,000 a year and, I don't exaggerate these things. It just went on and on. Mind you, that was for landscaping at a house I didn't even live in."
"I wasn't a young buck, and I was not going to be making the kind of money from acting in films that I had made before. The big paydays that I was used to just weren't coming around anymore. The pendulum had swung, and I found it harder to find parts for myself."
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
Personal Life
Al Pacino has never been married. He has several children. His oldest child, a daughter, came from a relationship with acting coach Jan Tarrant. He then had twins, a boy, and a girl, with actress Beverly D'Angelo. Al and Beverly dated from 1996 to 2003. He was in a ten-year relationship with actress Lucila Polak from 2008 to 2018.
In May 2023, it was revealed that Al was expecting a child with girlfriend Noor Alfallah. On the day of the announcement, Noor was 29, and Al was 83. The news came just a few weeks after it was revealed that 79-year-old Robert De Niro had welcomed his seventh child. Al and Noor welcomed their child on June 15, 2023. They ultimately did not remain together, and in November 2023, Al agreed to pay Noor $30,000 per month in child support plus $15,000 per year, which will be deposited in an education fund, on top of all medical expenses and insurance. When the baby was an infant, Al was paying $13,000 per month for a night nurse.
Real Estate
Al Pacino has homes in Beverly Hills, California, and New York City. His Beverly Hills residence for the last 10+ years has been a mansion that he actually rents. When he first moved in, the home was owned by the late novelist Jackie Collins. In 2016, Jackie's estate sold the home and the house next door for a total of $30 million, though Pacino has been able to remain a renter. In 1979, Al paid $375,000 for a large property in Palisades, New York. In 2013, he bought the three-acre property next door for $3.3 million. He has also, at times, owned properties in New York City but has chosen to rent there in recent years. Apparently, Al is more of the renting type!
