What Is Al Jean's Net Worth?
Al Jean is an American screenwriter and producer who has a net worth of $200 million. When he was at Harvard, Al Jean formed a writing partnership with Mike Reiss. The two wrote for "The Harvard Lampoon." After they graduated, they worked for "National Lampoon." They went on to write for television series such as "Not Necessarily the News" (1983–1985), "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" (1984–1988), "It's Garry Shandling's Show." (1988–1990), and "ALF" (1988–1989).
In 1989, Jean and Reiss became part of the original writing staff for the animated Fox series "The Simpsons," and after serving as showrunners during the show's third and fourth seasons, they left to create the animated series "The Critic" (1994–1995). Jean returned to "The Simpsons" full-time in 1998 and became showrunner again in 2001. He has won nine Primetime Emmys and two Peabody Awards for his work on "The Simpsons." Jean was also a writer and producer on 2007's "The Simpsons Movie," which grossed $536.4 million at the box office and earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated Feature.
Early Life
Al Jean was born Alfred Ernest Jean III on January 9, 1961, in Detroit, Michigan. He grew up in Farmington Hills, where he attended Harrison High School and worked at his dad's hardware store. Al enrolled at Harvard University at the age of 16 and earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1981. While at Harvard, he wrote for the humor publication "The Harvard Lampoon," collaborating with fellow freshman Mike Reiss, and eventually served as the "Lampoon's" vice-president. Jeff Martin, who wrote for the publication at the same time, told "The Harvard Crimson" in 2006, "They definitely loomed large around the magazine. They were very funny guys and unusually polished comedy writers for that age. We were never surprised that they went on to success."
Career
After graduating from Harvard, Jean and Reiss were hired by "National Lampoon." In the '80s, Al and Mike worked as writers on the television series "Nine to Five" (1983), "Not Necessarily the News" (1983–1985), "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1984–1988), "Head of the Class" (1986), "Sledge Hammer!" (1986–1987), "ALF" (1988–1989), and "It's Garry Shandling's Show." (1988–1990). They also produced "It's Garry Shandling's Show." In 1989, the duo was hired to write for "The Simpsons," and they worked on more than a dozen episodes during season one. Jean and Reiss served as showrunners during seasons three and four. In a 2003 interview with "UnderGroundOnline," Al said of his experience as a first-time showrunner, "The only thoughts running through my head every minute of the day was, 'Don't blow it and screw up this thing everyone loves.' Maybe because the show was established we were able to do deeper things. I have heard people say that seasons 3 – 5 were great, but I think that it couldn't have been more popular than it was in season 1. So it's a show that from day one was always highly regarded." Fellow "Simpsons" writer Bill Oakley described the show's third season as "the best thing that ever appeared on television."
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After season four ended in 1993, Jean and Reiss left the show to create the animated series "The Critic," in which the title character was voiced by Jon Lovitz. The show premiered on ABC in January 1994, and it moved to Fox for its second (and final) season. "The Simpsons" episode "A Star Is Burns" served as a crossover between the two shows. Though "The Critic" only aired 23 episodes before its cancellation, the DVD release and reruns on Comedy Central led to the series developing a cult following. In 1994, The Walt Disney Company signed Al and Mike to a three-year deal to produce shows for ABC. They created the fantasy sitcom "Teen Angel," which aired from September 1997 to February 1998, and around this time they were allowed to occasionally write and produce "Simpsons" episodes. Jean returned to the show full-time in 1998, and he became showrunner again in 2001 for the thirteenth season. He was a writer and producer on 2007's "The Simpsons Movie," and he has produced and co-written "Simpsons" short such as the Academy Award-nominated "The Longest Daycare" (2012) and the Emmy-nominated "When Billie Met Lisa" (2022).
Personal Life
Al married TV writer Stephanie Gillis in 2002, and they have welcomed two daughters. Gillis wrote 11 episodes of "The Simpsons" between 2005 and 2018.
Awards and Nominations
Jean has earned more than 30 Primetime Emmy nominations, winning Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) for "The Simpsons" in 1990, 1991, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, and 2019. He has earned five Annie Award nominations, winning Best Individual Achievement: Producing in a TV Production for "The Simpsons" in 1997.
His other nominations were for Best Individual Achievement for Creative Supervision in the Field of Animation for "The Critic" (1995), Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production for "The Simpsons" (2001), Best Writing in an Animated Feature Production for "The Simpsons Movie" (2008), and Outstanding Achievement in Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production for "The Simpsons" (2016). At the Writers Guild of America Awards, Jean and Mike Reiss were honored with the Animation Writers Caucus Animation Award in 2006, and in 2009, "The Simpsons" received a nomination for Comedy Series.
In 2008, "The Simpsons Movie" earned Jean a PGA Award nomination for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures and an Online Film & Television Association Award nomination for Best Animated Picture. Al also received three CableACE Award nominations: Writing a Comedy or Music Program for "Not Necessarily the News" (1984) and Writing a Comedy Series for "Not Necessarily the News" (1985) and "It's Garry Shandling's Show." (1991).
Real Estate
In 2006, Al Jean paid $4.5 million for a home in LA's Brentwood neighborhood. He listed this home for sale in November 2024 for $10 million.
