What is Lawrence Bender's Net Worth and Salary?
Lawrence Bender is an American film producer who has a net worth of $40 million. Lawrence Bender earned his fortune by producing many of Quentin Tarantino's films. His films have been honored with dozens Academy Award nominations, including a few for Best Picture. As of this writing, Bender-produced films have won eight Academy Awards.
In 1990 Lawrence came across Quentin Tarantino's script for "Reservoir Dogs." He proceeded to produce the film which went on to become a cult hit and launched Tarantino's career.
Here's a quick list of notable Bender-produced films:
- Pulp Fiction (1994)
- Good Will Hunting (1997)
- Jackie Brown (1997)
- The Mexican (2001)
- Kill Bill: Volume 1 and 2 (2003, 2004)
- An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
- Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Bender's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," which raised unprecedented awareness about climate change, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. His non-Tarantino films include, "Good Will Hunting," "Anna and the King," "The Mexican," "The Chumscrubber," and "The Harder They Fall."
Early Life and Education
Lawrence Bender was born on October 17, 1957 in New York City to a Jewish family. He was raised in New Jersey, where his mother was a kindergarten teacher and his father was a college history professor. Inspired by his grandfather, who had been a civil engineer, Bender decided to pursue the field in college. He graduated in 1979 with a degree in civil engineering from the University of Maine. While a student there, Bender developed a passion for dance, and after graduating earned a scholarship with the Louis Falco dance troupe. He subsequently danced with the Ralph Robinson ballet company. However, Bender's dance career was ultimately cut short due to a series of injuries.
Film Producing
Bender began producing films in 1989. That year, he co-produced the drama "Tale of Two Sisters" and produced the slasher film "Intruder," which he also helped come up with the story for. Bender had his breakthrough a few years later as the producer of the crime film "Reservoir Dogs," the feature-length directorial debut of Quentin Tarantino. He would go on to produce five more films for Tarantino over the next 17 years: "Pulp Fiction," "Jackie Brown," "Kill Bill: Volume 1" and "Kill Bill: Volume 2," and "Inglourious Basterds." For "Pulp Fiction" and "Inglourious Basterds," Bender received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture. He also received a Best Picture nomination for Gus Van Sant's 1997 film "Good Will Hunting." Among Bender's other producing credits in the 1990s were "Fresh," "White Man's Burden," "A Price Above Rubies," and "Anna and the King."
In 2001, Bender co-produced the crime films "The Mexican" and "Knockaround Guys." Three years later, he served as a producer on the romantic dance musical "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" and the Mexican-Salvadorian war film "Innocent Voices." His subsequent credits were the dramedy "The Chumscrubber" and the war film "The Great Raid," both from 2005. The year after that, Bender co-produced Davis Guggenheim's documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth," about former US Vice President Al Gore's campaign to raise awareness of global warming. The film went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Bender's producing credits since then have included the action thriller "Killshot," Neil Jordan's psychological thriller "Greta," the biographical drama "Capone," and the Western "The Harder They Fall." He also produced the documentary "Countdown to Zero," about the growing threat of nuclear warfare.
Television Producing
In the early 00s, Bender teamed up with Kevin Kelly Brown to create the production company Bender Brown Productions. The company went on to produce the 2002 ABC television film "Nancy Drew," based on the eponymous mystery series. Two years later, the company produced the short-lived CBS series "Dr. Vegas" and the two-part Sci-Fi Channel fantasy miniseries "Earthsea." Later series produced by Bender Brown Productions have included the Netflix crime drama series "Seven Seconds," the CW science-fiction series "Roswell, New Mexico," and the Starz miniseries "Flesh and Bone."
Other Activities
Passionate about social and political causes, Bender serves on the board of the Creative Coalition, a non-profit advocacy group made up of Americans in show business, and is a member of the Pacific Council. He also sits on the advisory board of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, and is a member of the Global Zero campaign to eradicate nuclear weapons worldwide. Among his other activities, Bender has contributed articles to the Huffington Post since 2005.
Personal Life and Real Estate
Lawrence Bender has never been married, but he has a daughter with ex-girlfriend Leasi Andrews.
In 1996, two years after the enormous success of "Pulp Fiction," Lawrence paid $3.4 million for a home in Los Angeles. Today this home is worth an estimated $15 million.
