What Is Dann Florek's Net Worth and Salary?
Dann Florek is an American actor, director, and producer who has a net worth of $10 million. For his work on Law & Order, Dann Florek earns a salary per episode of $100 thousand. Florek is probably best known for playing Donald Cragen on "Law & Order" (1990–2004), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999–2021), and "Law & Order: Organized Crime" (2022; 2024). He also had a recurring role as Dave Meyer on NBC's "L.A. Law" (1988–1993). Dann has more than 60 acting credits to his name, including the films "Angel Heart" (1987), "Moon over Parador" (1988), "Flight of the Intruder" (1991), "The Flintstones" (1994), "Getting Even with Dad" (1994), and "Hard Rain" (1998) and the television series "Roseanne" (1990; 1997), "Hardball" (1994), "Smart Guy" (1997–1999), and "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer" (1998), and the Emmy-winning miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" (1998). In addition to his acting work, Florek has directed the "Law & Order" episodes "The Pursuit of Happiness" (1993), "Big Bang" (1994), and "Bad Faith" (1995), and he co-produced the 2013 film "Santorini Blue" and executive produced the 2014 TV movie "Captain Blackout."
Early Life
Dann Florek was born Ezekial Dann Florek on May 1, 1950, in Flat Rock, Michigan. He is the son of Darlene Florek and chiropractor Leonard Florek. His brother, Dave, is an actor known for the television series "Grace Under Fire" and "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide" and films such as "Ghostbusters II" and "Priest." The brothers both appeared in the 1989 film "An Innocent Man." Dann majored in physics and mathematics at Eastern Michigan University, but he left school before earning his degree and moved to New York City in pursuit of a career as a stage actor.
(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
Career
Florek made his television debut in the 1982 TV movie "The Country Girl," and his first feature film was 1983's "Eddie Macon's Run." Next, he guest-starred on "Hill Street Blues" (1985), "The Equalizer" (1986), "Mr. President" (1987), "CBS Summer Playhouse" (1987), "Hunter" (1987), "American Playhouse" (1988), "Matlock" (1988), "21 Jump Street" (1988), "CBS Schoolbreak Special" (1988), and "Major Dad" (1989). In the '80s, Dann also appeared in the films "Sweet Liberty" (1986), "Angel Heart" (1987), "Five Corners" (1987), "Sunset" (1988), "Moon over Parador" (1988), and "An Innocent Man" (1989) and the TV movies "Braker" (1985) and "Alex: The Life of a Child" (1986). From 1988 to 1993, he had a recurring role as Dave Meyer on NBC's "L.A. Law," appearing in 22 episodes, and he was in "L.A. Law: The Movie" in 2002.
In 1990, Florek began starring as Captain Donald Cragen on NBC's "Law & Order." Due to mediocre ratings, after the 1992–1993 season ended, "Law & Order" creator Dick Wolf was told that NBC would cancel the show if they didn't add more women to the cast. Wolf reluctantly fired Florek and Richard Brooks and replaced then with S. Epatha Merkerson and Jill Hennessy. Dann directed three episodes between 1993 and 1995, and he reprised his role in a 1995 episode and 1998's "Exiled: A Law & Order Movie." He appeared in more than 60 episodes of "Law & Order," and from 1999 to 2021, he played Cragen in over 330 episodes of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." Florek was written out of the show in 2014, but he returned for the 2015 episode "Perverted Justice" and the 2021 episode "The Five Hundredth Episode." He also played Cragen in four episodes of "Law & Order: Organized Crime" in 2022 and 2024. "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" showrunner Warren Leight said of the decision to write Captain Donald Cragen out of the show, "In the real world, which we try to very hard to simulate, NYPD has mandatory retirement before your 63rd birthday. And we were trying to figure out how to deal with it. The reason NYPD does it is because you can't have 65-year-old guys running after guys. It is a hard and fast rule."
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In the '90s, Dann appeared in the films "Flight of the Intruder" (1991), "The Flintstones" (1994), "Getting Even with Dad" (1994), and "Hard Rain" (1998) and guest-starred on "Grand" (1990), "Roseanne" (1990; 1997), "Wings" (1994), "Ellen" (1995), "The John Larroquette Show" (1995), "Champs" (1996), "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" (1997), "NYPD Blue" (1997), "The Pretender" (1998), and "The Practice" (1998). He played Ernest 'Happy' Talbot on Fox's "Hardball" (1994) and Coach Gerber on The WB's "Smart Guy" (1997–1999), and in 1998, he portrayed NASA Deputy Administrator Robert Seamans in the miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" and Abraham Lincoln on the UPN's "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer." Florek also appeared in the TV movies "A Nightmare Come True" (1997), "Little Girl Fly Away" (1998), "The Pentagon Wars" (1998), "Captain Blackout" (2014), and "Disillusioned" (2018) and the films "Beautiful Joe" (2000), "Santorini Blue" (2013), and "Crater" (2023). In 2015, he guest-starred on the CBS series "Under the Dome," which was based on the 2009 Stephen King novel of the same name.
Personal Life & Real Estate
Dann married Karen Elaine Kosinski on July 25, 1983. Karen is an artist who attended Dann's alma mater, Eastern Michigan University. Florek enjoys playing golf, and some of the antique golf clubs he has collected could be seen in his "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" office.
In 1999, Dan and Karen paid $386,000 for a home in Venice, California. Today this home is worth around $2 million. In 2014, Dan and Karen sol their longtime NYC apartment for $2.625 million.
Nominations and Honors
In 2010, Florek earned a Prism Award nomination for Performance in a Drama Episode for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." Eastern Michigan University gave Dann an honorary Bachelor of Arts degree on December 13, 2008, followed by an honorary Doctorate of Arts the next day. Florek was the keynote speaker at the school's winter commencement ceremony that year.
