What Is Jeffrey Wright's Net Worth and Salary?
Jeffrey Wright is an American actor and producer who has a net worth of $8 million. Jeffrey Wright won a Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Belize in "Angels in America: Perestroika" (1993), and he received a Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe for reprising the role in the 2003 HBO miniseries "Angels in America." Jeffrey has also performed on Broadway in "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches" (2003), "Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk" (1996), "Topdog / Underdog" (2002), and "A Free Man of Color" (2010), earning a Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Play for "Topdog / Underdog." He has played Felix Leiter in three "James Bond" films – 2006's "Casino Royale," 2008's "Quantum of Solace," and 2021's "No Time to Die" – and he is also known for the roles of Valentin Narcisse on "Boardwalk Empire" (2013–2014) and Bernard Lowe / Arnold Weber on "Westworld" (2016–present).
Wright has more than 70 acting credits to his name, including the films "Basquiat" (1996), "Ali" (2001), "Broken Flowers" (2005), "W." (2008), "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" (2013), "The French Dispatch" (2021), and "The Batman" (2022) and the TV movies "Boycott" (2001), "Lackawanna Blues" (2005), and "Confirmation" (2016). Jeffrey also produced the 2007 film "Blackout" and the 2018 documentary short "We Are Not Done Yet."
"Westworld" Salary
Ahead of the second season, Jeffrey Wright's salary was boosted to $250,000 per episode of "Westworld."
(Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
Early Life
Jeffrey Wright was born on December 7, 1965, in Washington, D.C. His mother, Barbara, is a customs lawyer, and his father, James Jr., died when Jeffrey was just 1 year old. Wright attended St. Albans School for Boys, and after graduation, he earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Amherst College in Massachusetts. Though he had originally planned to go to law school, Jeffrey decided to study acting instead. In 1988, he spent two months in the New York University Tisch School of the Arts MFA acting program, then left to appear in Lorraine Hansberry's "Les Blancs" at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., which later moved to Boston's Huntington Theatre Company.
Career
After performing in off-Broadway productions in Washington, D.C. and New York City, Wright made his film debut in 1990's "Presumed Innocent" alongside Harrison Ford. He then appeared in the 1991 miniseries "Separate But Equal" and the films "Jumpin' at the Boneyard" (1991), "Faithful" (1996), "Critical Care" (1997), "Too Tired to Die" (1998), "Celebrity" (1998), and "Ride with the Devil" (1999), and he portrayed artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1996's "Basquiat." Jeffrey guest-starred on "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" (1993), "New York Undercover" (1994), and "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1997), and he portrayed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 2001 Peabody Award-winning TV movie "Boycott." He appeared in the films "Hamlet" (2000), "Shaft" (2000), "Ali" (2001), "The Manchurian Candidate" (2004), "Syriana" (2005), and "Lady in the Water" (2006), and in 2004, he won a Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe for his performance in HBO's adaptation of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America." Wright returned to HBO for 2005's "Lackawanna Blues," and in 2006, he played Felix Leiter in "Casino Royale," the 21st film in the "James Bond" franchise. He has reprised the role in two more films, 2008's "Quantum of Solace" and 2021's "No Time to Die."
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In 2008, Jeffrey portrayed Colin Powell in "W." and Muddy Waters in "Cadillac Records," then he appeared in "The Ides of March" (2011), "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" (2011), "Broken City" (2013), "The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete" (2013), and "Only Lovers Left Alive" (2014) and played Beetee in "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" (2013), "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1" (2014), and "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2" (2015). In 2014, Wright joined the cast of HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," and in 2016, he portrayed attorney Charles Ogletree in the TV movie "Confirmation" and began playing Bernard Lowe / Arnold Weber on HBO's "Westworld," which has earned him three Primetime Emmy nominations. Jeffrey appeared in the 2018 films "Monster," "The Public," "Game Night," "Age Out," "O.G.," and "Hold the Dark," and in 2019, he guest-starred on "Sesame Street" and voiced McWinkle on Netflix's "Green Eggs and Ham." In 2021, he played Roebuck Wright in the Wes Anderson-directed film "The French Dispatch" and voiced "The Watcher" on the Disney+ series "What If…?," which is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In 2022, he portrayed Lt. James Gordon in "The Batman" alongside Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, and Paul Dano.
Personal Life
Jeffrey married actress Carmen Ejogo on October 18, 2001, and they welcomed son Elijah and daughter Juno before divorcing in 2014. Wright co-founded Taia, LLC and the Taia Peace Foundation, and he is the chairman of both organizations. He is also the Vice Chairman of the gold-exploration company Taia Lion Resources, Inc. Jeffrey received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Amherst College, his alma mater, in 2004.
Awards and Nominations
In 2004, Wright won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie and a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for "Angels in America." He has also received three Emmy nominations for "Westworld," Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2017 and 2020 and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2018. Jeffery has earned eight Black Reel Award nominations, winning Television: Best Supporting Actor for "Angels in America" in 2004, Best Supporting Actor – Television for "Lackawanna Blues" in 2006, and Best Supporting Actor for "Cadillac Records" in 2008. For "Angels in America," he also received a Gold Derby Award for TV Movie/Mini Supporting Actor and a nomination for TV Movie/Mini Supporting Actor of the Decade. In 2000, Wright won a Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Performance, Male for "Shaft," and he earned an AFI Award for Actor of the Year – Male – TV Movie or Mini-Series for "Boycott" in 2002. In 2005, he received a San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor for "Broken Flowers," and he was honored with a Career Achievement Award at the 2007 Chicago International Film Festival.
In 2014, Jeffrey won a NAMIC Vision Award for Best Performance – Drama for "Boardwalk Empire," and for "Westworld," he has earned an IGN Summer Movie Award for Best TV Actor (2016) and an International Online Cinema Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2017). In 2018, he was named Best Actor for "O.G." at the Tribeca Film Festival, and "We Are Not Done Yet" won a Jury Prize for Best Documentary Short at the GI Film Festival – San Diego. In 2019, Wright earned a Lost Weekend Award for "Best Supporting Actor for "The Public," and in 2021, he received a Variety Legend and Groundbreaker Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival. "The French Dispatch" has earned him Best Supporting Actor awards from the Chicago Indie Critics Awards, North Texas Film Critics Association, and Portland Critics Association Awards. In 2022, Jeffrey shared an ACCEC Award for Favorite Movie with his "The Batman" director Matt Reeves and co-stars Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz. For his stage work, Wright has received an Outer Critics Circle award for Outstanding Debut Performance for "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches" (1994) and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play for "Angels In America: Perestroika" (1994) as well as a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play for "Topdog / Underdog" (2002).
