What is Jennifer Tilly's Net Worth and Salary?
Jennifer Tilly is an American actress and poker player who has a net worth of $40 million. Jennifer Tilly got her big break in the 1994 Woody Allen film "Bullets Over Broadway," which earned her an Academy Award nomination. She has gone on to enjoy a highly successful career in film and television, with more than 120 acting credits to her name.
Jennifer is known for appearing in movies like "Bound" (1996), "House Arrest" (1996), "Liar Liar" (1997), and "The Haunted Mansion" (2003). Tilly is perhaps best known for playing Tiffany Valentine in the "Child's Play" horror franchise, and she for voicing Bonnie Swanson on the Fox animated series "Family Guy" since 1999. She provided the voice of Celia Mae in Disney's "Monsters, Inc." (2001) and reprised her role in the Disney+ series "Monsters at Work." Jennifer has also lent her voice to the films "Stuart Little" (1999) and "Home on the Range" (2004) and the television series "Hey Arnold!" (2000), "The Simpsons" (2012), and "SuperMansion" (2018).
Outside of acting, Jennifer is known for being a professional poker player. In 2004, Tilly started participating in competitive poker tournaments at the insistence of her boyfriend, professional player Phil "Unabomber" Laak. The following year, she won the World Series' Ladies World Poker Championship and the World Poker Ladies Night III.
The Simpsons Royalties
Jennifer was married to "The Simpsons" co-creator/producer Sam Simon from 1984 to 1991. They were officially divorced in 1993. Even though Sam Simon only worked on the first four seasons of the show, his backend equity points as a co-creator/producer would eventually generate enormous royalties. Sam died in 2015. In the last decade of his life he was earning $20-30 million per year in Simpsons royalties. During his lifetime, Sam donated the vast majority of those royalties, hundreds of millions of dollars, to animal charities.
As part of their 1993 divorce agreement, Jennifer was awarded a 30% cut of the net proceeds generated by Sam's share of "The Simpsons" royalties. As stated a moment ago, Sam was earning $20-30 million per year. Therefore, it is presumable that Jennifer earns approximately $6- 10 million per year.
This arrangement had long been rumored but was officially confirmed following his death when Tilly and Simon's estate agreed to a new payment method for her share of the royalties. When Sam was alive, Jennifer received her royalties from Sam's company, Coconino Inc. The new arrangement allowed for Jennifer to receive her cut directly from Fox going forward. From the legal filings:
"Because of Sam's death, it was no longer practical for Jennifer, Sam and Coconino to follow the procedure that Jennifer had been following with Sam and Coconino from 1993 until Sam's death. [The new agreement is] "intended to place Jennifer in substantially the same economic position that she would be in if she had received her percentage of the Fox Payments directly from Fox and had reported income on her income tax returns and paid tax thereon."
(Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
Early Life
Jennifer Tilly was born Jennifer Ellen Chan on September 16, 1958, in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Patricia, was a schoolteacher and former actress, and her father, Harry, worked as a used car salesman. Jennifer has three siblings, Steve, Meg, and Rebecca; Meg also went into acting and won a Golden Globe for the 1985 film "Agnes of God." When Tilly was 5 years old, her parents divorced, and Patricia married John Ward, who Meg described as a "sadistic pedophile." Rebecca corroborated Meg's claims, but Jennifer has not publicly commented. Tilly grew up in Texada Island, British Columbia, and when she was 16, her mother divorced Ward and moved the family to Victoria. After graduating from Belmont High School, Jennifer earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from Missouri's Stephens College.
Career
Tilly made her television debut in 1983 with guest-starring roles on "Oh Madeline" and "Boone," and in 1984, she landed a recurring role on "Hill Street Blues" and appeared in the film "No Small Affair." Throughout the 1980s, Jennifer guest-starred on "Remington Steele" (1985), "Cheers" (1986), "It's Garry Shandling's Show" (1987), and "Moonlighting" (1989) and appeared in 11 films, including "Johnny Be Good" (1988), "Let It Ride" (1989), and "The Fabulous Baker Boys" (1989). She then appeared in "Made in America" (1993) and "The Getaway" and earned an Oscar nomination for her performance as Olive Neal in 1994's "Bullets over Broadway." Around this time, Tilly also guest-starred on "Dream On" (1992), starred on the Fox series "Key West" (1993), and appeared in the television films "At Home with the Webbers" (1993) and "Heads" (1994). Jennifer earned critical acclaim for 1996's "Bound," which won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film, and co-starred with Jim Carrey in 1997's "Liar Liar," which grossed $302.7 million at the box office.
(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
In 1998, Tilly began playing Tiffany Valentine in the "Child's Play" franchise, starting with "Bride of Chucky." She has also appeared in 2004's "Seed of Chucky," 2013's "Curse of Chucky," and 2017's "Cult of Chucky." In 2001, she performed on Broadway as Crystal Allen in "The Women" and voiced Celie Mae in "Monsters, Inc.," which brought in $577.4 million at the box office. From 2005 to 2006, Jennifer starred on the CBS sitcom "Out of Practice," and she then appeared in "Bart Got a Room" (2008), "Inconceivable" (2008), and the Chinese film "Empire of Silver" (2009). She guest-starred on "Modern Family" in 2011 and 2014 and appeared as a guest judge on "RuPaul's Drag Race" in 2012. Tilly appeared on Broadway again in 2012, earning an Audience Choice Award nomination for "Don't Dress for Dinner," and in 2013, she starred in the play "Grasses of a Thousand Colors" at the Joseph Papp Theater. In recent years, Jennifer has appeared in the films "7 Days to Vegas" (2019) and "Poker Queens" (2020), and she voiced Little Red Riding Hood in an episode of "JJ Villard's Fairy Tales" (2020). She is set to appear in the films "Sallywood," "High Holiday," and "Boom" in 2021.
Poker
Tilly became interested in gambling after her father gave her the "World Series of Poker" video game, and when she moved to Los Angeles, a boyfriend taught her how to play real poker. In June 2005, she competed in a Ladies' No-Limit Texas hold 'em event, winning $158,625 and a World Series of Poker bracelet. A few months later, Jennifer won the World Poker Tour Ladies Invitational Tournament. Tilly came in third place on Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown" in 2006, and she has also competed on GSN's "Poker Royale" series. She was featured in the "World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions 2007 Edition" video game, and the following year, she announced that she was retiring from poker as a career in her monthly "Bluff Magazine" column. Her retirement only lasted until early 2010, and in 2014, Jennifer received a Spirit of Poker Living Legend Award nomination from PokerListing. By 2017, Tilly had won more than $992,000 in live poker tournaments.
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Personal Life
Jennifer married Sam Simon, who co-created "The Simpsons," in 1984, and they divorced in 1991. The two remained friends after their split, and Sam passed away from colorectal cancer in 2015. After Simon's death, Tilly stated, "Sam was my best friend for thirty years. He was a brilliant man and a great humanitarian. I miss him terribly."
Jennifer has been in a relationship with Phil Laak, a professional poker player and commentator, since 2004, when they met at the 2004 World Poker Tour Invitational (which Laak won).
Awards and Nominations
In 1993, Tilly won a Theatre World Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her performance in "One Shoe Off," and her stage work also earned her a Dramalogue Award for "Vanities." In 1995, she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for "Bullets Over Broadway," which also earned her nominations from the American Comedy Awards and 20/20 Awards. Jennifer won an Eyegore Award in 1998 and a GLAAD Media Award in 2006. She was named Best Actress at the 2000 Fantafestival for "Bride of Chucky" and won an Achievement in Acting award for "Intervention" at the 2007 San Diego Film Festival.
In 1997, Tilly received an International Fantasy Film Award for "Bound" at the Fantasporto Film Festival, and TheWIFTS Foundation International Visionary Awards honored her with The Barbara Tipple Award for "Intervention" and "Inconceivable" in 2010. Jennifer has also received nominations from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films ("Bound" and "Bride of Chucky"), Behind the Voice Actors Awards ("Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja"), Blockbuster Entertainment Awards ("Liar Liar"), CableACE Awards ("It's Garry Shandling's Show"), and Fangoria Chainsaw Awards ("Bride of Chucky" and "Seed of Chucky"), and she earned MTV Movie Award nominations for Best Kiss for "Bound" (shared with Gina Gershon) and Best Frightened Performance for "Seed of Chucky."
