What is Joe Keery's Net Worth and Salary?
Joe Keery is an American actor and musician who has a net worth of $4 million. He is best known for his role as one of the main characters on the popular Netflix series, "Stranger Things."
Joe Keery is also a member of the band Post Animal. The band formed in 2014 and released their debut studio album, "When I Think of You in a Castle," in 2018. In 2020, they released "Forward Motion Godyssey." The band released the EP "Post Animal Perform The Most Curious Water Activities" in 2015.
Early Life
Keery was born on April 24, 1992, in Newburyport, Massachusetts. His father, David, worked as an architect, while his mother, Nina, worked as an English professor. He grew up with these four sisters – Caroline, Lizzy, Kate, and Emma – and is the second of the five.
Keery attended River Valley Charter School, a Montessori elementary and middle school his mother helped establish. He then attended Newburyport High School. When he was young, he participated in Theater in the Open, a performing arts camp at Maudslay State Park. However, his primary first experiences with acting began in high school, in large part encouraged by his older sister.
After graduating high school, he enrolled at The Theatre School at DePaul University. He completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and graduated in 2014.
Career
After completing his university studies at DePaul, Keery began auditioning for commercials, minor television roles, and films. During this time, he also worked waiting tables. He appeared in commercials for Domino's and KFC and had guest roles in Empire and Chicago Fire. The first feature-length film he landed was the indie film by Stephen Cone, "Henry Gamble's Birthday Party," in 2015.
His breakout role came the following year, in 2016, when he was cast as Steve Harrington on the Netflix series, "Stranger Things," a science fiction horror drama show set in the 1980s. The role of Steve was a recurring one of the show's massively successful first season, which premiered in July of 2016, and then became a main role from the second season onward, which premiered in October of 2017. The role was initially intended to only last throughout the first season by Keery and his character proved to be quite popular. He then reprised his role in the third season, which premiered in July of 2019. As part of the cast, Keery earned a Screen Actors Guild Award in the category of Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2017. The cast was again nominated in the same category in 2018.
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While on "Stranger Things," Keery continued taking other roles in films and television. In 2016, he had a role in "The Charnel House" and then a role in "Molly's Game" in 2017. In 2018, he had roles in the films "After Everything" and "Slice." In 2019, he played in "How to Be Alone," a short film, and also landed a recurring role on the television show "No Activity." In 2020, he played Kurt Kunkle in "Spree," followed by a role in "Death to 2020" in 2020. In 2021, he played the role of a game developer in the action comedy film, "Free Guy," which became a major box office hit.
Stranger Things Salary
In the first season, each child actor's salary was $10,000 per episode, which worked out to $80,000 for the season. For the second season, their salaries were raised to $30,000 per episode, which worked out to around $270,000 for the season. From the third season onward, each of the main child actors will earn $250,000 per episode, which works out to around $2 million per season.
Music Career
In addition to acting, Keery is also a musician, though he has made considerable effort to keep the two pursuits separate. He is one of the members of the Chicago-based garage and psych-rock band Post Animal, where he plays the guitar. In October 2015, the band released their debut full-length album. They followed it up with their second album, "When I Think Of You In A Castle," in April 2018. In addition to playing the guitar on the album, he also sang backup vocals. Keery decided to stop touring with the band in 2019 after fearing that the association with "Stranger Things" would eventually hurt the band.
The same year, in July, he self-released the single "Roddy" under the solo artist moniker Djo in an attempt to distance himself from instant notoriety. A month later, he released a second single, "Chateau (Feel Alright)." A month following that, in September, he released his debut album as Djo called "Twenty Twenty." The following year, in September 2020, he released a new single entitled "Keep Your Head Up," which he promoted on Reddit and in a conversation with Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips. He has also since released music under the name "Cool Cool Cool."
Personal Life
Keery has a devoted social media following and has developed a reputation for being down-to-earth and likable. He began dating actor Maika Monroe after the two met in 2017 at a party in Los Angeles. He is not a big drinker or smoker and has cited bread pudding as his biggest vice.
