What Is Kevin James' Net Worth and Salary?
Kevin James is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer who has a net worth of $100 million. Kevin James pulled off that magical career ascension about which most stand-up comedians dream. He went from working the stand-up circuit in the late '80s to appearing on multiple talk shows, such as "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "The Late Show with David Letterman," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," and "Dennis Miller Live," to guest-starring on his friend, Ray Romano's show, "Everybody Loves Raymond," to starring in his own sitcom, "The King of Queens." "The King of Queens" ran for nine successful seasons, and in between shooting the series, Kevin appeared in his own comedy special and launched a film career. His first film, 2005's "Hitch," opposite Will Smith, was a massive hit. Since then, he has appeared in such projects as, "Grilled," "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," "Grown Ups," "The Dilemma," and "The Zookeeper."
Salary
For the middle seasons of the show's run, Kevin's salary per episode on "The King of Queens" was $300,000. For the final seasons, he earned $400,000 per episode. As an executive producer and owner of a percentage of the show's backend equity, he has earned north of $50 million on syndication deals to date.
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Early Life
Kevin George Knipfing was born on April 26, 1965, in Mineola, New York. He is best known by his professional name, Kevin James. Kevin grew up in Stony Brook, New York, with his brother, fellow comedian and actor Gary Valentine, and their sister Leslie. His mother, Janet, worked as an office worker, and his father, Joseph Valentine Knipfing Jr., was an insurance agency owner. James graduated from Ward Melville High School, where he was a member of the wrestling team. He continued his education at the State University of New York at Cortland. While at college, a back injury he received when he played on the varsity football team ended his sporting career.
Career Beginnings
James made his stand-up comedy debut in 1989 at the East Side Comedy Club on Long Island. He was managed by Richie Minervini. As his popularity grew, he landed appearances on talk shows like "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Late Show with David Letterman," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," "Dennis Miller Live," "The Late Late Show," "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," and "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee."
Acting Career
Utilizing his comedy timing and improvisational skills from stand-up comedy, Kevin landed his first television job in 1991 on "The New Candid Camera." He was an actor responsible for pulling practical jokes on unsuspecting people. Between 1994 and 1996, he worked as the announcer for the MTV sports game show "SandBlast." After moving to Los Angeles and befriending Ray Romano, James guest-starred on several episodes of Romano's CBS sitcom "Everybody Love Raymond." He landed the opportunity to develop his own sitcom, and the resulting show "The King of Queens" ran on CBS from September 1998 to May 2007. On it, Kevin played working-class parcel delivery man Doug Heffernan, who lives in Queens, New York. For his work on the show's eighth season, James was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2006.
Kevin made a brief cameo in the 2004 comedy film "50 First Dates", after which he made his starring film debut in the 2005 romantic comedy "Hitch." He then went on to star in films like "Grilled" (2006), "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" (2007), "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" (2008), and "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" (2009). In particular, this last film, "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," enjoyed tremendous box office success, grossing $39 million during its opening weekend in the U.S. and a total of $219 million from ticket and home video sales. It even spawned a sequel, "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2" (2015). James not only starred in both "Mall Cop" films, he was also the writer and producer for them.
Kevin also appeared in the ensemble comedy "Grown Ups" (2010), which was a box office success despite negative critical reviews, and the 2013 sequel "Grown Ups 2." James continued his comedy film work with "The Dilemma" (2011), co-starring Vince Vaughn, "Zookeeper" (2011), which he also wrote and produced, "Here Comes the Boom," which he produced, and "Pixels" (2015). He has also starred in films produced by the online streaming giant Netflix, such as "True Memoirs of an International Assassin" (2016) and "Sandy Wexler" (2017).
In addition to his on-screen acting, he has also provided voice work for animated films like "Monster House" (2006), "Barnyard" (2006), "Hotel Transylvania" (2012), "Hotel Transylvania 2" (2015), and "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" (2018). He returned to television work in September 2016 with his sitcom "Kevin Can Wait," but it only ran for two seasons until May 2018. James starred in the films "Becky" and "Hubie Halloween" in 2020 and played the role of Kevin Gibson in the television series "The Crew" in 2021. He also took on the role of Sean Payton in 2022's "Home Team." Kevin is set to star in the upcoming action-comedy movie "Guns Up."
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Other Work
While promoting his film "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" in 2007, James served as the grand marshal for the Pepsi 400 NASCAR Cup Series stock car race. He repeated this role in 2010 while promoting "Grown Ups," in 2012 at the fall Talladega race to promote "Here Comes the Boom," and in July 2013 at the Coke-Zero 400 to promote "Grown Ups 2."
In July 2009, the web series "Dusty Peacock" debuted and began streaming on Crackle. It was produced by James and starred his brother Gary Valentine.
In February 2020, James revived his YouTube channel by posting short videos "based on thin premises." As of August 2023, he has amassed 958k subscribers with more than 75 million total views.
Personal Life
James married actress Steffiana de la Cruz in California on June 19, 2004. The couple first met in 2001 on a blind date. Together, they have four children.
Real Estate
In 2012, Kevin and Steffiana paid $18.5 million for a lavish oceanfront home in Delray Beach, Florida. A year later, they paid $4.25 million for the empty lot next door to create an absolutely ridiculous compound. Situated steps from the beach, the primary mansion alone features eight bedrooms and ten and a half bathrooms and sits on 1.85 acres of land. The compound sports a massive courtyard, floor-to-ceiling windows, a stunning stone verandah, multiple fireplaces, a pool room, a backyard pool, and a huge garage. They listed the nearly 3-acre property for sale in 2016 for $29 million without finding a taker. Kevin finally found a buyer in 2016, offloading the property to an LLC for an unrecorded but generally confirmed $27 million.
Annual property taxes on the compound came to right around $500,000 when Kevin was the owner. Here is a video tour of Kevin James' former Florida mansion:
Kevin previously owned a couple of homes in Los Angeles, the most notable of which he sold in 2013 for $5.5 million.
In February 2020, Kevin and Steffiana paid $14 million for a new mansion in Delray Beach. The 18,906-square-foot home overlooks the Atlantic Ocean in the very coveted area of Delray Beach, just north of chic Boca Raton. The grounds of the estate are lushly landscaped. The property has a five-car garage attached to the main house. The home has an elevator, upgraded finishes, a recreational area, and a wine cellar. The patio features an outdoor kitchen with a built-in grill and a pool that is just a few steps away from the ocean. There is also a one-bedroom, one-bathroom guest house. He listed this property for sale in 2022 at nearly $20 million but had to settle for just $12.67 million in May 2023.
