What Is Graham Norton's Net Worth and Salary?
Graham Norton is an Irish comedian who has a net worth of $40 million. His chat show, "The Graham Norton Show," airs on Friday nights on BBC One. Graham Norton works on several radio shows and is a five-time BAFTA TV Award winner for Best Entertainment Performance. Norton also routinely hosts The British Academy Television Awards.
Early Life
Graham Norton was born Graham William Walker on April 4, 1963, in Dublin, Ireland. Norton studied at but did not graduate from University College, Cork. He would later receive an honorary doctorate from the school. He moved to London and worked as a waiter while attending the Central School of Speech and Drama. When he joined the actors' union Equity, Graham chose Norton as his stage name as there was already a prominent actor named Graham Walker.
TV Career
Norton made the press in 1992 when he portrayed a tea-towel-clad Mother Teresa in a comedy drag act at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. His first appearances in broadcasting were in the UK, where he had a spot as a regular comedian and panelist on the BBC Radio 4 show "Loose Ends" in the early '90s. Norton began to gain public attention when he filled in for a late-night TV talk show host and hosted a quiz show, "Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment." He also appeared in the Channel 4 series "Father Ted." He got his chat shows, "So Graham Norton" and "V Graham Norton," on Channel 4, and eventually moved to the United States in 2004 to continue his career. His program "The Graham Norton Effect" was launched on Comedy Central later that year, until the comedian moved over to the BBC to host several programs, including "Graham Norton's Bigger Picture" and "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" He also hosted the Saturday night reality TV series "Strictly Dance Fever" on BBC One. During this time, Norton also hosted various other shows for the BBC, including "When Will I Be Famous?," "The One and Only," and "Totally Saturday."
Norton's chat show, "The Graham Norton Show," began airing in February 2007 on BBC Two. The format is similar to his previous Channel 4 shows. In October 2009, the show moved to BBC One in a new one-hour format. It airs on Friday nights with re-runs a few days later. It is unique in that Norton will often interview 3-4 celebrities at once, with all participants sitting on a couch and usually sipping on something boozy of their choice. In May 2010, Graham stood in for Chris Evans' breakfast show on BBC Radio 2, and later that month, it was confirmed that he would be replacing Jon Ross's Saturday morning slot on the same station. In December 2011, a new panel show launched, "Would You Rather…" with Graham Norton" on BBC America. Recorded in New York, it is one of BBC America's earliest efforts at producing original programming and is also the first panel game the channel has shown, either of British or American origin. In February 2019, it was announced that Norton would be a judge on the UK version of "RuPaul's Drag Race" alongside Alan Carr on a rotating basis.
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Eurovision Host
In September 2007, Norton hosted the first annual Eurovision Dance Contest in London, England. The format was based on BBC's "Strictly Come Dancing" and the EBU's Eurovision Song Contest. Graham also hosted the 2008 Eurovision competition in Glasgow, Scotland. In December 2008, it was announced that Norton would take over for Terry Wogan as the presenter of the Eurovision Song Contest. The 54th Eurovision Song Contest was held in Olympic Stadium in Moscow in May 2009. Graham's debut jokes during the contest received positive reviews from the British press. He hosted the Eurovision's Greatest Hits concert at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London in 2015. In 2020, Norton reprised his role of host in the film "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga" starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams.
Other Ventures
Norton was involved in an ad campaign for the UK National Lottery as an animated unicorn, the stooge to a character based on Lady Luck. He also advertised McVitie's biscuits. In 2007, Graham featured in Girls Aloud and Sugababes Comic Relief video for the single "Walk This Way." In January 2009, Norton made his West End debut in "La Cage Aux Folles" at the Playhouse Theatre. In March 2013, he won the Guinness World Record for "Most Questions Asked on a TV Chat Show" on Comic Relief's Big Chat. In 2014, Norton publicly backed "Hacked Off" and its campaign toward UK press self-regulation by "safeguarding the press from political interference while also giving vital protection to the vulnerable."
Norton wrote an advice column in "The Daily Telegraph" newspaper from 2006 to 2018. In October 2010, his columns were made into a book entitled "Ask Graham." In October 2014, Norton released his memoir, "The Life and Loves of a He-Devil." In 2016, Graham published his first novel, "Holding," about a murder in a rural Irish community. Norton won the Popular Fiction Book of the Year Award for "Holding" in the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards in 2016. In October 2020, he announced via Twitter that he had been cast as the voice of Moonwind in the Pixar animated feature "Soul" starring Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey.
Personal Life
The openly gay entertainer split from his partner, Trevor Patterson, in 2013 after three years together. He split with his subsequent partner, Andrew Smith, in 2015. Norton has stated that his ex-boyfriends often resented the role they had to play in the public eye as his partner.
In 1989, when he was a young drama student, Norton was mugged and stabbed by a group of male attackers on the street in London. He lost half of his blood and almost did not survive the attack. He said an elderly couple found him and that they saved his life after they called an ambulance for him. Graham didn't think the attack was a homophobic hate crime as he was walking alone at the time. Norton was hospitalized for two and a half weeks before eventually recovering from the attack.
Norton resides in Wapping, London, and owns a holiday home in County Cork, Ireland. He also owns an apartment in New York City. He adopted his dogs, Bailey and Madge, from the UK Charity Dogs Trust. In January 2012, Norton's London home was broken into. His Lexus was stolen, and he pleaded for the return of his car during his BBC Radio 2 show the next day.
