Michael Richards Net Worth: Career & Earnings

Michael Richards, an American writer, actor, TV producer, and comedian, has a Net Worth of $30 million.

He is best known for his work on one of the most popular television sitcoms, Seinfeld.

Starting as a stand-up comedian, he first tasted his stardom when he featured on Billy Crystal’s first cable TV special.

He has also appeared in several films throughout his career.

He played Cosmo Kramer on the TV series Seinfeld from 1989 to 1998, from which he received three Primetime Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

Michael Richards, originally Michael Anthony Richards, was born on 24th July 1949 in Culver City, California, United States.

He was born to William Richards, an electrical engineer of English and Scottish descent, and Phyllis, a medical record librarian of Italian descent.

Unfortunately, his father, William, died in a car crash when Michael was just two years old.

Michael was raised in a Catholic household.

He graduated from Thousand Oaks High School.

Michael Richards: Quick Facts

Michael Richards: Net Worth and Income

An American actor, comedian, and producer, Michael Richards has an astonishing net worth of $30 million.

Earnings from films and TV Shows have contributed to this net worth of Michael Richards.

Most notably, Michael earned a fortune from the sitcom series Seinfeld.

For the initial days of the sitcom Michael along with other supporting actors, Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus worked on a minimal salary.

However, around the 5th season in 1993, they successfully negotiated their pay to $150,000 per episode.

That worked out to be roughly $3.8 million a season.

As the popularity of the show hit the top, the supporting actors again tried negotiating their pay and hoped to get around $1 million an episode.

However, the network contradicted their negotiation with $200,000 then $400,000.

Around the finals seasons, they received $600,000 per episode, which worked out to about $15 million.

That was back in the 90s, and if we were to adjust inflation, that is the same as earning $24 million.

With that being said, each of the supporting actors on the sitcom series Seinfeld earned approximately $45 million in base salary.

As opposed to popular belief, the supporting cast members do not make substantial money from Seinfeld’s syndication deals which have totaled about $4 billion.

Just to give you an idea, to make money from syndication sales, one needs to have ownership percentage points.

They do not receive any backend bonuses, but what they get royalties from when the show airs and the payments are in mere hundred thousand a year, not in millions.

As for the creator of the show Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, the syndication works out pretty well as they both earn at least $50million per year from syndication points.

Net Worth of Michael Richards in Different Currencies

Let’s have a look at the net worth of Michael Richards in different currencies.

Michael Richards: Houses

Michael Richards has a pretty impressive real estate portfolio.

The net worth of Michael Richards has allowed him to invest in real estate for quite a time now.

Back in 1992, Michael purchased a home in Studio City, California, for $525,000.

However, soon after Seinfeld ended in 1998, he sold the property for $810,000, which bagged about $300k of profit.

Similarly, he also purchased a property in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1996 for $1.75 million.

The property featured 6,035 square feet of living space over three bedrooms and five bathrooms.

Reportedly, he fell in love with the property when he was biking around the neighborhood.

Michael took a tour of the place and made an offer which was accepted on the spot.

Fortunately, it was on sale, and he listed his name and number on a piece of paper.

The property is worth about $8-10 million today.

Interestingly, Michael was a huge fan of Red Skelton, a comedian. He became friends with Red ultimately.

After his death, Michael purchased his entire collection of ultra-rare books, which are kept in his own library now.

Michael Richards: Lifestyle and Vacations

Lifestyle

Michael Richards has been in the industry for quite a long time.

However, since the 2006 unfortunate incident at Hollywood nightclub, he has not shown his face around Hollywood much.

On 17th November 2006, during a standup performance at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, California, Los Angeles, Richard made some racist joke in response to reported interruptions from a group of colored audience members.

Even though he made a public apology on the David Letterman show, but it was not well received.

The very incident was imitated on numerous shows.

Richard explained on an episode of Seinfeld’s web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee that the incident still haunted him and also stated that it was the very reason that he took retirement from stand-up comedy.

As for Michael’s personal life, he was married to former casting director Cathleen Lyons for 18 years.

The couple also had a daughter Sophia, born in 1975.

Nevertheless, they divorced in 1992. After the divorce, he began seeing actress Beth Skipp around 2002.

After dating for some time, Richards got engaged in 2007.

He currently resides in Glendale, California, with his wife and son.

Vacations

Michael never had an idea about how big of a star he was until he decided to go on a vacation.

When he visited Bali, Indonesia, for the DVD documentary Kramer Vs. Kramer, he saw an ancient Buddhist tribe.

And wouldn’t you know it the people in the tribe recognized him?

As it turned out, they had a TV and watched the sitcom series, Seinfeld, when it aired.

Apart from Bali, Michael has been to numerous places for his vacation.

When he took a break from acting, he visited Australia and several other countries.

Michael Richards: Seinfeld, Movies & TV Shows, and Endorsements

Seinfeld

Michael Richards was on a supporting role on the NBC television series Seinfeld which premiered in 1989.

He appeared as Cosmo Kramer and instantly became popular. The series was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld.

It ultimately went on to become one of the most popular sitcoms in television history despite its slow and sluggish start.

After nine years on the run, the show ended in 1998 at No.1 in the ratings by Nielsen.

Interestingly, in the series, Michael was referred to as Kramer, his last name, and it was not until the sixth season episode The Switch his first name Cosmo was revealed.

The series not only made him famous and rich but also garnered several accolades. He won the most Emmys than any other cast on the series.

He bagged three Emmys for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1993, 1994, and 1997.

Movies & TV Shows

Apart from Seinfeld, Michael has appeared in a number of movies and TV shows.

Michael appeared as himself in the HBO series The Larry Sanders Show in the sixth episode of season 1, The ‘Flirt’ Episode.

Similarly, he made a cameo appearance in the thriller comedy, So I Married an Axe Murderer, credited as an insensitive man.

Moreover, Michael appeared as a radio station employee Dough Beech in Airheads and, along with Jeff Daniels, appeared as an actor pretending to be an attorney at law in 1997 Trial and Error.

Likewise, he guest appeared on Night Court, Cheers, and Miami Vice.

He also voiced Bud Bitchwater, an animated character in the film Bee in 2007, which was produced by Jerry Seinfeld and also starred on it.

Furthermore, Michael, along with other major characters of the sitcom Seinfeld appeared in the 7th season of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2009.

Besides that, Michael also made an appearance in the comedy web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee in 2012.

The web series is created and hosted by Seinfeld creator Jerry Seinfeld himself.

Michael also acted in the sitcom Kirstie as Frank alongside Rhea Perlman and Kirstie Alley, which premiered on TV Land on 4th December 2013. The series got canceled just after one season.

Michael Richards Show

After the end of his most lucrative project Seinfeld in 2000, Michael started working on a new NBC series.

Michael co-wrote, and co-executively produced The Michael Richards Show.

The show was conceived as a mystery/comedy starring Michael himself as a private investigator.

However, after the first pilot was shot, it failed with a test audience, and the network ordered it to be retooled into a more office-based and conventional sitcom before its actual premiere.

After the first pilot failed with test audiences, NBC ordered that the show be retooled into a more conventional, office-based sitcom before its premiere.

Nonetheless, it was canceled due to poor ratings and negative reviews.

Endorsements

Michael has endorsed a few brands throughout his career.

Michael was the one and only choice made by Saatchi and Saatchi for the campaign for Vodafone Australia.

However, despite a lot of convincing, the American actor could not go down to Australia for the shoot.

This created a bit of a puzzle for Vodafone, as the ads were supposed to be about Richards’ misadventures in Australia.

The easy fix for the problem was to create an Australian environment in Los Angeles.

The advertising team had to face the challenges such as putting the steering wheel on the right side, finding supermarkets like the ones in Aussieland, and even finding the park that looked like Australian parks.

However, the challenges they did everything they could.

They put on an investment of $40 million on Richards’s advertising campaign which increased mobile sales in Australia by 1.3 million customers over three years.

Read About: Jerry Seinfeld’s Net Worth, Cars, Houses and Lifestyle

Michael Richards: Career

After he got his big break in Billy Crystal’s first cable TV special in 1979, he booked a number of shows for himself.

He also started spearing on ABC’s Friday’s television show in 1980, where one of the Seinfeld creators, Larry David, was one of the cast members and writers of the show.

Michael appeared in a supporting role in Weird Al Yankovic’s comedy film UHF in 1989 as janitor Stanley Spadowski.

On the other hand, Michael appeared in Miami Vice, Cheers, and also made a number of guest appearances with Jay Leno as an accident-prone fitness expert.

He was also offered the role of Adrian Monk on ABC’s first conceived series Monk, but Michael turned it down.

Unknown Facts About Michael Richards

• Michael Richards is a certified diver which came in handy while filming an underwater scene in Seinfeld on the episode The Friar’s Club. It took just two takes for the particular scene.
• Michael Richards “Kramer” turned out to be one of the most iconic casts of Seinfeld. However, on the pilot episode of the series Jerry Seinfeld calls him Kessler in spite of Kramer.
• Reportedly, Michael wore one of two pairs of shoes in every episode of Seinfeld.

FAQs

Is Michael Richards related to Keith Richards?

No! Besides their same last name, there is no relation between Keith and Michael Richards.

Is Michael Richard’s career over?

Some would say yes. Following his racist remark in one of his standups, he got involved in a controversy.

He tried to regain his alienated fans by appearing in several late-night shows but still, his career is a far cry from recovery.

Read About: Lay Leno’s Net Worth, Lifestyle, Houses, and Career

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