Jamie Lee Curtis' Net Worth Is Even Better Than Oscars Gold
From from box office scream queen to streaming queen, here's how Jamie Lee Curtis earned her fortune.
Jamie Lee Curtis may be one of the most beloved and best-known actresses in Hollywood now, but that wasn’t always the case. Born to famous parents—fellow scream queen and movie icon Janet Leigh and acting legend Tony Curtis—she has been able to break away to make a name of her own. From her breakout role in 1978’s Halloween to her reprisal of that same role in 2022’s Halloween Ends, we need to know about Jamie Lee Curtis’ net worth!
Curtis has been a horror movie maven with the Halloween franchise, a comedy mainstay like in A Fish Called Wanda and Trading Places, and even an action star as in True Lies and an Oscar nod for Everything Everywhere All At Once. With a career this varied, we have to imagine she’s definitely made bank!
Here is everything you need to know about Jamie Lee Curtis’ net worth!
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How did Jamie Lee Curtis become famous?
As with most nepotism babies, Jamie Lee Curtis did start with a significant leg up in Hollywood. The daughter of Psycho and Manchurian Candidate actress Janet Leigh and Some Like It Hot and Sweet Smell of Success actor Tony Curtis, she was already familiar with the limelight. However, after her parents divorce when she was 4, Curtis has stated that her father was never around.
Curtis decided to follow in her famous parents’ footsteps when she was a teenager, landing her first roles in bit parts on TV in 1977. This included guest spots on Columbo, Quincy, M.E., and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries and culminated that year in a lead role on Operation Petticoat.
However, it was an indie horror movie that would make Curtis a breakout star. Though she earned her iconic role of Laurie Strode in 1978’s Halloween due to her mother’s horror movie credentials, Curtis’ performance in her first film role showed she was someone to watch. Halloween became the most successful indie movie of its time and launched Curtis’ career as a scream queen. She followed this performance with roles in three more horror movies in 1980—The Fog (another John Carpenter movie), Prom Night and Terror Train.
Curtis was in danger of being typecast. It was her appearance in the 1983 comedy smash hit Trading Places alongside Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy that helped the actress prove her crossover appeal. This was further cemented by her role in the 1988 comedy classic A Fish Called Wanda, ensuring that by the ‘90s, Curtis was a full-blown star.
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What is Jamie Lee Curtis' net worth in 2023?
Jamie Lee Curtis’ current net worth in 2023 is an impressive $60 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. This is a combined net worth with her husband, actor/writer/director/producer and comedy mockumentary icon, Christopher Guest. The two have been married since 1984.
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How much did Tony Curtis leave in his will?
Months before Tony Curtis passed away in September 2010, he changed his will. Surprisingly, Tony Curtis disinherited his five children, including Jamie Lee Curtis. In fact, he had this explicitly stated in the document but did not give a reason.
Curtis has kept it classy when reacting to the decision, stating, “I remember what the will said—it’s amazing what you remember—it said, ‘I acknowledge the existence of my daughter Jamie Curtis and intentionally and with full knowledge leave her nothing.’ Now, that sounds brutal. That’s what it had to say because it’s legalese. But if you are a child, that is a hurtful thing.”
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How much did Jamie Lee Curtis make for Halloween (1978)?
Despite being hired as the lead in 1978’s Halloween, Jamie Lee Curtis was not actually paid that much. She was reportedly paid $8,000 for the starring role. However, considering this was her first movie role and it was an indie movie, that is not entirely surprising.
Related: Why Halloween (1978) Is a Horror Masterpiece
Getty Images/Compass International
How much did Jamie Lee Curtis make for Halloween 2 (1981)?
After the box office success of the first Halloween movie in 1978, Jamie Lee Curtis was able to ask for a significant increase to her salary for the sequel, 1981’s Halloween 2. This resulted in Curtis being paid $100,000 to take on the role of Laurie Strode once again.
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Why did Jamie Lee Curtis not return for Halloween 4?
After the epic misfire of 1982's Michael Myers-less Halloween III: Season of the Witch, producers decided to return to the same slasher movie well for Halloween 4. By the time Halloween 4 was going into production, Jamie Lee Curtis had managed to enjoy crossover success with 1983's Trading Places and was finally shedding the scream queen status that had left her pigeonholed in the horror genre. That is likely the major reason Curtis did not want to return to the franchise that had made her a star, at least at that time.
Her character was subsequently written out as having died in a car accident, and her character’s daughter became the main focus of the fourth and fifth films in the franchise, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers. However, subsequent films like Halloween: H20 (1998) and Halloween (2018) ignore these movies (and the disastrous sixth film, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers) in order to continue the story of Laurie Strode with Jamie Lee Curtis in the lead.
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How much did Jamie Lee Curtis get paid for H20?
Jamie Lee Curtis was actually a driving force behind 1998's Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, which saw the actress and her character, Laurie Strode, returning to the franchise for the first time since 1981’s Halloween 2—exactly 20 years after the first movie debuted. In October 2022, at New York Comic Con, Curtis spoke about her involvement with the film, stating, “H20 was conceived really by me. I'm not titled as a producer on it. But it was my brainchild.”
As a result, Curtis was able to request a major salary increase, reportedly being paid $5 million for the movie. Not a bad deal!
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Dimension Films
Why did Jamie Lee Curtis do Halloween: Resurrection?
At New York Comic Con in October 2022, Jamie Lee Curtis opened up about what lead to her appearance—and her character’s subsequent death—in 2002’s poorly received Halloween: Resurrection.
Curtis had pushed to get Halloween H20: 20 Years Later made in 1998, with the hope that the film would be the last in the franchise, ending it with the definitive death of Michael Myers. However, once the film was already in production, things did not go according to plan, with higher-ups refusing to kill off Michael Myers at the movie’s climax.
Curtis explained, “Now, this is a train that’s going, I mean we‘re ready to go. I said, ‘I’m not going to do it, I’m not going to tease the audience again. I came up with an idea to end it. I said I won’t do it.” As Curtis was overruled, it was decided that H20 would end with the supposed death of Michael Myers at the hands of Laurie Strode, only for a later sequel to reveal that Myers had switched places with a paramedic—who Strode had killed in his place.
Curtis revealed how she ended up in the 2002 sequel Halloween: Resurrection. “I said, ‘OK, if you’re going to do that and it looks like Laurie has ended it and my audience feels like it’s ended, OK I’ll do it. But, you have to pay me a lot of money in the next movie and you have to kill me in the first 10 minutes of the movie because I’ve now killed an innocent man and I can’t live with that.'”
Curtis was paid a lot of money to appear in Resurrection in what she thought at the time would be her last appearance as Laurie Strode. She reportedly made $3 million for her minimal screen time. As a result, the opening scene of Halloween: Resurrection saw her character meet her untimely demise at the hands of Michael Myers after years of avoiding that fate. It was an ending that both fans and Curtis herself found unsatisfying, to say the least.
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Dimension Films
How much did Jamie Lee Curtis get paid for Halloween (2018)?
Considering her character’s anticlimactic and unpopular ending in Halloween: Resurrection, it’s not surprising that Jamie Lee Curtis decided to return to the franchise—and the role of Laurie Strode—for the reboot Halloween (2018) to change her character’s fate. As the film was made for a comparatively modest budget of $10 million, Curtis has revealed that upfront she was paid “scale” for the film, which can amount to a few thousand a week. However, she did have a contract that entitled her to a percentage of the movie’s profits. As the movie was a success, raking in over $255 million worldwide, Curtis potentially made anywhere from $5 million to $10 million for the film.
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How much did Jamie Lee Curtis make in Halloween Kills?
It is not known exactly how much Jamie Lee Curtis was paid to appear once again as Laurie Strode in the follow up to Halloween (2018), 2021’s Halloween Kills. However, the success of the first movie did lead to a budget increase of $10 million for the sequel, bringing the film’s budget up to $20 million—double that of the first film. As a result, we can imagine Curtis’ deal was similar to the one she secured for Halloween (2018) but most likely more lucrative. It likely once again involved a percentage of the film’s profits, potentially a larger share. This means Curtis could have received anywhere from $5 million to $10 million for Halloween Kills.
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How much did Jamie Lee Curtis make for Halloween Ends?
Jamie Lee Curtis has not revealed how much she was offered for her final outing as Laurie Strode (we've heard that before!) in 2022’s Halloween Ends. It is likely that her deal resembled the one she had in place for the previous two movies in the rebooted franchise, which we know for Halloween (2018) included a smaller upfront payment and a percentage of the movie’s profits. It is also likely Curtis was able to negotiate a better deal for herself for the franchise’s conclusion after the success of the prior two films. We do not know how well it will fare at the box office, especially considering it's being released on Peacock the same day. That said, we can imagine Curtis will wind up taking home anywhere from $5 million to $10 million when all is said and done.
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Daniel Green/Universal Pictures
How much money has Jamie Lee Curtis made from Halloween?
Overall, Jamie Lee Curtis has made a considerable amount from her appearances in the Halloween franchise. In fact, one could make the argument she owes her entire fortune to the franchise as the original movie launched her career. Only Curtis herself knows exactly how much the Halloween movies have netted her.
However, we do know Curtis was paid $8,000 for 1978’s Halloween, $100,000 for 1980’s Halloween 2, $5 million for 1998’s Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, $3 million for 2022’s Halloween: Resurrection and scale plus a percentage of the movie’s profits for Halloween (2018) with similar deals most likely in place for 2021’s Halloween Kills and 2022’s Halloween Ends. If we estimate Curtis made $5 million each for Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, respectively, that would mean Curtis has made at least $23,108,000 from all of her appearances in the Halloween franchise combined. Keep in mind, this does not include things like merchandising rights or any other bonuses. This means that Curtis has Michael Myers to thank for millions of dollars, but something tells us she won’t be conveying her gratitude to the slasher villain anytime soon!
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How much was Jamie Lee Curtis paid for Scream Queens?
It is not known how much Jamie Lee Curtis was paid for her Golden Globe-nominated role on the short-lived TV series Scream Queens, which ran for two seasons starting in 2016. However, considering the fact that Curtis was already a big name at the time, we can imagine she was paid in the hundreds of thousands per episode for her role.
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How much did Jamie Lee Curtis get paid for True Lies?
It is not publicly known how much Jamie Lee Curtis was paid for her Golden Globe-winning role in the 1994 Arnold Schwarzenegger action comedy True Lies. At the time, Curtis was already an established star and the movie had an estimated budget of $115 million. It was likely Curtis was paid anywhere from $2 million to $5 million for the role.
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How much did Jamie Lee Curtis get paid for Trading Places?
When Jamie Lee Curtis won the role of Ophelia in the 1983 comedy Trading Places, she was looking to shed her scream queen image and had not yet established herself beyond the horror genre. As a result, she was paid $70,000 for her appearance in the film. Though not a small amount, it is nowhere near the top tier of salaries actors were able to net in the 1980s. However, the role paid off and Curtis has been able to enjoy a long career in a wide variety of movies across many genres.