What is Michael Richards’ net worth and salary?
Michael Richards, the American actor and comedian, boasts a net worth of $30 million.
He is best known for his portrayal of Cosmo Kramer on the popular 90’s sitcom “Seinfeld”.
Early Life and Military Service
Michael Anthony Richards was born on July 24, 1949 in Culver City, California. His mother, Phyllis, was a librarian, and his father, William Richards, was an engineer who passed away in a car accident when Michael was only two years old. Richards graduated from Thousand Oaks High School and later attended the California Institute of the Arts. He ultimately received his BA in drama from The Evergreen State College in 1975. During his time at college, Richards briefly performed in an improv act alongside Ed Begley Jr.
In 1970, during the Vietnam War, Richards was drafted and served in the Army for two years before being honorably discharged.
Michael Richards’ Career Highlights and Setbacks
Michael Richards got his first break in 1979 on Billy Crystal’s cable TV special. He went on to work on “Fridays”, “Miami Vice”, “Cheers”, and “The Jay Leno Show”. In 1989, he landed the role of Cosmo Kramer on “Seinfeld”, which became one of the most popular sitcoms on TV and earned Richards multiple Emmy awards.
Richards also made appearances on “The Larry Sanders Show” and in films such as “Air Heads” and “Coneheads”. In 2000, he worked on a new NBC series, “The Michael Richards Show”, which was canceled after just a few weeks due to poor ratings and bad reviews.
However, Richards’ career was marred by a 2006 incident at a Hollywood nightclub where he launched into a racist tirade directed at a small group of Black audience members. He made a public apology on the “Late Show with David Letterman”, but it was not well received. Richards withdrew from stand-up comedy and has not been active in Hollywood since.
Personal Life of Michael Richards
Michael Richards was previously married to Cathleen Lyons for 18 years, with whom he shares a daughter named Sophia, born in 1975. The couple divorced in 1992. In 2007, he got engaged to actress Beth Skipp, with whom he had been in a relationship since 2002. They have one son together. Richards currently resides in Glendale, California.
Seinfeld Cast Negotiates Massive Raises
Before season 5, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, and Jason Alexander negotiated a raise to $150,000 per episode, totaling $3.8 million per season. In 1997, they held out for $1 million per episode but settled for $600,000 per episode for the final season, earning around $24 million today. In total, they earned approximately $45 million in base salary from Seinfeld before inflation.
Supporting cast of “Seinfeld” did not earn significant money from syndication deals
Contrary to popular belief, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, and Jason Alexander did not make significant amounts of money from “Seinfeld”‘s syndication deals, which have totaled nearly $4 billion as of this writing. In order to make money from syndication sales, one needs to have equity ownership percentage points on the show. The supporting cast did not ever receive backend points on the show. They do receive royalties from when the show airs, but these payments equate to hundreds of thousands per year at most, not millions as many assume.
By contrast, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld each earned $250 million in 1998 alone from syndication sales. Even a full decade later, Larry and Jerry were earning at least $50 million per year from syndication points.
While they were denied backend points in 1997, they were able to negotiate profit-sharing points on the DVD sales, which resulted in a moderate windfall back when people bought DVDs.
Michael Richards’ Real Estate Ventures
In 1992, Michael bought a home in Studio City, California for $525,000 and sold it in 1998 for $810,000. Two years prior, he fell in love with a 6,000 square-foot home in LA’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood while biking around the area. He made an offer on the spot, which was accepted, and paid all-cash for the home designed by Paul Williams. Today, the home is worth $8-10 million and boasts full views of the Pacific Ocean from nearly every room.
Michael’s love for comedian Red Skelton led him to drop by what he thought was Red’s house in Bel-Air as a child. Years later, the two became friends, and Michael bought Red’s entire collection of rare books after his death, which are now kept in Michael’s library.
