They not only earned millions for their talent, but also knew how to manage their fortunes, and many are entrepreneurs. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg top the list.
The prestigious magazine ‘Forbes’ releases the list of the richest people in the world every year, and at the top is Frenchman Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, with an estimated fortune of over 200 billion dollars. Within that list are showbiz celebrities who not only managed to make money but also diversified and managed it.
The richest are:
George Lucas: $5.5 billion.
The filmmaker born in California is not only the father of the legendary Star Wars but also created the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, and Industrial Light & Magic. In 2012, he negotiated a multimillion-dollar sale of Lucasfilm to The Walt Disney Company.
Steven Spielberg; $4.8 billion.
Never has one of his films failed to be a success. He is known as the “Hollywood Midas.” A seven-time nominee for the Oscars for Best Director, he won the award twice, for Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. Three of his films (Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park) became the highest-grossing films and became true mass phenomena. He has also been awarded the Order of the British Empire and the National Humanities Medal.
Oprah Winfrey: $2.8 billion.
According to Forbes magazine, she was the richest African American of the 20th century and the only black person in the world to have more than a billion dollars for three consecutive years. She won several Emmy Awards for her show The Oprah Winfrey Show, the most-watched talk show in US television history. She is also an influential book critic, Oscar-nominated actress, and editor of her own magazine.
Jay Z: $2.5 billion.
In addition to marrying the millionaire Beyoncé, he holds the record for the most solo number one albums. He has sold approximately 75 million albums worldwide and has received 83 Grammy Award nominations. He has a strong entrepreneurial side. He is one of the owners of the 40/40 Club and the NBA basketball franchise the Brooklyn Nets. He created the clothing line Rocawear and was CEO of Def Jam Recordings.
Kim Kardashian: $1.7 billion.
Her last name is synonymous with luxury. She began to gain fame as a friend of the also well-known celebrity Paris Hilton. Her father was a friend and one of the lawyers for O.J. Simpson during the highly publicized trial in which the former player was accused of two murders in 1995. Kim appeared multiple times on the reality show The Simple Life (2003-2007), which starred Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. Her mother, Kris Jenner, turned gold with the reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which catapulted the entire family of six sisters to fame. She has launched several beauty brands, including KKW Beauty and Skims. The latter is a line of shapewear valued at $4 billion.
Peter Jackson: $1.5 billion.
The prestigious New Zealand director and writer of important sagas such as The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit earned millions of dollars by selling a part of Weta Digital to Unity Software. He knew how to reinvest what he had earned from directing, producing, and co-writing the film trilogy The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003); as well as its prequel, The Hobbit trilogy: An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014).
Tyler Perry: $1.4 billion.
Actor, comedian, filmmaker, writer, and gospel composer, Tyler Perry has made a lot of money acting in television shows. Today, he has an empire within the American television industry. He didn’t finish high school, slept in a car while writing plays, and then became a car salesman. He went a long way thanks to his talent.
Rihanna: $1.4 billion.
The singer born in Barbados has become a successful entrepreneur with her cosmetics company Fenty Beauty. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers in 2003, who invited her to the United States to record demo tapes. After signing with Def Jam in 2005, she quickly gained recognition with the release of her first two studio albums, Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl Like Me (2006), both influenced by Caribbean music and peaked within the top ten on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States.
Dick Wolf: $1.2 billion.
He is the creator of the most-watched American television programs. His expertise in crime and police cases led him to earn his fortune with hits like Law and Order, FBI: International, Most Wanted, FBI, Chicago Justice, Chicago Med, and Chicago Fire. Although he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, he keeps a very low profile.
Taylor Swift: $1.1 billion.
She is a singer, songwriter, record producer, director, actress, and entrepreneur. In 2019, she was named the “Woman of the Decade” by Billboard magazine, and at the American Music Awards, she was recognized as the “Artist of the Decade.” In 2023, she was declared the “Person of the Year” by Time magazine, becoming the first artist to appear on the cover solely for her work, while Forbes positioned her as the fifth most powerful woman in the world.