Barry Sonnenfeld was born on 1 April 1953, in New York City USA, into a Jewish family, and is the man behind such productions as “When Harry Met Sally”, “The Addams Family”, and the “Men in Black” trilogy. Sonnenfeld started his career in the film industry as a cinematographer in the late 1970s, however, he later changed his career path and started directing movies.
One may wonder how rich is Barry Sonnenfeld and how did he become so wealthy? A successful career allowed Barry Sonnenfeld to build a net worth estimated by sources at over $60 million. Sonnenfeld accumulated such net worth through acting as well as directing and producing films. Therefore, Sonnenfeld is not only talented and successful but also extremely rich.
Barry Sonnenfeld Net Worth $60 Million
Barry Sonnenfeld spent his childhood and teenage years in New York City. Barry studied at Hampshire College, and then New York University, and after graduation started working in the film industry, initially as a cinematographer – Barry’s first job was to shoot the material for the documentary “In Our Water”. Barry’s talent was highly appreciated, and the documentary was nominated for an Oscar. This impressive start led Barry to another successful project, when Joel and Ethan Coen invited Sonnenfeld to shoot their first movie “Blood Simple”. Later Barry did cinematography work for the movies “Compromising Positions”, “Three O’clock High”, and “Throw Momma from the Train”. In 1987 Sonnenfeld reunited with the Coen Brothers and shot their 1987 film “Raising Arizona”, featuring Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter. Following this Barry shot four successful movies, namely “Big” starring Tom Hanks, “Misery”, with James Caan and Kathy Bates, “When Harry Met Sally”, featuring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, and a gangster film “Miller’s Crossing?, directed by the Coen brothers. These films made Barry Sonnenfeld considerably rich.
However, as a talented cinematographer Sonnenfeld wanted to try his luck in film directing. The first films Barry directed were “The Addams Family” and its sequel “Addams Family Values”, both of which proved successful. As a result, Barry Sonnenfeld’s net worth continued to grow, and he become more acclaimed as well, and so decided to continue directing films., including “For Love or Money”, “Get Shorty”, and “The Wild Wild West”. Sonnenfeld was also the director of the films “Men in Black” trilogy, another series of commercial successes – the third was the most commercially successful – with the director further increasing his net worth.
Sonnenfeld has also directed advertisements featuring The Puttermans family, as well as producing films. For instance, he was the executive producer of the movies “Out of Sight”, and “The Tick”, as well as the television series “Pushing Daisies”, and “Suburban Shootout”.
Moreover, Barry Sonnenfeld played small parts in several of the aforementioned films, including “The Addams Family”, “Get Shorty”, “Men in Black II”, and “RV”. So the multi-talented Barry Sonnenfeld has accumulated his impressive net worth being a cinematographer, film director, producer and actor, apparently relatively effortlessly. Moreover, Barry has been nominated for many awards and even won a Primetime Emmy for the television series Pushing Daisies.
In 1989 Barry Sonnenfeld married Susan Ringo. They have a daughter Chloe Sonnenfeld, who has also become an actress.
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series, Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Nominations
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography, Saturn Award for Best Director
Movies
Men in Black, Men in Black 3, Nine Lives, The Addams Family, Men in Black II, Wild Wild West, Get Shorty, Addams Family Values, RV, Big Trouble, Blood Simple, For Love or Money, Enchanted, Raising Arizona, When Harry Met Sally..., Misery, Miller's Crossing, Throw Momma from the Train, The Ladykiller...
TV Shows
Secret Agent Man
#
Trademark
1
Known for his sense of physical comedy and slapstick scenes.
Directs mainstream films that have an offbeat quality to them
#
Quote
1
[on directing Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones] Although Will would always be deferential and charming he's an eight-month-old Great Dane puppy, and he's got way too much energy, way too much joy, too much karmic perfection. And I think that may have affected Tommy. But from the entire first movie [they] loved each other. Will genuinely feels Tommy's one of the funniest people he's ever met because Tommy is George Burns and Will is Gracie Allen. You need both.
2
[on what he took away from each "Men in Black" film] - The first one was unique because it was the first one in the series and we got to create this world. What we realized in the second movie is that we thought the first movie was a comedy, and we realized that it was funny, but not a comedy. And the second one was too, "funny" or "joke-y," and we were trying for comic-beats as apposed to telling a great story. And the third Men in Black, we went back to the roots and it's much more like the first Men in Black, which is that it's really about emotion, character, and relationships. And if it's funny, it's funny because of those things, but we're not cutting to singing dogs.
3
A director sits on the set 11 and a half hours a day. And for 30 minutes they get to direct.
Has stated in many interviews that before making Men in Black (1997) he was considering doing a live-action film version of The Jetsons (1962). With Jim Carrey playing George Jetson and Nicole Kidman playing Jane Jetson.
Nephew of Vaudeville and screen comedian Gus Schilling, whose voice likeness he inherited genetically.
8
One of his most embarrassing moments occurred when he was a teenager attending his first rock concert. His mom had the PA announcer say, "Barry Sonnenfeld, call your mother.".
9
Has a private bathroom designed to look like a public bathroom, complete with stalls and urinals in his house in New York.
10
Was offered the job of directing Forrest Gump (1994), but declined. The job then went to Robert Zemeckis, who won an Academy Award for it.
Started his career as a cinematographer in porn films. He's quoted in the January 26, 1998 Newsweek magazine (page 60) saying that he was depressed when he heard that Boogie Nights (1997) was being made (a film about making pornos) because he had wanted to make a movie about the time he shot 9 feature length pornos in nine days.
15
Was uninjured when a private jet he was travelling in collided with five empty 'planes after a rough landing in Van Nuys, California. [February 1999]
$60 Million
