Billy Bob Thornton was born on 4 August 1955, in Hot Springs, Arkansas USA, and is a well-known American actor, screenwriter, musician, voice actor, as well as a film director, perhaps best known now for his recent starring role in the anthology TV series “Fargo”.
So just how rich is Billy Bob Thornton? According to sources, Billy Bob Thornton’s net worth is estimated to be $45 million. Thornton has accumulated the majority of his net worth mainly through his career as an actor, which began in the 1980s.
Billy Bob Thornton Net Worth $45 Million
During his childhood, Billy Bob Thornton lived in a methodist family, and they moved around several Arkansas towns. After leaving high school in 1973, he was a good enough baseball player to try out for the Kansas City Royals, but injuries cut short that ambition. He actually enrolled at Henderson State University to study in psychology, but didn’t last a year.
Bill Bob Thornton then decided to try to pursue an acting career, and moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1980s. Initially, Thornton’s dreams proved to be unsuccessful, and he earned money by working a variety of jobs, including telemarketing and fast food management, in addition to auditioning for movie roles. While working as a waiter, Thornton met filmmaker Billy Wilder, who advised him to try screenwriting, but he landed a minor role of a counter man in a film called “South of Reno” in 1988, his first appearance on screen. Thornton was then cast in an episode of the television series “Matlock”, and the sitcom series “Hearts Afire” with Markie Post, but it wasn’t until “One False Move” that Billy Bob Thornton received public recognition, as well as critical acclaim. The thriller film co-written by Thornton was his first major introduction into the entertainment business, and provided a much needed boost to his net worth.
In the early 1990s, Billy Bob Thornton starred in such films as “Indecent Proposal” with Demi Moore, “Bound by Honor”, and “On Deadly Ground” with Steven Seagal, and so began began adding a significant amount of money to his net worth at this time. Later, taking the advice from Wilder, Thornton wrote, directed and even starred in an independent drama film called “Sling Blade” with Dwight Yoakam and J. T. Walsh. For his screenplay, Thornton received his first awards, an Academy Award, Writers Guild of America Award, as well as Edgar Award. After the success of “Sling Blade”, Thornton received offers to star in the sci-fi thriller film “Armageddon” with Bruce Willis, Liv Tyler and Ben Affleck, “Bandits” with Cate Blanchett, as well as Joel Coen’s “The Man Who Wasn’t There” that brought him even more awards.
In 2003, Thornton portrayed a memorably horrendous Santa character in the black comedy film “Bad Santa”, that earned $76 million in the box office. Some of Thornton’s more recent movies include the action thriller film“Eagle Eye” with Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan , as well as the comedy-drama television series “Fargo”, which was released in 2014. Overall, Billy Bob has now appeared in or directed more than 70 films, and 15 TV shows or series, and been nominated for over 70 awards in several acting and directing sections, of which he has won 28 at the last count, including for best actor and best supporting actor.
Billy Bob Thornton’s contributions to the entertainment industry were honored in 2004 when he was given a star on the sidewalk of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Billy Bob Thornton is a successful musician as well. In 2001, Billy Bob Thornton released his debut album “Private Radio”, which was followed by “The Edge of the World”, “Hobo” and “Beautiful Door”. Thornton has also been a part of a band called “Tres Hombres”, and is currently the lead singer of the country rock band “The Boxmasters”.
In his personal life, Billy Bob Thornton has been very active: he has married six times, the most famous being a very public one to actress Angelina Jolie, but none lasted more than four years until his last to Connie Angland in 2014, although they had been living together since 2003. Health-wise Thornton has obsessive–compulsive disorder, apparently partly exhibited by an unusual phobia to antique furniture.
Academy Award for Best Writing Adapted Screenplay (1997), Golden Globe Award for Best Performance (2015, 2017), Critics' Choice Movie Award (1999), Independent Spirit Award (1997), Edgar Award, London Film Critics' Circle Award (2001)
Music Groups
The Boxmasters
Nominations
Academy Award for Best Actor, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture – Drama, Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, Screen Actors Guil...
Movies
“Indecent Proposal”, “Bound by Honor”, “On Deadly Ground”, “South of Reno” (1988), “Sling Blade”, “Armageddon”, “Bandits”, “The Man Who Wasn’t There”
[on Fargo (2014)] It was one of the best experiences I've had and the people that were involved were really terrific and It was well put together. I've been humbled by the whole thing. I don't think there is such a thing as movie actors and television actors anymore I just think there are just actors now. If I had a friend who asked about going into television I would say yes because you have so much freedom in television now that you don't necessarily get in film.
2
[on as a director, if there's more interference on a film, the bigger the budget is] Yes, I experienced that one time, I've only done one big-budget movie as a director (All the Pretty Horses (2000)). And there is much more interference, to the point where it shows you that if there's something wrong in the film business - that's what it is. Not to say that there aren't good big-budget movies, and that it can't be done, and some people aren't interfered with.
3
Most of the movies that are easy to get financed are movies about models in gladiator uniforms and wacky comedies with kids who get caught with sheep in hotel rooms.
4
[2007] I am fairly embraced by the Hollywood community, and I love making movies and I love acting, but I'm not real crazy about the Hollywood system. So the fact that they embrace me is a shock to me because I tell them to kiss my ass all the time. I don't understand why they haven't thrown me out on my ear. The other thing is I don't participate much. I have very few friends within the movie community. I hang out with some guys I've known forever. They're all broke and eat me out of house and home. But I stay home mostly and I don't go to the parties. Maybe that preserves me.
5
People think the hard thing for an actor is crying and screaming, but that's easy. What's hard is a character who never tips his hand, who toes the line all the time. The hard stuff is never telling yourself, "Hey, I better do something here.".
6
I've been married five times, and people think that's some bizarre thing, yet I've got buddies who refuse to get married and have sex with 15 people a week. I'm like "Which is better?" At least I was trying.
7
It's not that I don't understand it. But people think if you speak with an English accent it somehow makes you smarter.
8
I can't sit through plays and musical theatre. I just want to run up onstage and mess up their hair and turn over the furniture.
9
Acting is playing--it's actually going out on a playground with the other kids and being in the game, and I need that. Writing satisfies that part of myself that longs to sit in my room and dream.
10
I was the fattest baby in Clark County, Arkansas. They put me in the newspaper. It was like a prize turnip.
11
[on his Academy Award nomination for Best Actor (Sling Blade (1996)] Getting the nomination is like gravy. Winning would be like whatever is better than gravy.
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Fact
1
After a short period laying asphalt for the Arkansas State Transportation Department, he attended Henderson State University to pursue studies in psychology, but he dropped out after two semesters.
2
Worked as a waiter, fast food manager, telemarketer and offshore wind farmer in between acting gigs.
3
Did not decide to pursue a career in acting until he was in his late twenties.
4
Directed one actor to an Oscar nominated performance: himself in Sling Blade (1996).
5
His daughter, Amanda Brumfield, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for manslaughter [October 6, 2011].
6
His daughter, Amanda Brumfield, 32, was convicted of aggravated manslaughter in the death of a neighbor's baby daughter she was babysitting [June 2, 2011].
Once was told by director Billy Wilder that he was too ugly to be an actor and he should write a screenplay for himself in which he could exploit his less-than-perfect features. Thornton later collected an Oscar for his Sling Blade (1996) screenplay.
9
When Thornton and Angelina Jolie first married, the couple moved into the Beverly Hills home formerly owned by Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash (2000).
10
He was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in Austin, Texas. [March 2009]
11
According to Forbes magazine, for each dollar he got paid, Thornton's movies averaged $10 of gross income. [December 2007]
12
In 2007, Forbes magazine estimated his earnings for the year at $20 million.
In Armageddon (1998) he was the NASA flight director. In The Astronaut Farmer (2006) he was a former astronaut who went up against NASA.
15
In his contract for each film he does, there is a provision that states a list of demands. One of them includes a television with a satellite hook-up to watch the St. Louis Cardinals when they are in season.
16
2006: Narrated the St. Louis Cardinals World Series DVD.
17
Born to William Raymond "Billy Ray" Thornton, a high school history teacher and basketball coach, and his wife, Virginia R. (Faulkner), a psychic.
18
His paternal grandfather, Otis Thornton, with whom he spent time in his childhood on a small shack in the woods, was a forest ranger.
19
Is a supporter of Liverpool Football Club (soccer team).
20
Ex-son-in-law of Jon Voight, whom he co-starred with in U Turn (1997).
In an interview, Thornton talked about his struggling actor years. At one point, he was so poor all he could afford to eat were potatoes, which he would grill until they stuck to the pan. This consumption led to myocarditis, which led to an intense pain in his chest since he did not have any potassium in his system. He was treated at a hospital, thanks to a kind doctor who was from Arkansas, his home state. At the time, Thornton had no medical insurance and has remained grateful for the doctor's treatment.
23
His character Willie from Bad Santa (2003) is reenacted by Eminem in the music video for Eminem's hit song "Just Lose It".
24
Cousin of wrestlers Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr., who are known to wrestling fans as the Funk Brothers. Thornton was contacted about inducting the Funk Brothers into the WWE Hall of Fame, but declined the offer.
25
Owns a penthouse in Paris.
26
Has English, Irish and Scottish ancestry. Has said that he also has Cherokee Native American ancestry; it is not clear if this ancestry has been documented/verified.
27
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on October 7, 2004.
28
Father of four children: Amanda (born late 1970s), William (born 1993), Harry James (born 1994) and Bella (born September 2004).
29
Has stated that, of all the characters he has played, the one he enjoyed playing the most was Davy Crockett in The Alamo (2004).
March 10, 2002: Angelina Jolie and Thornton adopted a Cambodian baby boy. Jolie took custody of the baby in Africa, where she was shooting Beyond Borders (2003). Her father, Jon Voight, told reporters at the Academy Awards luncheon on March 11. Voight said he did not know whether the couple had picked a name for the child. Brad Pitt is now the adoptive father of Maddox, and Maddox's last name is Jolie-Pitt and Thornton is no longer involved in raising the child.
33
Claimed in a "USA Today" interview that he has an intense phobia of antique furniture. This fear has been seen on screen in both Bandits (2001) and Sling Blade (1996).
34
September 22, 2000: He was treated for an unspecified "viral infection" at a hospital in Los Angeles, California.
35
He and Dwight Yoakam have their own production company and are looking at producing movies and records together. Yoakam appeared opposite Thornton in Sling Blade (1996).
36
Gained about 50 pounds for his role as the auto mechanic in U Turn (1997).
37
He was honored by his hometown, where he's remembered as a milkshake-loving, drum-playing rock 'n' roller. "I had a Tastee-Freez stand before I got into politics," said Mayor Bill Scrimshire, who declared "Billy Bob Thornton Day" Tuesday. "When he was a kid in high school, he used to buy hamburgers and milkshakes from me. He was one of my Tastee-Freez kids.".
38
In high school, Thornton played drums in a band called "Stone Cold Fever" and cranked out Creedence Clearwater Revival songs.
39
April 15, 1997: Ex-wife Pietra granted a restraining order against Thornton to keep him away from her and their children.
40
His mother, a psychic, predicted he would work with Burt Reynolds. That prediction came true when, beginning in 1990, he did three episodes of Reynolds' CBS series Evening Shade (1990).
41
Has numerous tattoos, among them at least six on his arms (three right, three left) and on his lower back/hip.