Ivan Simon Cary Elwes was born on the 26th October 1962, in Westminster, London, England, of Anglo – Irish and Serbo – Croat descent. Elwes is an actor, known for creating roles in films of several genres, including the romantic comedy “The Princess Bride” (1987), the musical adventure comedy film “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” (1993), the historical drama film “Cradle Will Rock” (1999) as well as the thriller films “Kiss the Girls” (1997) and “Edison Force” (2007). Cary has been active in the entertainment industry since 1979.
How much is the net worth of Cary Elwes? It has been estimated by authoritative sources that the total size of Elwes wealth is as much as $14 million, as of the data presented in the middle of 2016. Acting is the main source of Cary fortune.
Cary Elwes Net Worth $14 Million
To begin with, Cary Elwes is the third son of interior designer Tessa Kennedy and the portraitist Dominic Elwes; his brother Cassian Elwes is film producer, his second brother Damian Elwes is an artist. After school Cary moved to the USA, where he studied Acting and Art at the Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers in New York.
Concerning his professional career, Cary Elwes had his first starring role in “Another Country” (1984) by Marek Kanievska. Then, he received the offer to play the role of Guildford Dudley alongside Helena Bonham Carter in the British costume drama “Lady Jane” (1986) by Trevor Nunn. This was followed by an appearance as farm boy Westley in “The Princess Bride” in 1987. Afterwards, Elwes starred alongside Matthew Broderick in “Glory” (1989) and with Tom Cruise in “Days of Thunder” (1990). In the parody film “Hot Shots!” (1991) Cary embodied the opponent of Charlie Sheen aka Topper Harley. In “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992), he was the fiancé of Lucy, played by Sadie Frost. In Mel Brooks’ spoof “Robin Hood – Men in Tights” (1993) Elwes starred in the lead role of Robin Hood which became iconic of its genre. It was followed by supporting roles in the films “Twister” (1996) and “Liar Liar” (1997). In 1999, Elwes starred in the historical drama film directed by Tim Robbins “Cradle Will Rock” in the role of John Houseman. The following year he joined “Shadow of the Vampire” (2000) in the role of Fritz Arno Wagner. His net worth was well set.
In the television film “Uprising” (2001), depicting the World War 2 uprising in the Warsaw ghetto, Elwes took the role of Fritz Hippler. In the ninth season of the mystery series “The X-Files” (2001 – 2002) Elwes appeared in the role of Brad Follmer, a skeptical FBI Agent. In 2004 he portrayed Lawrence Gordon in the horror movie “Saw Dr.”. Later, he played again Dr. Lawrence Gordon in the sequels “Saw II” (2005) and “Saw 3D” (2010). In the miniseries, “Pope John Paul II” (2005) Elwes landed the role as young Karol Wojtyla. Moreover, he starred opposite Eliza Dushku in the thriller film “The Alphabet Killer” (2008) by Rod Schmidt. Cary Elwes starred in the following films “No Strings Attached” (2011), “Camilia Dickinson” (2011), “Hellgate” (2011), “The Story of Luke” (2012) and “The Citizen” (2013).
On television, he was seen in the popular series “Psych” (2009 – 2014), “Family Guy” (2014) and others. Recently, he landed the lead role in the dark comedy film “Sugar Mountain” (2015) by Richard Gray and was in the main cast of the mystery drama “H8RZ” by Derrick Borte. Since 2015, he has been starring as the main in the series “The Art of More”. Soon, the following films with Elwes will be released: “Billionaire Boys Club” (2016), “La reina de España” (2016) and “The Greens Are Gone” (2016) – his net worth is very likely to rise further.
Finally, in the personal life of the actor, Elwes became engaged to photographer Lisa Marie Kurbikoff in Paris in 1997, and their wedding took place in 2000. They have one daughter (born on the 24th April, 2007).
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards Best Supporting Actor (1997), MTV Movie Award for Best Frightened Performance (2004)
Movies
“The Princess Bride” (1987), “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” (1993), “Cradle Will Rock” (1999), “Kiss the Girls” (1997), “Edison Force” (2007), “Camilia Dickinson” (2011), “Hellgate” (2011), “The Story of Luke” (2012), “The Citizen” (2013)
TV Shows
“Psych” (2009 – 2014), “Family Guy” (2014), “The Art of More”, "The X-Files", "Batman Beyond" (1999), "Uprising" (2001)
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(On first meeting André the Giant) I met him at the read-through at the Dorchester Hotel in London. I saw his hand first, through the door. And there was a collective gasp from everyone in the room. The only people who had met him were Rob (Reiner) and [screenwriter] Bill Goldman. This huge smile came in, and everyone got up to meet him. He was huge in Japan, you know. They offered to fly him out there any time, because giants are considered lucky. People would run across the street just to touch him.
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(On making The Princess Bride (1987)) It was a wonderfully supportive set, and that's a great atmosphere for being creative. An atmosphere of fun, is an atmosphere where the mind is more likely to come up with great stuff.
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On preparing his role as young Karol Wojtyla for Pope John Paul II (2005): "I was blessed enough to meet Pope John Paul when I was 22 years old in the Vatican; I had that privilege. My mother took me to visit him, and I remember distinctly his incredible charisma and personal charm and his warmth and compassion. You felt it immediately the minute you met him, and that spirit I came away with, having met the man, is something that I've been constantly working on to infuse the character with. My mother is a very devout Catholic. Her criticism will be the one I pay the most attention to."
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I like historical pieces. History was my favorite subject in school, it was the only subject I excelled in. I love the idea of history and the idea that we may have the opportunity to learn from our past mistakes.
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"I take away something from every role. I'm still learning and that's what life is about." (People 2/6/95)
His maternal grandmother, born Daska Marija Ivanovic-Banac, was of half Croatian Jewish (from her own father) and half Serbian (from her own mother) descent. Cary's other ancestry is English, with some Scottish and Irish (including distant American-born ancestors).
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Cary is the son of shipping heiress and interior designer Tessa Kennedy, who eloped with Cary's father, painter Dominick Elwes. Cary's stepfather, American producer Elliott Kastner, set up a production base at Pinewood Studios in Britain.
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Studied with Julie Bavasso at Sarah Lawrence.
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Attending the Texas Frightmare Weekend in Dallas, TX as part of the Saw (2004) panel. [April 2011]
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His stage name "Cary Elwes" is actually his surname. The surname "Cary Elwes" was shortened to "Elwes" in some branches of his family.
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He said after The Princess Bride (1987), he was getting lots of offers to act in several costume period pieces. He turned most of them down because he didn't want to be typecast, as he had already starred in period pieces, mostly as a romantic love interest, in the previous films Another Country (1984), Lady Jane (1986), and Maschenka (1987). In contrast, he later starred in several films as a villain, which include Leather Jackets (1992), Twister (1996), The Jungle Book (1994),Ella Enchanted (2004), The Riverman (2004) to name a few.
Entered Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, to study drama but left after two years. Also studied at the London Drama Centre.
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Is the ambassador for the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund with UNICEF. As ambassador, he traveled to Banda Aceh, Indonesia for the documentary "The Children of the Tsunami", which was filmed 90 days after the tsunami of December 2003 to document the damage and recovery efforts.
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Was personally offered by Trevor Nunn, Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), to join the RSC after starring in Nunn's film Lady Jane (1986). Elwes turned down the offer in order to continue working in films.
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Father was Dominick Elwes (August 1931-September 1975), a portrait painter and Mayfair figure. Parents divorced when Cary was young. A sufferer of manic depression, Dominick was less of a commercial success compared to his artist father Simon Elwes. Dominick was later ostracized by a close circle of friends because of his link to the notorious Lord Lucan. He committed suicide at age 44.
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Brother Cassian Elwes was a studio head at the William Morris Agency.
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Nicknamed "The Next Errol Flynn" by Mel Brooks. Brooks said, "He can do comedy and drama".
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Played a number of villainous roles. His first role as a villain was in Leather Jackets (1992).
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Prepares intensely for most of his acting roles. (For example, for Days of Thunder (1990), he had to rely on practical research to meet the physical demands of playing a race car driver. For his role as Air Force Colonel James Burton in The Pentagon Wars (1998), he spent a few days in Burton's home interviewing him and poring over his BFV files, and even filing boxes of Burton's Bradley documents and giving every page back to Burton.).
Raised as a Catholic. He was an altar boy at Brompton Oratory in London. His father and paternal grandfather were also Catholics. His father's side includes several prominent Catholic clerics, and his paternal great-grandfather was Chamberlain to the Pope. His mother is a former Protestant-turned-Catholic.
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Daughter, Dominique, was born on April 24, 2007.
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Is a distant relative of the famed Lord Carnarvon who funded archaeologist Howard Carter's expedition which uncovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun in 1923; he is also a distant nephew of Tudor King Henry VIII of England, and is a distant nephew of King Henry's third wife, Jane Seymour.
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Met his wife Lisa Marie in 1991 at a Malibu chili cook-off.
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His paternal grandfather was the famous portrait-painter Simon Elwes, and his other prominent ancestors include his great-grandfathers, tenor Gervase Elwes, diplomat James Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell, industrialist Ivan Rikard Ivanovic, and his great-great-great-grandfather, Alexander Kennedy, a civil/electrical engineer and academic.
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His very devout Catholic mother (former Protestant) took him to meet Pope John Paul II in the Vatican when Cary was 22 years old. Cary portrayed the young pontiff in the docudrama Pope John Paul II (2005).
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For the video game The Bard's Tale (2004), he spent at least 20 hours in Los Angeles and London recording studios to bring his title character to life. In order for his character to converse with nonplayable characters in either a 'snarky' or 'nice' tone, both leavened with comic relief, Cary had to record two responses for every interaction - a total of 1,200 lines and a lot of his own script improvising.
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As a student in Sarah Lawrence College in 1980, he studied acting, philosophy and history. He also studied German Expressionist Film in college. Despite his parents' wealth, Elwes supplemented his income by working his way through school.
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Was a projectionist at school.
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Having been a dramatic actor, he had never done a comedy prior to his acclaimed performance in The Princess Bride (1987).
Made his film debut in Marek Kanievska's award-winning drama Another Country (1984). Based on that performance, Cary was chosen by renowned Director of The Royal Shakespeare Company, Trevor Nunn, to star opposite Helena Bonham Carter in the highly acclaimed historical epic Lady Jane (1986).
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Last name is pronounced El-wez.
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Was chosen for the part of Westley in The Princess Bride (1987) after Rob Reiner saw him in Lady Jane (1986). He spent weeks training in fencing with both his left hand and right hand while performing acrobatics.
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His recurring character on The X-Files (1993)'s 9th season, FBI Assistant Director Brad Follmer, is named after the show's creator/executive producer Chris Carter's assistant, Brad Follmer.