Daniel Brown was born on 22 June 1964, in Exeter, New Hampshire USA, to mother Constance, a music professor, and father Richard G. Brown, a mathematics teacher. He is a prolific author, but best known for his novel “The Da Vinci Code”.
So just how wealthy is Daniel Brown? Sources state that Brown has acquired a net worth of over $140 million, as of mid-2016. His fortune has been accumulated through sales of his books.
Dan Brown Net Worth $140 Million
Brown was raised an Episcopalian along with his two siblings. Both of his parents are singers and musicians, and church choir masters. He attended Philips Exeter Academy and then enrolled in Amherst College, Massachusetts, where he became a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity, a writing student of visiting novelist Alan Lelchuk, and sang at the Amherst Glee Club. In 1985 he went to Seville, Spain to attend an art history course at the University of Seville, returning the following year to complete his graduation.
After graduating, Brown launched his music career. He began creating effects with a synthesizer, and self-produced a children’s cassette called SynthAnimals, a collection of tracks such as ‘Happy Frogs’ and ‘Suzuki Elephants’, selling about a few hundred copies. This led him to form his own record company called Dalliance, and in 1990 he self-published a CD called “Perspective” which had similar success as SynthAnimals. In 1991 Brown moved to Hollywood in hopes of pursuing a career as a singer-songwriter and pianist; to improve his finances, he taught Spanish at Beverly Hills Preparatory School. He joined the National Academy of Songwriters, where he met Blythe Newlon, who would later become his wife, and who was the Director of Artist Development at the academy and through her position she helped Brown to promote his projects and introduced him to important people in the industry. In 1993 Brown moved back Exeter, where he taught English at Philips Exeter Academy and Spanish at Lincoln Akerman School in Hampton Falls. The following year he released a CD called “Angels & Demons”, including songs such as “Here in These Fields” and “All I Believe”. His net worth was moving upwards.
Being inspired by the novel “The Doomsday Conspiracy” by Sidney Sheldon, Brown started his own writing career, quitting teaching in 1996. Two years later, his first thriller novel “Digital Fortress” was released; the story is centered in Seville and focuses on clandestine organizations and code breaking, which would become the model for Brown’s later novels. Meanwhile, he co-wrote two humor books with his wife, “187 Men to Avoid: A Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman” and “The Bald Book”. In 2000 the author released a mystery-thriller novel called “Angels & Demons”, focusing on a Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon and his attempts to protect the Vatican from the Illuminati. The following year he released a techno-thriller novel called “Deception Point”, focusing on NASA’s finding of a meteorite proving extraterrestrial life and their attempts to hide it from public.
Brown’s three novels didn’t attain great success, selling less then 10,000 copies in each printing. However, his fourth novel “The Da Vinci Code” was a huge success; it was released in 2003 and went to the top position of the New York Times Bestseller list in its first week of release, and by 2009 it had sold an impressive 81 million copies worldwide. It also pushed the sales of Brown’s previous books, and in 2004 all four of his novels appeared on the New York Times list in the same week. Brown’s wealth was boosted with these sales of his novels, and his income from “The Da Vinci Code” sales was $250 million. He was listed among Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2005. The same year he was ranked 12th on Forbes’ “Celebrity 100” list with an estimated income for the year as high as $76.5 million.
In 2009 Brown released “The Lost Symbol” – the story is centered in Washington D.C. and takes Freemasonry as its main theme. It was the fastest selling adult novel in history, selling over one million on its first day, significantly adding to Brown’s wealth. In 2013 the author released “Inferno”, which became an instant bestseller, improving Brown’s net worth once again.
Brown’s novels have been inspired by the treasure hunt games he played as a child. The author often bases his characters on real-life people, for example the character of Langdon is based on John Langdon, an artist who created the ambigrams in the Angels & Demons CD and novel.
In his private life, Brown has been married to Blythe Brown since 1997. She has been a huge support and integral part of Brown’s success, as she assisted his projects serving as a research expert behind them.
Brown is involved in philanthropy, and along with his wife, he is an active supporter of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. In 2011 the couple created the Dan/86 and Blythe Brown Scholarship Fund to celebrate his 25th reunion with Amherst College, aimed at helping students at Amherst, preferably those with an interest in writing.
[on one his writing procedures] Hanging upside down can really make you think in different ways.
2
I'm now aware that when I write something, a lot of people talk about it. On some level I feel that if you've been given a podium of any sort, you should say something meaningful and powerful.
3
There is a statistic I heard a number of years ago: if you know somebody who is 85 years old, that person was born into a world that had a third as many people as the world has today. The population has tripled in the past 85 years. Futurists don't consider overpopulation one of the issues of the future. They consider it 'the' issue of the future.
4
I consider myself a student of many religions. The more I learn, the more questions I have. For me, the spiritual quest will be a life-long work.
5
Two thousand years ago, we lived in a world of Gods & Goddesses. Today, we live in a world solely of gods. Women in most cultures have been stripped of their spiritual power.
6
That is the definition of faith - acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove.
7
If I'm not at my desk by 4:00 a.m., I feel like I'm missing my most productive hours. In addition to starting early, I keep an antique hourglass on my desk and every hour break briefly to do push-ups, sit-ups, and some quick stretches. I find this helps keep the blood and ideas flowing.
#
Fact
1
"The Lost Symbol" is the first of his books not to start with a murder.
2
In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated his earnings for the year to be $10 million.
3
Was #10 on the annual Forbes magazine Celebrity 100 list in 2006
4
His bestseller The Da Vinci Code, while his first runaway hit, and the first to be adapted into a film, is actually the second book in which Robert Langdon appears. The first is Angels and Demons.
5
Wife Blythe is an art historian and painter.
6
Father is a math professor and mother is a musician.
7
Graduate of Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spent time as an English teacher before turning his efforts fully to writing.
8
Author of numerous bestselling novels. His novels have been translated and published in more than 40 languages around the world.
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Lost Symbol
based on the novel by announced
Inferno
2016/I
based on the novel by
Angels & Demons
2009
novel
The Da Vinci Code
2006
novel
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Inferno
2016/I
executive producer
Angels & Demons
2009
executive producer
The Da Vinci Code
2006
executive producer
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Da Vinci Code
2006
Book signing party guest
Be Cool
2005
Concert Goer (uncredited)
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Da Vinci Code
2006
performer: "Phiano" / writer: "Phiano"
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Da Vinci Code
2006
additional codes
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Be Here Now
2016
Short dedicatee
Façade
2005
special thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Da Vinci Code: Close-Up on the Mona Lisa
2006
Video short
Himself
The Da Vinci Code: Filmmaker's Journey
2006
Video documentary
Himself
The Da Vinci Code: First Day on the Set with Ron Howard
2006
Video short
Himself
The Da Vinci Code: Magical Places
2006
Video short
Himself
The Da Vinci Code: The Codes of the Da Vinci Code
2006
Video short
Himself
The Da Vinci Code: The Da Vinci Props
2006
Video short
Himself
The Da Vinci Code: Unusual Suspects
2006
Video short
Himself
The Da Vinci Code: Who Is Sophie Neveu?
2006
Video short
Himself
Forbes Celebrity 100: Who Made Bank?
2006
TV Movie
Himself
Da Vinci Code Decoded
2004
Video documentary
Himself
Good Morning America
2003
TV Series
Himself - Guest
Today
2003
TV Series
Himself - Guest
Inferno: A Look at Langdon
2017
Video documentary short
Himself
Inferno: Visions of Hell
2017
Video documentary short
Himself
Vivement dimanche prochain
2016
TV Series
Himself
Launching a Legacy: Interviews with Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Dan Brown and Brian Grazer
2016
Video documentary short
Himself
Legacy of Langdon: Interviews with Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Dan Brown and Brian Grazer
2016
Video documentary short
Himself
Quotidien
2016
TV Series
Himself
El hormiguero
2013
TV Series
Himself - Guest
La grande librairie
2013
TV Series
Himself
Charlie Rose
2013
TV Series
Himself - Guest
The Colbert Report
2013
TV Series
Himself - Guest
Che tempo che fa
2009
TV Series
Himself - Guest
Angels & Demons: Characters in the Search of the True Story
2009
Video documentary short
Himself
Angels & Demons: The Full Story
2009
Video documentary short
Himself
Angels & Demons: This Is an Ambigram
2009
Video short
Himself
Writing Angels & Demons
2009
Video documentary short
Himself
Entertainment Tonight
2009
TV Series
Himself
The Da Vinci Code: Unlocking the Code
2009
Video documentary short
Himself
Books Equal Gifts Commercial
2008
Short
The Da Vinci Code: A Portrait of Langdon
2006
Video short
Himself
The Da Vinci Code: Book to Screen
2006
Video short
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Canada A.M.
2006
TV Series
Himself
Deadline
2006
TV Series documentary
Himself
Temalørdag: Da Vinci mysteriet og den hellige gral
2005
TV Special documentary
Himself - Author (segment "Da Vinci Mysteriet - endnu en konspirationsteori?")