Leigh Whannell was born on the 17th January 1977, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and is a writer, producer, director, and actor, best known for writing and producing the Saw franchise, and also for writing “Dead Silence” (2007), “Insidious” (2011), and “Insidious: Chapter 2” (2013). Whannell’s career started in 1996.
Have you ever wondered how rich Leigh Whannell is, as of mid- 2017? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Whannell’s net worth is as high as $55 million, an amount earned through his successful writing and producing career. Additionally, Whannell also works as an actor and director, which improves his wealth too.
Leigh Whannell Net Worth $55 Million
Leigh Whannell grew up in Australia, and inherited the love of film-making from his father; his mother introduced him to storytelling. Before he made it to the screen, Leigh worked as a film critic and reporter on numerous Australian shows.
In 1996, Whannell played in two episodes of the series “Neighbours”, while from 1999 to 2000, he appeared in a couple of episodes of “Blue Heelers”, a show about Victorian police officers.
Leigh had a minor role in The Wachowski Brothers’ sci-fi movie “The Matrix Reloaded” (2003) starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss, and in the same year, published his first short story called “Saw”, which was the platform for a full-length story and then James Wan’s horror movie with Whannell, Dany Glover, Cary Elwes, and Tobin Bell in lead roles. The franchise was born, and the film earned over $100 million worldwide, with only a $1.2 million budget, helping Whannell to increase his net worth significantly. The first part of the Saw series is the only one not produced by Leigh; he was the producer of the sequels, though.
The franchise grossed around $850 million from 2004 to 2010 on the big screen alone, while the books additionally improved Whannell’s wealth. In the meantime, Leigh had supporting roles in James Wan’s thriller “Death Sentence” (2007) alongside Kevin Bacon, John Goodman and Kelly Preston, and starred in the horror “Dying Breed” (2008), while in 2007, Whannell wrote a script for James Wan’s horror “Dead Silence”. It wasn’t as successful as predicted, but in 2010 Whannell wrote and starred in “Insidious” with Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, and Ty Simpkins. The movie became very popular in no time, and earned almost $100 million with a budget of only $1.5 million. This international hit was Whannell’s most fruitful work since “Saw”, until in 2013 the “Insidious: Chapter 2” came out and made over $160 million worldwide. It is only the beginning of a new Wan-Whannell franchise, and we can certainly expect more sequels.
In 2014, Leigh worked on the comedy-horror “Cooties” starring Elijah Wood, and then wrote and co-starred in the comedy called “The Mule” alongside Hugo Weaving. The third sequel of the Insidious franchise in 2015 was Whannell’s debut as a director, and he also wrote it, and starred in it with Dermot Mulroney and Stefanie Scott. The movie made more than $110 million, and at the moment in 2017, Leigh is working on the fourth part of the Insidious series, and the eighth sequel of the Saw series.
Regarding his personal life, Leigh Whannell has been married to Corbett Tuck since 2009, and has a daughter with her.
