As one of the most talked-about figures, Brian De Palma has built a significant fortune. Our team analyzed the latest data to provide a clear picture of their income.
What Is Brian De Palma's Net Worth?
Brian De Palma is an American film director and screenwriter who has a net worth of $40 million. Brian De Palma is known for his lurid psychological thriller and crime films. His work includes mainstream hits such as "Carrie," "The Untouchables," "Scarface," and "Mission: Impossible" as well as such cult classics as "Sisters," "Phantom of the Paradise," and "Blow Out." Heavily influenced byAlfred Hitchcock, among other filmmakers, De Palma was a leading member of the New Hollywood era.
For college, De Palma went to Columbia University, where he studied physics. After graduating in 1962, he went to graduate school at Sarah Lawrence College to study theater, earning his MA in 1964 as one of the first male students at the newly coed institution. It was at Sarah Lawrence that Brian became influenced by such filmmakers as Alfred Hitchcock, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Jean-Luc Godard.
The '80s were a prolific decade for De Palma, beginning with the releases of "Home Movies" and "Dressed to Kill." Following those, Brian directed the neo-noir thriller "Blow Out," starringJohn Travoltaas a movie sound effects engineer who incidentally records audio of a political assassination. Next came 1983's "Scarface," a remake of the classic Howard Hawks film starring Al Pacino as Cuban drug lord Tony Montana. This was followed by the erotic thriller "Body Double" and the black comedy crime film "Wise Guys." In 1987, De Palma had a mainstream hit with the crime film "The Untouchables," which earnedSean Connerythe Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Brian's final film of the decade was the Vietnam War drama "Casualties of War," starring Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox.
While still at Sarah Lawrence, De Palma collaborated with theater professor Wilford Leach and classmate Cynthia Monroe on the film "The Wedding Party," which also featured a young, unknownRobert De Niro. Shot in 1963, the film was released in 1969 after De Palma had directed "Murder a la Mod" and "Greetings," the latter of which also featured De Niro. The two reunited again in 1970 for the black comedy "Hi, Mom!," in which De Niro reprised his role as peeping Tom and aspiring filmmaker Jon Rubin. The same year, Brian co-directed the performance documentary "Dionysus in '69."
Film Career in the '80s and '90s
De Palma began the '90s with the notorious flop "The Bonfire of the Vanities," based on the eponymous Tom Wolfe novel and starringTom Hanks,Bruce Willis, andMelanie Griffith. He had greater success with his 1992 psychological thriller "Raising Cain" and his 1993 crime drama "Carlito's Way," which reunited him withAl PacinoandSean Penn. Brian's biggest box-office hit, however, was the 1996 spy film "Mission: Impossible," based on the classic television series and starringTom Cruiseas agent Ethan Hunt. One of the highest-grossing films of the year, it spawned a long-running film franchise. Closing out the '90s, De Palma directed the mystery thriller "Snake Eyes," starringNicolas Cage.
Brian De Palma was born on September 11, 1940, in Newark, New Jersey. He is the youngest of three sons of Italian-American parents, Vivienne and Anthony. Raised in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, he went to various Quaker and Protestant schools as a youth and graduated from Friends' Central School. De Palma had a bitter relationship with his father, who engaged in adulterous activity; the teenage Brian would often covertly follow him and record his affairs.
Relocating to Hollywood in the early '70s, De Palma directed the comedy "Get to Know Your Rabbit," starring Tommy Smothers and Orson Welles. Brian did not enjoy the experience. He subsequently directed the psychological horror film "Sisters," starringMargot Kidderas separated conjoined twins. De Palma's next film was the rock musical "Phantom of the Paradise," starring and featuring the music ofPaul Williams. He then directed the psychological thriller "Obsession," which came out in 1976. That same year, Brian had his biggest hit yet with the supernatural horror film "Carrie," based on the eponymousStephen Kingnovel. A box-office and critical smash, the film earned Academy Award nominations for starsSissy Spacekand Piper Laurie. Continuing to gravitate toward the supernatural, De Palma next directed "The Fury," based on the eponymous John Farris novel and starringKirk Douglas, John Cassavetes,Amy Irving, and Carrie Snodgress.
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Disclaimer: All net worth figures are estimates based on public data.
