Val Kilmer Net Worth: | $25 million |
Born: | 31st December 1959 (62 Years Old) |
Profession: | American actor |
Nationality: | American |
Children: | 2 |
The American actor Val Kilmer has an estimated net worth of $25 million. He is most famous for his appearances in Top Secret!, Top Gun, and Willow.
Early Life
Val Edward Kilmer was born on 31st December 1959, making him 62 today. He was born in Los Angeles, California to Eugene Dorris Kilmer and Gladys Swanette (nรฉe Ekstadt). Val Kilmerโs mother was of Swedish descent. His grandfather worked as a gold miner in the state of New Mexico.
When Kilmer was eight years old, his parents divorced and when he was ten, his mother remarried.
Kilmer was the second of three sons. Sadly in 1977, Wesley, his younger brother, drowned in a jacuzzi aged 15. He had epilepsy.
Kilmer went to Chatsworth High School. He was classmates with Kevin Spacey and his girlfriend at high school was the award-winning actress and singer Mare Winningham.
When he was accepted into the Drama Division of the Julliard School, he was the youngest person to have been accepted.
Early Career
In 1983, Kilmer was offered a role in The Outsiders by Francis Ford Coppola, but he turned it down due to theatre commitments.
That year, he appeared in The Slab Boys off Broadway with Sean Penn, Jackie Earle Haley, and Kevin Bacon. He also appeared in an ABC Afterschool Special about drink driving, which was his first off-stage role. Michelle Pfeiffer was also in this episode.
Also, that same year, he self-published a poetry collection called Mr Edens After Burns. Itโs hard to obtain copies of this book now and second-hand versions cost above $300.
Kilmerโs Big Break
Kilmerโs big break came with his role in Top Secret!, a spy movie comedy spoof. He played a rock and roll star, and he even released the songs he sang as an album by Nick Rivers, his characterโs name.
After his success in this role, he spent some time backpacking in Europe. He then played the lead role in Real Genius in 1985 and was then cast as โIcemanโ, a naval aviator in Top Gun with Tom Cruise.
His role in Top Gun (a movie that grossed $344 million) turned Val Kilmer into a major star.
He had a few more roles in the 1980s, including in some television films and a production of Hamlet.
It was on the set of Willow, where Kilmer played the role of Madmartigan, that he met Joanne Whalley, his wife.
Becoming A Star
Kilmer was cast as Morrison in Oliver Stoneโs film The Doors, based on the band. Before auditioning, he memorized all of Jim Morrisonโs lyrics. He prepared heavily for the role and spent a year dressing like him, hanging in his old hangouts and attending Doors tribute concerts.
When the film was released, his portrayal was highly praised, even by members of The Doors themselves, who said he was so convincing as Morrison.
Also in the 90s, Kilmer stared in The Real McCoy, Thunderheart, True Romance, Tombstone, Wings of Courage, and Heat.
However, it was his role in Batman Returns that was subject to debate. Kilmer decided not to return, and George Clooney replaced him.
In the late 1990s, he starred in many films, including Dead Girl, The Island of Dr Moreau, The Ghost and the Darkness and The Saint. The latter was a huge success and grossed almost $170 million.
Kilmer’s Career During The 2000s
In 2000, Kilmer starred in the Warner Bros. big budget film Red Planet, which was a disaster at the box office. He also had a role in Pollock and presented Saturday Night Live too.
In 2002, he played a role in The Salton Sea and was then in Hard Cash with Christian Slater (also known under the title of Run for the Money). It was a low-budget film.
In 2003, he portrayed John Holmes, a porn star, in the film Wonderland.
Over the next year or two he also appeared in Spartan, The Missing, Stateside, Alexander and Mindhunters.
The mid-2000s also saw him appear in theatre again. He played Moses in Max Azriaโs The Ten Commandments: The Musical in Los Angeles. He had already played Moses in The Prince of Egypt, the animated film.
The latter half of the decade saw him star in Dรฉjร Vu alongside Denzel Washington. He was also the voice of KITT, the car in Knight Rider TV series.
Towards the end of the decade, he played in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans alongside Nicolas Cage, and in Streets of Blood with 50 Cent.
The 2010s and 2020s
After starring in The Traveler and Twixt, he spoke in lots of ceremonies at Fulton, Missouriโs Willian Woods University. It was here that he received an honorary doctorate and performed Citizen Twain, his one-man play.
Citizen Twain became the basis of a film project that was also to be his directorial debut. It was a 90-minute version of the one-man show and was renamed Cinema Twain on its release.
It was announced in 2018 that Kilmer would reprise his โIcemanโ role in the sequel to Top Gun, called Top Gun: Maverick.
Val Kilmer Personal Life
Kilmer had a reputation for being good with the ladies. He has dated many high-profile women, including Cindy Crawford, Cher, Angeline Jolie, Ellen Barkin and Daryl Hannah.
He was married to his Willow co-star Joanne Whalley for eight years. They divorced in February 1996 and have two children. Their daughter, Mercedes, was born in 1991 and their son, Jack, was born in 1995,
Aside from his family life, Kilmer is famous for being difficult on set. He is said to have feuds with other actors and cause arguments.
Ill Health
Kilmer went into hospital in 2015, and his representatives said he was going under investigation for a tumor. He denied this but admitted in 2017 that he had been healed of cancer.
It is believed that he endured a two-year throat cancer battle and underwent tracheotomy surgery and chemotherapy.
Kilmer said in 2020 that he used a feeding tube as he canโt eat himself. His voice has been re-created with AI technology.
Awards and Nominations
Kilmer has been nominated for many awards. In 2012, he was a nominee for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken World Album for โThe Mark of Zorroโ.
He has also received nominations for four MTV Awards for Best Villain (2010), Most Desirable Male (1995 & 1993), and Best Male Performance (1991 & 1993).
In 2003, he won the Prism Award for Performance in a Theatrical Feature Film for his role in The Salton Sea (2002).
He has won two Satellite Awards. One in 2005 for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role, Comedy or Musical (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, 2005) and the other, a Humanitarian Award in 2022.
Finally, in Sitges at the Catalonian International Film Festival, he was the winner of the Time-Machine Honorary Award in 2017 for The Super.
In total, he has won 8 awards and has had 14 nominations.
Val Kilmer’s Famous Quotes
โI donโt like Val Kilmer, I donโt like his worth ethic, and I donโt want to be associated with him ever again.โ โ John Frankenheimer on Val Kilmer
โYou know what, he was real easy to work with. I just hate further rumors about people being difficult, because it can do such enormous damage to their careers. My experience with him was nothing but positive. He was really professional and gentlemanly, and a terrific actor.โ โ Mira Sorvino on Kilmer
โThere is no normal life, thereโs just life. You live it.โ โ Val Kilmer
โI liked being Doc Holliday. Itโs fun to be insightful and aristocratic, to stand up for your friend and make sacrifices for him. It was fun to be arrogant like he was and have the goods to back it up. He was a very noble character. Although, letโs not forget, he did kill a lot of people.โ โ Val Kilmer
โItโs important to be yourself. What art does for everyone, helps you understand yourself and in a distilled way, whether itโs a painting or a scene in acting or a joke. It distills something about everyday life that can be important to you.โ โ Val Kilmer
โI donโt make any pretense about being normal. Iโm not.โ
โ Val Kilmer
โIf you know where your spiritual center is, and you neglect it, peace will always allude you.โ โ Val Kilmer
โIt seems to me that every step forward in my life has been one that brings me to a better understanding of this: that you do your thing every day the best you can, and you approach any success at it with humility.โ โ Val Kilmer
โMy only โbusiness planโ was to get lucky.โ โ Val Kilmer
โMy perception is that Iโve never done anything but work really hard.โ
โ Val Kilmer
โGive me the compliments. I love compliments. I was born modest, but it wore off.โ โ Val Kilmer
โI respect people who can do both careers, like Will Smith and a couple of other people who have done it, but I just donโt know when they sleep.โ
โ Val Kilmer
โThe trick to being a good actor is getting so involved in your character that the camera disappears, the 50 bored guys eating doughnuts disappear, friends disappear. To get to that point when you donโt have to think about it, youโre just acting and reacting in those circumstances.โ โ Val Kilmer
Summary: Val Kilmer Net Worth
- Val Kilmer Net Worth is $25 million.
- He was the youngest ever to enroll at Julliard.
- He has starred in big films like Top Gun.
- He was married for 8 years and has two children from that marriage.
- He has dated several high-profile celebrities.
- He has been nominated for 14 awards and has won 8.
- In recent years, he has been ill with throat cancer but has now recovered, albeit with a feeding tube and tracheotomy.
- He is in the Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to the original Top Gun film in which he also starred.
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