Chris Rock Net Worth: How Much Richer Is the Comedian After Will Smith Slapped Him?
Comedian Chris Rock is undoubtedly one of the biggest comedians. However, while he was at the receiving end of the "Slap Heard Around the World," he turned it into a big payday. This begs the question; how much is his net worth?
Christopher Julius Rock came from humble beginnings in South Carolina and gritted his teeth in the stand-up scene before making it big after he joined Saturday Night Live. Now, he not only stars in movies and hosts the Oscars, but he also makes millions of dollars in appearances.
While he was born in Andrews, South Carolina, his parents moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he grew up being bused to schools in mostly White neighborhoods and endured bullying and harassment from White students. This forced him to drop out of school.
He started working in fast-food restaurants before trying his hand at stand-up comedy in 1984 at the club Catch a Rising Star in New York City. As he was doing stand-up, Rock soon drew the attention of Eddie Murphy, who would mentor the young Chris Rock and eventually give him his first film role in "Beverly Hills Cop II" (1987).
Chris Rock in Saturday Night Live and Rise to Stardom
In 1990, Rock joined the cast of Saturday Night Live. There, he would meet lifelong friends like Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, and David Spade, as well as the late Chris Farley. Together, they became known as the Bad Boys of SNL. A year later, Rock released his first comedy album, "Born Suspect," before receiving critical acclaim for his portrayal of an addict in the film "New Jack City."
Rock left SNL in 1993 before joining SNL rival "In Living Color." However, shortly after he joined, the show was canceled.
However, Rock never stopped doing stand-up despite his TV and movie appearances. He had success with his HBO comedy specials like s "Bigger & Blacker" (1999) and "Never Scared" (2004), and was so good that Time and Entertainment Weekly called him "the funniest man in America." He briefly also had an HBO talk show, "The Chris Rock Show," which won an Emmy for Best Writing.
As for his movies, he starred in some pretty big box office hits, the biggest being the "Madagascar" series as well as "Grown Ups" and "Grown Ups 2." He also created and produced the semi-autobiographical sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris," which aired 88 episodes between 2005 and 2009.
How Much Is Chris Rock Net Worth?
With all those comedy specials, hosting gigs, movies, TV appearances, and other engagements, Celebrity Net Worth estimates that Chris Rock is worth around $60 million.
He is considered one of the highest-paid comedians in the world, as he earned approximately $60 million from touring between June 2016 and June 2017 alone.
However, Rock could have been richer if he did not go through a divorce settlement with his wife of 20 years, Malaak Compton, back in 2020. The comedian reportedly lost tens of millions of dollars.
He did earn some of that money back following the infamous Oscars slap, as Rock reportedly got paid by Netflix $40 million for two comedy specials, the second one being, of course, "Selective Outrage" where he skewered Will Smith. According to Stylecaster, he was paid $20 million per Netflix special.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: Chris Rock jokes about the 'Oscars slap' in tribute to Adam Sandler - CNN
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