Jami Gertz: More Successful Than Oprah Yet Still Under The Radar

You might know her from the ’80s film Less than Zero, the 1996 blockbuster Twister, or the sitcom Still Standing.

Yet despite her familiar face, the 59-year-old actress is rarely mentioned among the richest celebrities, much less as one of the wealthiest people alive.

Her relatively quiet media presence may lead some to believe there’s little story behind the scenes. But the truth is, Gertz’s life reads like a Hollywood script.

The former actress, NBA team co-owner, philanthropist, and investor has amassed a fortune that eclipses most A-list stars.

Whether her wealth came from savvy decisions or strategic partnerships, Gertz challenges every assumption about fame and fortune.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Jami Gertz's estimated net worth is $12 billion. That figure catapults the Emmy-nominated actress to the top of the entertainment earnings ladder, surpassing celebrities many would expect to lead the pack.

Her extraordinary fortune overshadows that of the world’s wealthiest female musician (per Forbes), Taylor Swift, whose net worth is $1.5 billion (via Celebrity Net Worth).

Gertz also eclipses Selena Gomez ($700 million, per Forbes) and even Oprah Winfrey, the so-called “Queen of All Media,” whose wealth totals $4 billion (via Celebrity Net Worth).

Gertz’s astronomical net worth may raise some eyebrows because of how out of step it is with her modest Hollywood profile, but the scale of her fortune hints at a financial journey that extends far beyond acting

Born on October 28, 1965, Gertz grew up in a working-class family in Chicago, Illinois. She went to Maine East High School before attending NYU.

She gained fame in the 1980s with roles in the sitcom Square Pegs and the cult classic The Lost Boys. But her career took a dramatic turn in 1987 after she met American businessman Tony Ressler (per US Magazine).

They married in 1989. Though Ressler is now a multi-billionaire sports team owner and philanthropist, he was just a regular banker when they met (per IMDb).

Interestingly, Ressler and Gertz now share the same estimated net worth. But Gertz has pushed back against the notion that her fortune is merely inherited.

“Everyone thinks I married a rich guy,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “But I made more money, way more money, than Tony when I met him. I paid for our first house. I paid for our first vacation. I married him because I fell in love with him.”

Over time, Gertz stepped away from acting and began investing alongside Ressler in a series of high-stakes ventures that would eventually pay off in extraordinary ways.

Gertz may have started in Hollywood, but one of her most lucrative moves came far from the screen.

In 2015, her husband Tony Ressler purchased the then-struggling Atlanta Hawks for $720 million, bringing Gertz on board as co-owner.

The deal was made from the most unlikely place: a closet in their 13,000-square-foot home.

“He has a little tiny desk in there, and he was taking calls in the closet,” Gertz told The Hollywood Reporter.

“I was walking in and out, and he looked at me and said, ‘Jami, are we going to do this?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know. I’m so scared.’ He said, ‘It would be so much fun!’ Then we were jumping and screaming, ‘Oh my God, we just bought a basketball team!’"

It turned out to be a brilliant decision. At the time, Forbes valued the Hawks at $825 million. As of 2025, that number has skyrocketed to $3.8 billion.

Owning an NBA team had been a long-standing dream for Ressler. “When Mom married my dad, she realized how much he loved the sport and slowly started to gain an appreciation for the game,” said their son Nick.

Over time, that dream became a family goal, and eventually, that question turned into a life-changing “yes."

Jami Gertz and her husband own a luxurious Beverly Hills house, fittingly located in an exclusive gated community, and sit atop 360-degree breathtaking mountain views in Los Angeles. The house has an estimated worth of at least $30 million, according to tax records, but it might sell for around $50 million on the open market.

The billionaire couple boasts a long roster of celebrity neighbors in their gated community, ranging from Hollywood legend Sylvester Stallone and two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington, to critically acclaimed movie star Mark Wahlberg and more luminaries.

Gertz and Ressler’s other primary house is located in Malibu and sits above the breathtaking Broad Beach, offering a quiet gateway for the affluent duo when the occasion calls for it.

As rich as her husband is, Gertz did not rely (at least completely) on his money to build her impressive wealth. In 2010, she ventured into the behind-the-scenes side of entertainment by launching her own production company, Lime Orchard Productions.

“You reach an age, and you slow down, and the jobs are a little hard to come by,” Gertz told THR. “So I decided to put money into a project of my own.”

In a philanthropic effort, the Lost Boys star and her husband contributed $5 million through their Ressler Gertz Family Foundation, thus expanding nonprofit efforts to support local Black-owned businesses financially (per NBA).

The Hollywood actress, NBA team owner, and philanthropist cleverly pocketed billions of dollars thanks to her hugely successful passive income streams and diversified assets.

Gertz’s wealth might surprise you, but she’s not the only celebrity with a jaw-dropping net worth.

Jami Gertz’s staggering net worth continues to confuse and surprise many fans, largely because she has stayed far under the radar.

Unlike her billionaire peers, she avoids social media, rarely gives interviews, and is almost never the subject of tabloid headlines.

That invisibility has only intensified public curiosity and sparked a wave of online speculation.

 Reddit threads on Gertz’s fortune have attracted thousands of comments, with users debating whether she earned her wealth or married into it.

Some, like @rsjem79, dismissed her fortune with a shrug: “Marrying a billionaire is a pretty good way to become rich.”

Others took a more hostile tone, reducing her entire success to gendered insults like, “from being a golddigger just like all women are duh.”

Still, some users came to her defense. One popular rebuttal noted that Gertz didn’t marry a billionaire; she married a banker who became one years later.

And of course, the internet couldn’t resist turning her unlikely billionaire status into a meme.

In a nod to her brief role on Seinfeld, where her character refuses to share toilet paper in a public restroom, one Redditor joked: “And [she] still couldn't spare a square.”