How A Random 1980s Actress Became The Richest Celebrity On The Planet… With A $12 BILLION Net Worth

In the 1980s, Jami Gertz was one of the era’s quintessential “It Girls.” With her big brown eyes, curly dark hair, and cool-girl confidence, she stood out in a sea of blonde bombshells. She wasn’t just a pretty face—she had presence. And for a few years, she was everywhere.

You saw her as the edgy love interest in “The Lost Boys.” The troubled party girl in “Less Than Zero.” The quirky best friend in “Sixteen Candles.” She shared the screen with a who’s who of rising stars: Corey Haim, Andrew McCarthy, James Spader, John Cusack, Kiefer Sutherland, and Robert Downey Jr., just to name a few.

As you know, Kiefer Sutherland and Robert Downey Jr. became global icons, with the bank accounts to match:

Jami’s acting career cooled somewhat in the 1990s. She never stopped working—and still appears in occasional roles—but it wouldn’t be inaccurate to call her career moderately successful. She was never an A-lister demanding eight-figure paychecks.

And yet… even if you combined Kiefer and RDJ’s fortunes, you’d barely scratch the surface of Jami Gertz’s wealth.

Believe it or not, Jami Gertz is a multi-billionaire.

She’s the richest actor on the planet.

In fact, Jami’s $12 BILLION net worth makes her the #1 richest celebrity in the world. She’s $3 billion richer than Steven Spielberg, $4 billion richer than George Lucas, and $8 billion richer than Oprah.

So, how did a moderately successful ’80s actress end up as one of the wealthiest people in entertainment history?

In short, she married very, very, very well.

The Meet Cute

In the mid-1980s, Jami was introduced to a financier named Tony at a dinner party. His full name was Antony Ressler. The party was actually at his apartment. Tony and Jami hit it off. He asked her to brunch. She said yes. The next day, he sent a dozen roses to her dressing room at a small theater on Santa Monica Boulevard, where she was performing in a play opposite Jason Patric. At the time, she would have been around 22, and he would have been around 27. Also at the time, she was very much “the catch” of the two in the relationship.

In those early dating years, Tony worked for a financial firm called Drexel Burnham Lambert, eventually rising to a senior vice president in the firm’s high-yield bond department (aka “junk bonds”). Drexel was run by the notorious “Junk Bond King” Michael Milken

In 1989, the year Jami and Tony married, Drexel Burnham Lambert collapsed into a bankruptcy that utterly shocked the world. The collapse was so catastrophic, it sent the financial markets into a recession for years and ended the 1980s boom times in one fell swoop. Michael Milken subsequently spent 22 months in prison and paid a $200 million fine.

When the dust settled, Jami Gertz—not Antony—was the breadwinner. She bought their first home. She paid for their early vacations. She was the star. He was starting over.

Rebuilding After the Crash

In 1990, while still sifting through the wreckage of Drexel’s collapse, Antony and three fellow Drexel alumni—Leon Black, Josh Harris, and Marc Rowan—co-founded a new private equity firm: Apollo Global Management.

It was the right idea at the right time. Apollo went on to become a Wall Street powerhouse. Today, Apollo manages over $500 billion in assets and has a market cap of around $80 billion.

• Today, Leon Black’s net worth is $14 billion. Fun fact: When they founded Apollo, Leon was actually already Antony’s brother-in-law. In 1976, Leon married Antony’s sister Debra Ressler. And another fun fact: When Leon and Debra paid $38 million in 2016 for Tom Cruise’s Beverly Hills mansion, their real estate agent was Sharyn Gertz. Jami’s sister.

 

• Josh Harris is worth $10 billion and, perhaps more importantly, is the majority owner of the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA, the New Jersey Devils of the NHL, and the Washington Commanders of the NFL.

 

• Marc Rowan doesn’t own any sports teams, but today he is worth $7 billion.

Ares Management

Antony actually left Apollo in 1997, just seven years after the firm was founded, to co-found an asset management firm he named Ares Management. Today, Ares Management has $350 billion in assets under management. Ares is also a publicly traded company (NYSE ticker: ARES) with a market cap of $50 billion.

$12 Billion Fortune

Between his stakes in Apollo and Ares (the vast majority comes from Ares, though), today Jami and Antony’s net worth is $12 billion.

Philanthropy & Giving Back

Jami and Tony have not sat idly on that fortune. They are consistently among the most generous people in the world. They have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to various charities, notably:

• Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
• Gertz-Ressler High Academy (part of the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools)
• Painted Turtle Camp (a free summer camp they founded for children with chronic illnesses)

Jami directs the couple’s donations through the Ressler-Gertz foundation.

Owning the Hawks

In 2005, the couple made their first sports investment as minority owners in the Milwaukee Brewers.

Antony, a lifelong Lakers fan, always dreamed of owning an NBA team. When the Clippers went up for sale in 2014, they were outbid by Steve Ballmer’s $2 billion offer.

So they pivoted.

In 2015, Jami and Antony paid $850 million to become the majority owners of the Atlanta Hawks. It was a dream come true—and it solidified their position in the world of sports moguls. Oh, and it was a GREAT investment. Today the Hawks are worth $4 billion.

Homes and Family

Jami and Tony have three sons. The family owns over $100 million worth of real estate in Los Angeles alone, most notably mansions in Beverly Park and Malibu.

And btw, even with a $12 billion fortune, Jami still acts from time to time! In recent years, she’s popped up in shows like “Entourage” and “Modern Family,” and held a starring role on the long-running sitcom “Still Standing.”

From “The Lost Boys” to Richest Celebrity Ever

She may not have the biggest box office hits. She was never the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. But Jami Gertz’s story is one of the most surprising—and quietly powerful—in entertainment history.

And if you ever need a reminder that life can take some wild, unexpected turns, just remember: The richest celebrity on Earth is still that girl from “The Lost Boys.”