James L. Brooks's Net Worth as of 2024
$500 Million

James Lawrence Brooks was born on the 9th May 1940, in Brooklyn, New York City USA, and is a producer, screenwriter, and director, certainly best known as the writer and executive producer of the animated series “The Simpsons” (1989- ). Brooks also wrote and directed the movies “Terms of Endearment” (1983) and “As Good as It Gets” (1997), and has received three Oscars, a Golden Globe, and 20 Emmy Awards. These series and films significantly increased his net worth. Brooks has been an active member of the entertainment industry since 1965.

Have you ever wondered how rich James L. Brooks is, as of mid-2016? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that James L. Brooks’ net worth is as high as $500 million, an amount earned through his successful career as a writer and producer. In addition to being one of the most accomplished writers in Hollywood, Brooks has also worked as a director which has improved his wealth, and he owns a television and film company.

James L. Brooks Net Worth $500 Million

James Brooks was born a son of Edward M. Brooks and Dorothy Helen, both salespeople, and grew up in Bergen, New Jersey with an older sister. His father left the family when finding out that his mother was pregnant with him – Brooks lost the contact with father when he was 12. He started to write comedy short stories in his childhood, and although receiving some positive critiques, he failed to publish any of them. He went to Weehawken High School and although not a particularly good achiever, he worked on the school’s newspaper.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, Brooks dropped-out of university, and after wortking in relatively casual jobs, started his writing career in 1965, with two episodes for the TV series “Men in Crisis”, and for a sports documentary “October Madness: The World Series”. Next year he wrote for “My Mother the Car” (1966), “Time-Life Specials: The March of Time” (1966), and That Girl (1966-1967). In the following years, Brooks usually wrote just an episode or two for various shows, but his biggest success to that point came in 1969 when he created “Room 222” (1969-1974), which ran for five seasons and had seven Golden Globe nominations, and certainly increased his net worth.

He and Allan Burns created the comedy series “Mary Tyler Moore” (1970-1977), for which Brooks wrote 168 episodes; the series was highly popular and earned three Golden Globes. At the end of the 70’s, Brooks worked on “Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers” (1974-1975), a double Golden Globe-winning series “Rhoda” (1974-1978), and wrote the scripts for the movies “Thursday’s Game” (1974) starring Gene Wilder, Bob Newhart and Ellen Burstyn, and “Cindy” (1978).

Brooks also wrote, “Lou Grant” (1977-1982) and “Taxi” (1978-1983) with Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conaway, Danny DeVito, before making his directing debut with “Terms of Endearment” (1983) starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, and Jack Nicholson, for which he also wrote the script. The movie brought him international glory, three Oscars, and dramatically improved his wealth.

Brooks’ next big achievement was the movie “Broadcast News” (1987) with William Hurt, Albert Brooks and Holly Hunter, which he directed and wrote; the film was nominated for seven Oscars and five Golden Globes. Soon after, he created “The Tracey Ullman Show” (1987-1990) and hired Matt Groening to write sketches for the show, with whom two years later he teamed-up to create one of the greatest series of all time – “The Simpsons”. The show won numerous awards and became a worldwide brand that is still running, brought Brooks astronomical fame, and significantly improved his net worth.

He wrote and directed four more movies: “I’ll Do Anything” (1994) with Nick Nolte, Albert Brooks, and Whittni Wright, an Oscar-winning comedy “As Good as It Gets” (1997) starring Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, and Greg Kinnear, a Golden Globe nominated “Spanglish” (2004) with Adam Sandler, Téa Leoni, and Paz Vega, and “How Do You Know” (2010) starring Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, and Owen Wilson. Most recently, he produced the upcoming movie “The Edge of Seventeen” with Hailee Steinfeld, Haley Lu Richardson, Blake Jenner, Woody Harrelson, and Kyra Sedgwick.

Thanks to his skills, Brooks has received numerous awards; apart from three Oscars for the film “Terms of Endearment”, and a Golden Globe for the same film, he has 47 Emmy nominations, of which he won 20, mostly for “The Simpsons” but also Emmy awards for “Taxi”, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, and “The Tracey Ullman Show”. Furthermore he has received the Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement by the Writers guild of America, among many other awards.

Regarding his personal life, James L. Brooks was married twice; his first wife was Marianne Catherine Morrissey from 1964 to 1972, with whom he has a daughter. His second wife was Holly Beth Holmberg from 1978 to 1999 and the couple has three children