Maximillian Michael Brooks was born on 22 May 1972, in New York City, USA, the son of famous comedy filmmaker Mel Brooks and actress Anne Bancroft, of Jewish descent through his father and Italian through his mother. He is a horror author and screenwriter, and a television and voice-over actor, best known for his books “The Zombie Survival Guide” and “World War Z:An Oral History of the Zombie War”.
So just how rich is Max Brooks now? Sources state that Brooks has collected a wealth over $20 million, as of mid-2017. His net worth has been accumulated during his writing career, as well as through his involvement in acting, which has its base in the 1990s.
Max Brooks Net Worth $20 million
Brooks grew up in New York City and Santa Monica, California. He attended Santa Monica’s Crossroads School and Pitzer College in Claremont, California, earning a bachelor’s degree in history. He also briefly attended the University of the Virgin Islands, before completing his studies at the American University in Washington, D.C., graduating in 1994.
His interest in the living dead started at an early age, after he reportedly experienced a traumatic incident, something that he refuses to talk about. After spending some time working for the BBC in Great Britain and East Africa, in 2001 Brooks began writing for NBC’s popular late-night live television comedy sketch and variety show “Saturday Night Live”, remaining with it until 2003 paving his way to recognition, and his net worth to begin to increase.
In 2003, his first book, “The Zombie Survival Guide” came out, portraying the lives of zombies and pop cultural myths about these creatures, and offering an in-depth explanation of “…how to survive an impending zombie apocalypse…” The book drew great critical and commercial success, being featured on The New York Times Best Seller’s list. Aside from boosting Brooks’ popularity, it significantly added to his wealth.
His second book, “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War”, which came out in 2006, became a massive hit, shooting Brooks to stardom and significantly improving his net worth. Covering the global war between mankind and zombies, the book was later made into the film of the same name, starring Brad Pitt, which also turned out to be a great hit. The year 2009 saw the release of Brooks’ sequel to his first book, called “The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks”, reinforcing his fame and greatly improving his fortune.
His three massively successful zombie-themed books have made Brooks a star, enabling him to amass a significant net worth.
His other writing credit includes several other zombie-themed books, the introduction for “Raise the Dead’s” hardcover collected edition of a zombie miniseries. which debuted in 2007, as well as several stories from Christopher Golden’s anthology “The New Dead” released in 2010. He has also written the comic book mini-series “G.I. Joe: Hearts & Minds”, as well as the collection of short stories “Closure, Limited and Other Zombie Tales” and the graphic novel “The Harlem Hellfighters”, among other work. All have contributed to his wealth.
His most recent project was the novel “Minecraft: The Island”, released in 2017.
Aside from his writing career, Brooks has also worked as an actor, making appearances in television series such as “Roseanne”, “Pacific Blue” and “7th Heaven”, as well as in his father’s war comedy film “To Be or Not to Be”. He has done some voice-over work as well, providing his voice for the animated series “Batman Beyond”, “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command”, “Justice League” and “All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series”. Brooks has also appeared in the television shows “Deadliest Warrior” and “Sons of Guns”. His acting career has been another source of his net worth.
Speaking about his private life, Brooks has been married to playwright Michelle Kholos since 2003. The couple has one child , and the family resides in Venice, California.
