Nicolas Cage once had a net worth of $150 million, but bad financial choices changed that in a hurry.
Since his breakout role in Valley Girl back in 1983, Nicolas Cage has starred in more than 110 movies, according to IMDb. He’s played everything from the romantic lead in movies like It Could Happen to You (1994) to a badass Marvel superhero.With almost 40 years in the industry, it’s no surprise that Nicolas Cage has not only managed to make a name for himself but also made a lot of money.
Now Nicolas Cage has left Hollywood for good, his net worth is not the same as it was when he was at the highest point of his career. Back in 2009, the Ghost Rider star had made approximately $40 million dollars. But today, his net worth is nowhere near that amount. How did that happen?
Nicolas Cage’s real name is Nicolas Kim Coppola. Through his father, he is the nephew of acclaimed movie director Francis Ford Coppola. He decided he wanted to become an actor at a very young age.
“I wanted to be James Dean. I saw him in Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden. Nothing affected me—no rock song, no classical music—the way Dean affected me in Eden. It blew my mind. I was like, ‘That’s what I want to do’.” The actor told The Independent in 2014.
Although he appeared in some of his uncle’s films during the early years of his career, like The Cotton Club (1984), the actor decided to change his name to Nicolas Cage to avoid people from assuming his success was a result of nepotism as Coppola’s nephew.
His stage name was inspired by Marvel’s superhero Luke Cage, as well as the composer John Cage.
In the early 80s, Cage landed his first acting gig in the television pilot for The Best of Times, a television show that was never picked up by ABC.
Then, in 1982 he landed a minor role in the coming-of-age film Fast Times at Ridgemont High. And the following year, he landed the leading role opposite Deborah Foreman in the romantic comedy Valley Girl. This movie was not only a huge box office success, but it also put Nicolas Cage’s name on the map.
Fast-forward to today, Cage has starred in more than a hundred movies. Some of his more mainstream films include Con Air (1997), City of Angels (1998), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), the National Treasure film franchise (2004–2007), Marvel’s Ghost Rider (2007), and Kick-Ass (2010).
In addition to this, the actor has received various awards, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
How Much Has Nicolas Cage Earned During His Career?
During his long career, Nicolas Cage has appeared in countless movies, some of which are great and some of which are not so good. And after more than 40 years in the industry, it’s no wonder that the actor has amassed a large net worth.
Between 1996 and 2011, the actor made over $150 million thanks to movies like Gone in Sixty Seconds, National Treasure, Snake Eyes, and Windtalkers. And just in 2009 alone, Nicolas Cage made approximately $40 million, becoming one of the highest-paid actors of all time!
How Nicolas Cage Spent Most Of His $150 Million Fortune
Although he once had a net worth of more than $150 million, Nicolas Cage is only left with $25 million nowadays, according to Celebrity Net Worth. This is mostly the result of Cage’s bad spending habits, paired off with a bunch of poor financial decisions.
By the time he was forty, Nicolas Cage had spent most of his lifetime income buying frivolous stuff, including dinosaur skulls, two albino cobras, some very exotic cars, and even a haunted house.
In addition to this, the actor had to pay a $14 million debt to the IRS in 2009. The Oscar-winning actor said that bad business management was to blame for defaulting on his income taxes and, because of this, he filed a lawsuit against his former business manager, Samuel Levin, that same year.