Last Updated on 9 months by Anoob P T
As of August 2021, James Earl Jones Net Worth is estimated to be around $40-$45 Million. In this post, we are going to look at James Earl Jones Net Worth, Movies, Ads & How James Earl Jones Made Money.
| James Earl Jones Net Worth : $40-$45 Million Million (approx) | |
| Source of Net Worth | Acting in Movies, Television and Stage |
| Real Estate Investments | Home in Pawling, NY |
| Business Investments | NA |
| Age & Date of Birth | 90 Years, 1/17/1931 |
| Gender | Male |
| Profession | Professional Actor |
| Nationality | American |
We have also written a detailed post about Morgan Freeman Net Worth, Salary, Age, Bio, Career & Personal Life – you can read it if you are interested.
Table of Contents
James Earl Jones Net Worth & What You Can Learn from James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones was from a very middle class family with his father having worked at several odd jobs and his mother was working as a maid.
As a child, he had problem speaking to others but his teacher recognized his talent in writing poetry and encouraged him to read it aloud to his class which gave him more confidence.
Thank & Remember The People Who Helped You Out When You needed the most
Many-a-times, James Earl Jones has thanked and credited his teacher Donald Crouch for believing in him and encouraging him to overcome his speaking issues.
In life, if someone has helped you when you needed the most, do thank them and remember what they did to you so that you too can do good for people who might need help.
Listen to Your Gut about Your Profession
After schooling, James Earl Jones enrolled in the University of Michigan as a pre-med major but then soon realized that he was not happy pursuing a career in medicine.
Lot of times, people like us start doing the first job that we land and continue it for years even when we know the job or career is something we do not enjoy.
I have personally made this mistake several times and I did many jobs I hated purely for the money.
Now, that I am older and have savings, I am choosing not to work for jobs that don’t interest me and I’m constantly trying to find excitement in life.
This post is part of our series where we look at the lives of influencers who have chosen unconventional careers and became successful.
James Earl Jones Net Worth, Movies, Ads & How James Earl Jones Made Money
Who is James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor and a voice actor who is most famous for voicing the character of Darth Vader in Star Wars. His voice is characterized by the deep resonance which made him famous as the voice of Darth Vader.
He has been awarded several prestigious awards like Grammy, Emmy, and Tony awards. He is still actively working in the film industry.
James Earl Jones Bio
| Real Name | Todd Jones |
| Nick Name | James Earl Jones |
| Date of Birth | 17 January 1931 |
| Age | 90 Years OId |
| Relationship Status | Married to Cecilia Hart (1982-2016) & Julienne Marie (1968-1972) |
| Children | 1 |
| Height | 6 feet 1 inch or 187 cms |
| Weight | 187 lbs or 85 kgs (Approx) |
| Net Worth | $40-$45 Million (approx) |
| Place of Residence | Pawling, NY |
| Source of Wealth | Acting in Movies, Television and Stage |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of Michigan |
| Religion | Catholic |
James Earl Jones Age
James Earl Jones Early Life or Young
James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla in Mississippi to parents Ruth Jones and Robert Earl Jones.
His father worked as a boxer, chauffeur, and butler. He then went to New York to chase his dream of becoming an actor.
He did not meet his son until the 1950s. James’ mother was a teacher and a maid.
When he was 5 years old, he was sent to live with his grandparents. This experience proved to be traumatic to him and he developed speech problems.
When he first joined school, he did not speak and calls it his “first mute year”.
He continued staying mute until high school. He was able to speak properly again when his high school teacher encouraged him.
He saw that James had a gift for writing poetry and encouraged him to read the poetry that he wrote aloud in class.
This helped James to overcome his speech problem. He has credited his teacher Donald Crouch on several occasions and thanked him.
James enrolled in Browning School and studied his high school years from there, however, he graduated from Dickson Rural Agricultural School.
He then enrolled in the University of Michigan as a pre-med major. Then his field of interest changed and he felt more suited to be in the military environment and joined the Pershing Rifles Drill Team and Scabbard and Blade Honor Society.
It was during this time that he understood that being a doctor was not suited for him.
He then went on to enroll in the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance to focus on acting.
He joined here assuming that he would be sent off to fight for the Korean war. He thought before he is sent off to the war, he would rather do something he loves. James Earl Jones graduated in 1955.
James Earl Jones Career
James started his acting career in 1953 when he was a stage carpenter in the Ramsdell Theatre in Michigan.
From 1955 to 1957, he worked as an actor and a stage manager. His first portrayal was of Othello by Shakespeare in 1955.
He also had an appearance in the ABC radio anthology titled Theatre-Five.
He debuted on the Broadway in 1957 as an understudy to Lloyd Richards and acted in the play titled The Egghead.
The play, although being short-lived, paved the way for his acting career. James has since then acted in many of Shakespeare’s dramas and was known as one of the best actor for a Shakespearean role.
He has played roles in Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, Measure for Measure, and Hamlet.
It was also during this time that he made his film debut with “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” in 1964.
In the same year, he was cast as the rebel leader in The Comedians. In 1967, he starred in the play “The Great White Hope”.
This play was hugely successful and went on to get the award Pulitzer Prize for Drama. James also won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award in 1969.
Such was his popularity during this time that he took part in the making of a children’s education series titled Sesame Street.
Feedback from people was taken and it was revealed that the part they liked the most was of James’s.
In the 1970s, he took part in a lot of plays that were performed on the Broadway like “The Iceman Cometh” and “Of Mice and Men”.
He was cast in the film adaptation of “The Great White Hope” for which he was nominated for Best Actor in the Academy Award. He also starred in films like “The Man” and “Claudline”.
His breakthrough performance was his voicing the role of Darth Vader in Star Wars: A New Hope.
In this interview, James Earl Jones talks about using his Darth Vader voice in public.
His voicing was appreciated by people so much that he continued lending his voice in the sequels.
He was initially not credited for his voice in the first two films of the series.
He thought that his voicing the character was just “special effects” since the original actor’s voice was not suiting the role.
However, by the time the 3rd film was released, people were beginning to recognize his voice that it was his voice, so he allowed the makers to add his name in the credits.
In the 1980s, he starred in multiple films like “Conan the Barbarian”, “Coming to America”, “Field of Dreams”, and “Matewan”.
He also voiced the role of Pharaoh in the first episode of “The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible”. He was the host of the children’s TV series titles “Long Ago and Far Away”.
He continued appearing in several films during the 1990s.
One of his most prominent performances was voicing Mufasa in the animated film “The Lion King” in 1994.
His beautiful bass voice suited the character a lot. In 1992, he received the National Medal of the Arts by the then-president of America George H.W. Bush.
He went on to star in “Under One Roof”, “Mathnet”, “Square One Television”, “An American Moment”.
In the 2000s, he was in several TV shows like “Two and a half men”, “Everwood”, “House M.D.” and “The Big Bang Theory”.
In 2002, James was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors by George W. Bush. It is assumed that he had lent his final in the climax of the Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith in 2005. This is however still a mystery.
In the 2010s, he acted extensively in plays like “Driving Miss Daisy”, “The Best Man”, “Much Ado About Nothing”, “You Can’t Take it With You”, “The Gin Game”.
He appeared in commercials for Sprint during 2013 to 2014. In 2015, he was cast in the drama series “Agent X”.
He once again reprised his role as lending voice to Darth Vader and Mufasa.
In 2021, he has been cast again to revive his character in “Coming 2 America” as King Jaffe Joffer.
James Earl Jones Best Movies
James Earl Jones had a career that spanned over 70 years so it is difficult to pick few movies.
However, in this section, we are going to look at few noteable James Earl Jones movies.
Coming 2 America
He played the role of King Jaffe Joffer, the ruler of the fictional country Zamunda in Africa.
You can watch Coming 2 America Trailer here
The Sandlot
He played the role of Mr. Mertle. Although his character appears towards the end of the movie, he left a huge impact on the audience.
You can watch the trailer of The Sandlot here
Field of Dreams
He played the role of Terence Mann who was a reclusive during the Civil Rights movement.
You can watch trailer of Fielf of Dreams here
James Earl Jones Best Commercials (Ads)
James Earl Jones has also featured in many recognizable ads or commercials.
In this section, we are looking at some of James Earl Jones best commercials (ads).
James Earl Jones Ad for Flashback Friday
James Earl Jones ad for Sprint
James Earl Jones Daisy commercial
James Earl Jones Arbys
Many people assumed that the voice in the Arby’s commercial was of James Earl Jones’. However it was revealed that it was not him but Ving Rhames who voiced the commercial.
You can watch all of Arby’s commercials in this video below:
James Earl Jones Net Worth
How James Earl Jones Made Money
James has been acting for decades and his earnings mainly came from movies.
He has also lent his voice to several movies and commercials which has added to his net worth.
He made the most money by voicing Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies.
James Earl Jones Death Hoax
In 2015, a parody news website had posted an article saying that the actor had passed away.
However, when people clicked on the article, they were redirected to a page that said “you got owned”.
In response to this death hoax, James ended up making a Twitter account to show that he was alive and healthy.
Is James Earl Jones Still Alive
James Earl Jones Reads Bible
James Earl Jones was raised as a Catholic and his videos on him reading Bible are very popular.
We have found a playlist that contains all the videos of James Earl Jones reading the bible.
You can watch James Earl Jones Reads Bible videos here.
James Earl Jones Wife
James Earl Jones had two wives in his lifetime.
He was first married to Julienne Marie from 1968 to 1972.
Then he married Cecilia Hart in 1982. The couple had one son together.
Cecilia passed away in 2016 due to ovarian cancer.
James Earl Jones Son
James Earl Jones has a son with his second wife, Cecilia Hart.
James’s son is named Flynn Earl Jones.
James Earl Jones Daughter
James Earl Jones House
James Earl Jones resides in Pawling in New York.
James Earl Jones Social Media Handles
James Earl Jones is active on few social media channels. If you want to follow James Earl Jones on social media, you can do so using these official handles.
Frequently Asked Questions about James Earl Jones
What is James Earl Jones Net Worth?
As of August 2021, James Earl Jones net worth is estimated to be $40-$45 Million.
How much did James Earl Jones make for being the voice of Darth Vader?
Around $10,000
Where does James Earl Jones live now?
Pawling, NY
What religion is James Earl Jones?
Catholic
Who is James Earl Jones married to?
He was married to Cecilia Hart
Is James Earl Jones sick?
He was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes many years back.
What ethnicity is James Earl Jones?
African, Cherokee, Choctaw and Irish descent.
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