What Is Michael Richards’ Current Net Worth? What happened in 2006 that ‘cancelled’ him?

Michael Richards’ net worth is estimated at $30 million. He is an American actor, writer, television producer, and retired comedian who is most recognized as Cosmo Kramer on the hit 90’s sitcom ‘Seinfeld.’ For this role, he earned the OFTA (Online Film & Television Award): Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Seinfeld, and a nomination for the OFTA: Best Supporting Actor for the same series in 1989.

Net Worth	$30 million
Occupation	Actor, film producer, writer, and retired comedian
Age	75 years
Source of Wealth	Career as an actor, film producer, and writer

With great fame comes great responsibility. The drawback of being in the public eye is that all your mistakes are magnified. Despite the success, we will also cover the incident in 2006 at the Laugh Factory in California that, arguably, led Michael to leave Hollywood.

Birth name	Michael Richards
Known as	Kramer
Date of birth	July 24, 1949
Age	75 years
Birthplace	Culver City, California
Famous As	Actor and comedian
Education	Thousand Oaks High School Evergreen State College
Zodiac sign	Leo
Nationality	American
Ethnicity	Italian, Scottish, English
Height	6 ft. 4 in. (1.93m)
Weight	176 lbs. (80kg)
Eye color	Brown
Hair color	Black
Spouse	Cathleen Lyons (1974-1993) Beth Skipp (2010-Current)
Children	Sophia Richards Antonio Baz Richards
Religion	Undisclosed
Father’s name	William Richards
Mother’s name	Phyllis (Nardozzi)
Siblings	None
Last updated	2023

Michael Richards’ Net Worth

Michael’s current net worth estimation of $30 million is a culmination of his years on Seinfeld, ongoing syndication deals from Seinfeld, and his real estate assets. He used to make a good amount of income out of his comedy career, but with time, he transitioned from doing comedy shows to acting and producing.

Michael Richards’ Early Life and Career

Michael Richards was born on July 24, 1949, and raised in South Los Angeles, California in a middle-class family to a mother who worked as a medical records librarian and a father who was an electrical engineer.

Michael spent the majority of his life raised by his mother Phyllis as his father died in a car crash while he was only 2 years of age and Phyllis never remarried.

He displayed a keen interest in acting at an early age starring in various high school and college productions. Michael later earned his undergraduate degree in Drama at Evergreen State College in Washington.

Michael Richards started his career in Billy Crystal’s first cable TV special in 1979.

His energetic and engaging style earned him a regular gig on the comedy series ‘Fridays’ in 1980 (with legendary comedian and writer Larry David), as ‘Battle Boy,’ who liked to blow up army soldiers.

After five years, he landed his role in the cult satirical TV miniseries ‘Fresno.’ And in 1989, he had a supporting role in ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s comedy film ‘UHF’ as janitor Stanley Spadowski.

Rise to Fame

That very same year, Michael was cast as the notorious Cosmo Kramer, Jerry Seinfeld’s wired, impulsive, frizzy-mop-headed neighbor, and pal on ‘Seinfeld.’

‘Seinfeld’ was created by fellow ‘Fridays’ cast member Larry David and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. It was a great hit for NBC and eventually helped its cast to become very wealthy and make Jerry Seinfeld one of the richest comedians in the world.

By Season 5, the cast members had each negotiated a salary of $150,000 per episode ($3.8 million per season). By the ninth and final season, each cast member was being paid $600,000 per episode ($15 million apiece)!

During the mid-1990s, Seinfeld had become one of the most popular shows in television history. It ended its nine-year run in 1998 at No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings.

Michael Richards won more Emmys than any other Seinfeld cast member, taking home the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1993, 1994, and 1997.

Years passed by, and in 2000 after the end of Seinfeld, Michael began work on a new series for NBC titled ‘The Michael Richards Show.’ Unfortunately, the ratings were lackluster and did not support the gigantic $1 million per episode salary of Michael. The show was canceled after 7 episodes.

Real Estate 

Michael makes big investments in real estate. Our research at LaTimes.Com has revealed that he once owned a 2,770-square-foot interior with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a spacious family room mansion for $525,000 in 1992.

He sold that mansion for $2.15 million in 2019 and upgraded to a 6,000-square-foot, 3 bedroom, 5 bath home in LA’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood for $7.02 million where he currently lives. 

Family Life

Michael has one daughter, Sophia, with Cathleen Lyons to whom he was married for 18 years. 

In 2010, Michael married Beth Skipp. They have been together since 2002 and have one son, Antonio Baz.

Controversy

While performing a stand-up routine at the Laugh Factory in California on November 17, 2006, Michael was heckled by some audience members. Unfortunately, Michael lost his cool and responded with a ‘racist rant’ calling an audience member the ‘N-word.’ 

Michael faced major backlash for the incident.

Days after the event, Jerry Seinfeld encouraged Michael to make an appearance on Letterman. Michael agreed and made an apology on the show via satellite:

In a 2012 episode of Seinfeld’s web series ‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,’ Michael explained that the outburst still haunted him, and was a major reason for his retirement from stand-up.

The Bottom Line

Michael Richards in his prime was a 90s cultural icon. His massive cult following from ‘Seinfeld’ reached such ridiculously high levels of praise and acclaim, that a lot of the catchphrases from the show are still popular today (think ‘No soup for you!’). His mistake in 2006 was big enough to affect his career, but now he is apparently spending more time helping his wife Beth in her acting career and is able to spend more time with his children.