Laura Linney’s Net Worth Has Grown by the Millions Due to ‘Ozark’—Here’s Her Salary on the Show
Whether you know her as Ozark‘s Wendy Byrde or The Big C’s Cathy Jamison, it’s clear that Laura Linney‘s serious acting chops have captivated audiences all while earning her a pretty penny. But what is Laura Linney’s net worth, exactly? The Emmy Award-winning actress didn’t get to where she is today without landing some impressive paychecks—so we’re diving into everything we know about Linney’s career and salary below.
Laura Leggett Linney was born in Manhattan, New York, in February 1964 to parents Romulus and Miriam. Her father was a playwright and professor, while her mother worked as a nurse at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Linney’s parents separated when she was very young, and she spent the majority of her upbringing in a modest one-bedroom apartment with her single mother. Susan Linney, a half-sister from her father’s previous marriage, is Linney’s only sibling. After graduating from Northfield Mount Herman School in 1982, Linney enrolled at Northwestern University before transferring to Brown University. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1986 and went on to study acting for a time at the acclaimed Julliard School in New York City.
Linney’s acting career kicked off on stage with a series of local theater credits. Her most well-known Broadway appearance was in Hedda Gabler, for which she won the 1994 Joe A. Callaway Award. Linney’s other Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include roles in The Crucible, Sight Unseen, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Time Stands Still and The Little Foxes.
After solidifying her status on stage throughout the ’90s, Linney began to branch off into film and television. She was cast in a series of blockbusters, including 1995’s Congo, 1996’s Primal Fear and 1997’s Absolute Power before her breakthrough role in 1998, which saw her playing Jim Carrey’s on-screen wife in the sci-fi dramedy, The Truman Show.
By the turn of the century, Linney was rubbing shoulders with the big leagues, starring opposite the likes of Mark Ruffalo and Matthew Broderick ins 2000’s You Can Count on Me. The film earned Linney her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the role. Two years later, she would snag her first Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her role in 2002’s Wild Iris with Gena Rowlands, Emile Hirsch, Fred Ward, Lee Tergesen, Miguel Sandoval and Scott Gibson.
The multi-talented actress has since gone on to star in a number of iconic television roles. Beginning in 2008, Linney starred in the comedy Frasier alongside Kelsey Grammer, Jane Leeves, David Hyde Pierce, Peri Gilpin, John Mahoney and Dan Butler. For her role as Charlotte, the final love interest of Frasier Crane, Linney won her second Primetime Emmy Award for Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. Likewise, from 2010 to 2013, Linney knocked it out of the park in Showtime’s The Big C. The series, which sees Linney in the role of a suburban wife and mother battling cancer, earned her yet another Primetime Emmy Award during the series’ final season. In 2011, Linney also won a Golden Globe Award for her performance on the show.
Of course, today many fans know Linney best for her role on Netflix’s Ozark, where she has starred opposite Jason Bateman and Julia Garner from 2017 until the series finale in 2022. But what fans may not know is just how much of Laura Linney’s net worth is thanks to the series and others like it. For everything we know about how much Laura Linney’s Ozark salary and more, just keep on reading below.
How much does Laura Linney make per episode of Ozark?
So, how much does Laura Linney make per episode of Ozark? In the series, which ran for four seasons from 2017 to 2022, Linney starred as Wendy Byrde—wife to financial advisor Marty Byrde, who relocates their family to Missouri to launder money for a Mexican drug cartel.
“When I got the script and read the script, you could see the potential not only for the character of Wendy, but for the narrative, as well. It just had tremendous potential. That was obvious, right off the bat,” Linney told Collider in 2017 of her choice to join the cast. “I wasn’t looking to do a series, but I’ve always really, really admired Jason. I’d met him a few times, socially, and I’d always really liked him. I’d always suspected and inherently known that he had a much larger range than he’s been able to explore, so I was just very excited for him, that he was going to let himself venture into another genre.”
For her role on the series, Linney has since been nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for her performances in both Ozark season 1 and Ozark season 2, and for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, again for her performance in Ozark season 2.
Of course, recognition like this can often mean big rewards—but how much are we talking when it comes to what Laura Linney made per episode of Ozark? Well, according to Variety, Linney made around $300,000 per episode on Ozark as of 2017. By comparison, her co-star Jason Bateman earned the same $300,000-per-episode salary at the time. Assuming their salary remained the same in following years, this means Linney earned $3 million on Ozark season 1, Ozark season 2 and Ozark season 3, with every season numbering 10 episodes each. For the series’ final season, Ozark season 4, Linney earned at least $4.2 million for 14 episodes split between Part 1 and Part 2 of the show finale.
In total, Linney’s earnings from Ozark after four seasons amount to a minimum of $13.2 million for all four seasons of Ozark, though it’s highly likely that she made even more thanks to the show’s growing success following its Emmy nominations for Outstanding Drama Series in 2019 and 2020.
What is Laura Linney’s net worth?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Laura Linney’s net worth is $10 million as of 2022. The principal sources of income making up Laura Linney’s net worth are, of course, her roles in series like Netflix’s Ozark, where she earned a reported $300,000 per episode of Ozark season one and two, at minimum. In addition, Linney’s net worth is comprised of her earnings from endorsements, television ads, sponsorships and advertising deals throughout her years in the industry. According to the Influencer Marketing Hub, Linney earns between $214.5 to $357.5 per sponsored post on social media.
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