What is Ben McKenzie’s net worth and salary?
Ben McKenzie is an American actor, director, and writer who has a net worth of $13 million. McKenzie is perhaps best known for playing Ryan Atwood on the Fox series The OC (2003–2007) and Ben Sherman on the NBC/TNT crime drama Southland (2009–2013). Ben played James Gordon on Fox’s Gotham from 2014 to 2019. He also wrote and directed several episodes of the show. He has appeared in several films, including “Junebug” (2005), “88 Minutes” (2007) and “Line of Duty” (2019).
Youth
Ben McKenzie was born Benjamin McKenzie Schenkkan on September 12, 1978, in Austin, Texas. His mother, Frances, is an award-winning poet and his father, Pieter, is a lawyer. Ben has two brothers, Nate and Zack, and his uncle is Robert Schenkkan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. McKenzie studied at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, where he played flag football with Drew Brees, going on to become Super Bowl XLIV MVP. Ben was a defensive back and wide receiver for the Stephen F. Austin High School football team, and after graduating in 1997, he enrolled at the University of Virginia, earning a degree in economics and foreign relations in 2001.
Career
After college, Ben moved to New York and acted in off-off-Broadway productions while working part-time. He performed at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts and also participated in summer productions. McKenzie moved to Los Angeles when he was 23, got a job waiting tables and stayed with a friend, actor Ernie Sabella, who voiced Pumbaa in Disney’s “The Lion King” and he played Leon Carosi in “Saved By The Bell”. Ben made his television debut in a 2002 episode of the CBS crime drama “The District” in 2002 and guest starred on another CBS drama, “JAG” (2003) before landing the role of Ryan . Atwood in “The OC” series. was a hit, starring McKenzie, Mischa Barton, Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody. The series aired 92 episodes over four seasons, and Ben’s salary was $15,000 – $25,000 per episode. During her time on the show, McKenzie was twice named to Teen People magazine’s “25 Sexiest Stars under 25” and was named one of InStyle magazine’s “10 Best Bachelors of Summer” in 2005.
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While starring in ‘The OC’, Ben found time to start his film career, starring alongside Amy Adams in 2005’s ‘Junebug’ which won over 20 awards. That year, McKenzie was also cast in “Pacific Air 121” (which was released in 2006 as “Snakes on a Plane”), but dropped out to star opposite Al Pacino in “88 Minutes.” In 2008, he starred in Johnny Got His Gun, a live-on-stage, on-film solo show based on a 1939 novel by Dalton Trumbo, and the following year, he appeared in The Eight Percent , a short film. which won the Delta Air Lines Fly-in Film Contest. In 2009, Ben began playing Police Officer Ben Sherman on “Southland,” which premiered on NBC, then moved to TNT for seasons two through five. In 2010, he played the role of Jim O’Connor in a production of “The Glass Menagerie” at the Mark Taper Forum in LA, and in 2011, he voiced Batman/Bruce Wayne in “Batman: Year One” and Odnarb in the series animated “Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated”. McKenzie also produced and appeared in the 2011 short film The Blisters: How Three Became Four and starred in Adventures in the Sin Bin (2012), Decoding Annie Parker (2012), Goodbye World “. ” (2013) and “Some Kind of Beautiful” (2014).
In 2014, Ben began portraying Detective James Gordon on Gotham, appearing in every episode of the 5-season run. He directed the episodes “These Delicate Dark Obsessions”, “One of My Three Soups” and “13 Stitches”, and wrote “The Demon’s Head” and “The Trial of Jim Gordon”. In 2019, McKenzie appeared in The Report and Line of Duty, and in early 2020, he starred on Broadway in Grand Horizons at the Hayes Theatre.
Personal life
Ben started a relationship with ‘Gotham’ co-star Morena Baccarin in 2015, and in September of that year, a legal document involving Baccarin’s divorce said she was pregnant with McKenzie’s child and planned to marry him . The couple welcomed daughter Frances on March 2, 2016, and married on June 2, 2017 (Morena’s 38th birthday) at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Ben is also the stepfather of Julius, Morena’s son from her marriage to Austin Chick.
Awards and nominations
In 2006, McKenzie won a Bravo Otto Germany Award for Best Male TV Star. His role on “The OC” earned him four Teen Choice Award nominations: Choice Breakout TV Star – Male and Choice TV Actor – Drama/Action Adventure in 2004 and Choice TV Actor: Drama and Choice TV Chemistry (shared with Mischa Barton) in 2005 In 2012, Ben was nominated for a Prism Award for Male Performance in a Drama Series with Multiple Episodes Storyline for “Southland”, and for “Gotham”, he received two Teen Choice Award nominations (Choice TV Actor: Drama in 2016 and Choice Actor TV: Action in 2019), as well as a Kids’ Choice Award nomination for Favorite Family TV Actor and a People’s Choice Award nomination for Favorite Actor in a New TV Series.
immobility
In 2015, Ben and Morena paid $2.4 million for a 1,524-square-foot apartment in New York City. They sold the 2-bedroom unit in 2019. Although the final sale price is unknown, the condo was listed for $2.675 million.
McKenzie previously owned a home in the Nichols Canyon area of Los Angeles, which she sold for nearly $1.9 million in 2015.
