It should come as no surprise that Sam Worthington<\/strong> is a very rich man\u2014his breakout role was in Avatar, a movie that made $2.9 billion at the box office when it came out in 2009. He\u2019s since starred in two sequels (so far), Avatar: The Way of the Water (2022) and Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025), and blockbusters like Terminator Salvation (2009), Clash of the Titans (2010) and Wrath of the Titans (2012).\u00a0<\/p>\n But for all the money he\u2019s made off tentpoles, Worthington now shies away from the sort of blockbuster roles that defined his early career (save for the Avatar sequels, of course).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe movies<\/a> that I did right after Avatar were great big spectacles, but I should have been looking for movies that pried a little bit more into the human condition,\u201d he told Variety<\/a> in 2022. \u201cI was boring myself with what I was doing. And if I\u2019m boring myself, then I\u2019m sure as hell going to be boring an audience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfac\u00a0<\/strong>SIGN UP for Parade\u2019s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\ud83c\udfac<\/strong><\/p>\n These days, the Aussie actor is careful to choose parts\u00a0that allow him to be more than \u201cthe action figure standing in the front,\u201d he said. He\u2019s played a WWII Army captain in Hacksaw Ridge, a fundamentalist Mormon in Under the Banner of Heaven, a U.S. Army Lieutenant in Horizon: An American Saga and, currently, an innocent father serving a life sentence for the murder of his son in the new Netflix<\/a> limited series I Will Find You.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf I can\u2019t bring anything to [a project], I\u2019m not going to go and be involved in it,\u201d he told Variety. \u201cI don\u2019t want to do that again. \u2026 And that\u2019s OK. It takes a lot to understand what you do want from this industry.\u201d And it certainly helps to have Pandora money.\u00a0<\/p>\n Keep reading to learn more about how Worthington got his start and the net worth he\u2019s earned along the way.<\/p>\n Worthington grew up in Warnbro, a working-class suburb of Perth, Western Australia, the son of a homemaker and a power plant employee. He attended John Curtin College of the Arts in Fremantle, initially enrolling in drama classes to meet girls, but dropped out before graduating.\u00a0<\/p>\n His father gave him $400 and a one-way ticket to the opposite side of the country, telling him, \u201cWork your way back home and grow up a bit,\u201d Worthington once recalled<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know what to do with my life, and my dad didn\u2019t want me sitting around watching TV, and wasting this precious gift.\u201d<\/p>\n Worthington was 19 and working as a bricklayer in Sydney when he auditioned for the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), earning a scholarship and graduating in 1998.<\/p>\n He found success in Australia with roles in the 2004 movie Somersault and the TV series Love My Way, but became an international star for his turn as Jake Sully in Avatar.<\/p>\n Related: James Cameron Has New \u2018Stories to Tell,\u2019 Reacts to Criticism of Time Spent on \u2018Avatar\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Yes, and if it were helmed by anyone other than James Cameron<\/a><\/strong>, he may not have gotten it. When he auditioned for the movie, he was so frustrated by the secrecy surrounding the project, including who was directing it, that he refused to read his lines and instead spit at the camera.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just angry,\u201d he told Variety<\/a>. \u201cIt was like, \u2018You\u2019re not telling me anything. This is a waste of time.\u2019 Later, when they were like, \u2018Jim Cameron wants to meet you, and this was for his movie,\u2019 I was just like, \u2018Oh sh-t, I\u2019m going to get in trouble.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But Cameron was sold. \u201cI saw a lot of actors, names you\u2019d be quite impressed by. But Sam was the guy who made me want to follow him into battle.\u201d<\/p>\n Related: Sam Worthington: \u2018James Cameron and I Had a Love-Hate Relationship\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n According to Celebrity Net Worth<\/a>, the Man on a Ledge actor is worth $60 million, a sum that comes mostly from his lead role in the Avatar movies.<\/p>\n Officially, Worthington\u2019s salary for the original Avatar is anyone\u2019s guess. Some sites estimate that he was paid $10 million upfront, but that seems unlikely since he was an unknown actor in the United States at the time. That said, if his agent negotiated as little as 1% of the backend, he\u2019d have made $29 million off the box-office alone. <\/p>\n Matt Damon<\/a><\/strong> has claimed over the years that he had to turn down a lucrative deal to play Sully because he was committed to the Bourne movies at the time, joking that he lost out on $290 million\u2014and therefore implying that he\u2019d have gotten 10% of the backend. But Cameron himself shot down the Good Will Hunting actor\u2019s report.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNow what he\u2019s done is he\u2019s extrapolated, \u2018I get 10 percent of the gross on all my films,\u2019\u201d Cameron said<\/a>. \u201cAnd if, in his mind, that\u2019s what it would\u2019ve taken for him to do Avatar, then it wouldn\u2019t have happened. Trust me on that.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s safe to say, then, that Worthington didn\u2019t get 10% on the backend.<\/p>\n Worthington\u2019s salary hasn\u2019t been independently confirmed by him or the studio, but several sites claim he was paid $10 million upfront with a lucrative 5% share of the film\u2019s profits or gross participation. Because the movie earned more than $2.3 billion worldwide, Worthington\u2019s total compensation could have reached roughly $110 million<\/a>. <\/p>\n Unofficial reports and industry speculation suggest that his base salary may have increased to approximately $12 million to $15 million for the third film, likely with another backend participation deal attached.<\/p>\n Unsubstantiated reports put Worthington\u2019s upfront earnings at $1 million. The movie grossed just over $370 million, so if he negotiated, say, 5% on the backend, he\u2019d have raked in an additional $18.5 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n Worthington\u2019s salary for 2010\u2019s Clash of the Titans has not been officially disclosed, but estimates place his earnings at between $5 million and $7 million<\/a> after the success of Avatar. His pay may have increased for the 2012 sequel, Wrath of the Titans, but his standing with producers certainly didn\u2019t. According to Worthington himself, he made some decisions that caused a creative rift. <\/p>\n \u201cI looked at it as [my character\u2019 was half a god and half a dad, and he had decided that he didn\u2019t want the god part anymore,\u201d Worthington told Variety. \u201cSo I decided to develop a dad bod and that I wouldn\u2019t care what I looked like. Of course, that\u2019s antithetical to what a studio wants when they pay X amount of dollars to make a movie about a chiseled hero. My arrogance clashed with the studio and the director\u2019s vision, and it turned into a horrible fight.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Short answer: a lot. His films include Terminator Salvation, Clash of the Titans, Everest, Hacksaw Ridge and Horizon: An American Saga and he\u2019s starred in TV series like Manhunt Under the Banner of Heaven and most recently, I Will Find You.\u00a0<\/p>\n If all goes as planned, Avatar 4 and 5 will arrive in theaters in 2029 and 2031, respectively, and Worthington will dutifully reprise his role for both. \u201cThat man changed my life,\u201d he said, referencing Cameron<\/a>. \u201cIf the boss says, \u2018jump\u2019, I jump. I\u2019m his soldier, man.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nHow did Sam Worthington get his start?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Was <\/strong>Avatar <\/strong>Sam Worthington\u2019s breakout role?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What is Sam Worthington\u2019s net worth in 2026?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How much did Sam Worthington make off <\/strong>Avatar<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How much did Sam Worthington make for <\/strong>Avatar: The Way of Water<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What was Sam Worthington\u2019s salary for <\/strong>Avatar: Fire and Ash<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What was Sam Worthington paid for <\/strong>Terminator Salvation<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What did Sam Worthington make for the <\/strong>Clash of the Titans<\/strong> movies?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What has Sam Worthington been in besides the <\/strong>Avatar<\/strong> movies?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Is Sam Worthington going to be in more <\/strong>Avatar <\/strong>movies?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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