Recent news of Ewan McGregor returning to the Star Wars fold in a future Disney+ series about Obi-Wan Kenobi has everyone focused on the actor’s career trajectory again.
He has one of the most diverse acting resumes of anyone in the business, going from obscure indies, sweeping musical dramas, to the galaxy far, far, away. How much all of this has earned him is still a mystery for many, even if we know his pay scale upped considerably in recent years.
He’s also become a favorite at Disney of late, something no doubt helping his fortunes. His involvement in the Beauty and the Beast live-action remake, plus starring in the magical/emotional Christopher Robin also expanded his fan base.
Take a minute to see how McGregor climbed the net worth ladder over the last 25 years.
‘Star Wars’ clearly increased his financial horizons
Prior to playing a young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the (in)famous Star Wars prequels, McGregor was already renowned for starring in celebrated indie fare like Trainspotting in 1996. Prior to this and a little while after, he was known as an independent Scottish actor who also happened to do guest shots on British TV shows and miniseries.
As we all know, paychecks in the indie realm aren’t going to make you a millionaire overnight. Back in 1999, receiving the offer to act in The Phantom Menace (plus two more SW films) was equivalent of the MCU today luring indie actors into a bigger cinematic threshold.
Yes, it’s not lost in the irony that Disney now owns both Star Wars AND Marvel, something we all know proved fortuitous for McGregor down the line.
While his net worth likely increased after 1999, it didn’t keep him from veering back to indie film during and after the SW prequel trilogy. Because the prequels had a lot of split opinion about their value, McGregor might have also felt revisiting Obi-Wan would be something he’d never do again.
The next two decades proved his fortunes would continue to rise as he found himself in many mainstream productions made abroad or here in America.
Blending sophisticated dramas with tinges of family fare
You could argue there was a bit of a tug-of-war over what cinematic niche McGregor fit best into as a film actor. Starting in the 2000s, he started to appear in occasional family-oriented films while subsequently doing more sophisticated fare at the same time.
Not many actors could pull off such a thing so adeptly. Thanks to the Star Wars involvement, more American producers started using him in their productions like I Love You Phillip Morris and Jack the Giant Slayer.
McGregor was clearly making enough money by the 2000s to star in such offbeat indie gems as The Men Who Stare at Goats, which is an enviable position for any actor to be in.
Only during this decade have we seen a bit of a shift in McGregor’s acting status with focus on more mainstream material pulling in the most box office.
How much has McGregor earned in the last decade?
There isn’t any way to know how fast his net worth trajectory has been, yet most sources have him currently at a net worth of $45 million, on par with many other A-list actors.
Maybe some will think this small compared to the net worth of some of his peers. Not that it probably won’t rise, especially if his involvement with Disney continues to become more detailed.
Being on a successful TV series can place you in an entirely different income bracket, and Disney Plus is likely to have deep pockets. Let’s just hope the Obi-Wan streaming series is a success, outside of reports of it being just a six-part miniseries.
It’ll place McGregor in a spot where many other actors want to be: In a successful cable or streaming show, yet not being trapped in one place for long to continue their acting diversity.
Source: Read Full Article