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How Sarah Jessica Parker Achieved a Net Worth of $200 Million

Sarah Jessica Parker was born on March 25, 1965 in Nelsonville, Ohio. She was one of 8 children to her mom, Barbara, a teacher, and her father, Steven, an aspiring journalist. When Sarah was 3, her parents divorced and her mother married Paul Forste, a truck driver.

Sarah has recounted how the family was quite financially strapped. Often having the electricity shut off and having to forego Christmas and birthdays. Sarah often found herself contributing to the family finances by taking on singing and dancing gigs.

Parker began performing in community theater at a young age. At the age of 11, SJP landed her first Broadway role in The Innocents. People took notice, and in 1979, she got the role that every young performer dreamt of in the 1970's.

She starred in the title role of the smash hit musical, Annie. She performed in that role for a year. After that, Sarah Jessica Parker was well on her way to becoming a household name.

Sarah Jessica Parker Net Worth

Sarah Jessica Parker has a net worth of $200 million. But it didn't happen overnight.

After a successful run on Broadway as the infamous little orphan, Parker was offered the role of Patty Greene in the quirky, but heartwarming series. Square Pegs.

The series featured Parker as a nerdy high school student trying to make her way through typical high school messes. Unfortunately, the show only lasted one season. It did, however, show Sarah's comedic talents.

The world already knew she could sing and dance (she attended the prestigious School of American Ballet in NYC). Now they saw that she was hilarious and had impeccable comedic timing as well.

At this point, the movie roles started to roll in for Sarah. It began with a supporting role in the iconic teen angst film, Footloose. Here, Sarah got to have moments of humor and show off her dramatic abilities as well. She also got to dance.

On the heels of Footloose came Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, where she again played a supporting role to Helen Hunt's lead. She made a few television movies, including Firstborn.

It was here that she would meet actor Robert Downey, Jr. and begin a 7-year relationship. After that television film, the big screen came knocking once more.

She landed roles in movies such as:

  • LA Story
  • Honeymoon In Vegas
  • Hocus Pocus
  • The First Wives Club
  • Ed Wood
  • Mars Attacks
  • Miami Rhapsody

Sarah was enjoying quite a bit of fame and fortune. Then in 1998, something happened that would put Ms. Parker on to a different plane entirely.

She was cast in a new HBO series. An ensemble piece about 4 very different women that managed to find each other and an enduring friendship in the heart of New York City.

The Success of the Show

Sex And The City would not only make Parker an icon, it would make her wealthy beyond belief. Sarah played Carrie Bradshaw, a shoe-obsessed columnist, who writes about love and relationships, while searching for it at the same time.

Her friends, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha were all in the same boat, and every Sunday night the world tuned in to see what shenanigans (romantic and otherwise) would ensue.

The show was a hit, from the outfits and romances, to the hilarious calamities that befell at least one of the girls each week.

During the first three seasons, Parker collected $50 million for her part in the show. Come season 4, she would become a producer on the show and garner a salary of $3.2 million an episode.

This made her the highest paid actor on television. Even more than Charlie Sheen, who was getting $1.8 million for Two And A Half Men. Over the rest of the series run, Sarah Jessica would make $147 million. But she was not with the franchise when the series ended.

Movies came next

Two much anticipated movies would follow. She made a total of $35 million for both. Recently, a series reboot was made, entitled, And Just Like That, that follows the ladies into middle age and some huge life changes. Parker made $1 million per episode for this project.

Money and super fame were not the only things Parker got during her time on Sex and the City. She took home an Emmy award (plus 7 nominations) and 4 Golden Globes for best actress in a comedy series.

After the wrap of one of HBO's most successful shows ever, Parker took some time to be with her husband, Matthew Broderick, and their 3 children. Though she continued to make movies and make television appearances, including:

  • Failure To Launch
  • Did You Hear About The Morgan's
  • The Family Stone
  • Glee

Other Ventures

Throughout the years, Sarah has made quite a fortune outside of acting as well. In 2007, she started a discount clothing line called Bitten, where everything was under $20. The line was carried by Steve and Barry's discount stores.

She became the face of Garner/Nutrisse hair care products in 2003. In 2005, she became the spokesperson for Gap, signing an unprecedented $38 million contract.

She also has a more upscale clothing partnership with Halston. In 2010, Parker started a fragrance line, that brought in $18 million in the first year alone. The line remains popular today with names like:

  • Lovely
  • Covet
  • Dawn
  • Endless
  • Twilight
  • NYC

Of course, no Sarah Jessica Parker portfolio would be complete without shoes. In 2015, she started SJP Footwear with Nordstrom department stores.

Real Estate

In 2016, Parker, along with her husband Matthew Broderick, bought 2 side by side townhomes in New York City for $34.5 million. The couple combined the two into one huge, 14,000 square feet mansion, with 2,100 square feet of coveted NYC outdoor space.

While remodeling this gem, the couple were living in a townhouse they had purchased in 2000 for $2.9 million. They sold that home in 2020 for $15 million. Not a bad profit.

The couple also own 2 homes in the Hamptons, totaling $6.6 million, and property in Ireland.

Charity Work

When she's not working or spending time with her family, Sarah is giving back to her community and the world at large. Coming from a poor background, she realizes how important it is to give people a chance to succeed.

She has been a UNICEF ambassador for over 20 years. Parker heads the foundation's Trick or Treat campaign, their clean water initiative, and a program that provides free HIV testing kits.

She is also a huge supporter of DKMS, a worldwide bone marrow donation and matching foundation. Among other things, they provide free swab kits for people to place in a database as a potential bone marrow donor.

She also works with:

  • New York City Food Bank
  • AmFar (AIDS research)
  • St. Francis Food Pantries and Shelters
  • Stand Up To Cancer
  • Pediatric Epilepsy Foundation

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Allen Lee

Written by Allen Lee

Allen Lee is a Toronto-based freelance writer who studied business in school but has since turned to other pursuits. He spends more time than is perhaps wise with his eyes fixed on a screen either reading history books, keeping up with international news, or playing the latest releases on the Steam platform, which serve as the subject matter for much of his writing output. Currently, Lee is practicing the smidgen of Chinese that he picked up while visiting the Chinese mainland in hopes of someday being able to read certain historical texts in their original language.

Read more posts by Allen Lee

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