Reese Witherspoon: The World's Richest Actress...
Reese Witherspoon is a well-known for her role in Legally Blonde and many other Hollywood hits but did you know she's been making big moves outside of acting?...
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Reese Witherspoon is a well-known Hollywood actress, producer, and entrepreneur who has made a significant impact in the entertainment industry. According to Forbes, Reese Witherspoon is the world's richest actress, with a net worth of $430 million (£350.8m). However, her success goes beyond her acting career, as she has made several smart business moves over the years.
Following in the footsteps of many other Hollywood stars, Reese’s ambitions led her to consider a career outside of acting too. She founded the production company ‘Type A Films’ in 2000, which would later become Pacific Standard in 2012. Reese was inspired to venture into producing after she noticed a lack of female-driven content in the entertainment world. Movies she produced such as Gone Girl and Wild (both 2014), which were hits both commercially and critically, offered more opportunities for women in the film industry.
In 2016, Reese partnered up with Otter Media (which is now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery) to turn Pacific Standard into Hello Sunshine. The company began creating content with a focus on material with female narratives. As well as film and TV, Hello Sunshine also covers podcasting, web series, and books – via the hugely popular Reese's Book Club.
Because of Reese’s status, she was able to build a huge subscriber list to her newsletter. She funneled them to her book club, which has about 2 and a half million subscribers and a very large female audience. Her book club was so powerful it guaranteed success to any writer she featured. She negotiated equity and rights to movies of every single book she featured, such as Gone Girl, and Where The Crawdads Sing. She then shops the film ideas around to major film streaming platforms such as HBO, Netflix, Apple Tv, etc. who then produce it.
With its focus on female-driven stories, Hello Sunshine has produced several hit projects, such as the HBO series Big Little Lies, Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere, Apple TV’s The Morning Show, and Amazon Prime TV's Daisy Jones & The Six. If you haven’t noticed Reese stars in many of the films and shows she produces. She starred in and produced Big Little Lies, a series based on the best-selling novel by Liane Moriarty. The series also featured Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Zoë Kravitz, and Shailene Woodley.
When the second season of the hit show aired in 2019, Reese reportedly took home a whopping $1 million (£781.2k) per episode or a grand total of $7 million (£5.5m). Reese also made a fortune thanks to the Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere. Based on the best-selling book by Celeste Ng, the series aired in 2020. Her acting and behind-the-scenes production work on the critically acclaimed show earned her a commendable $1.1 million (£830k) per episode. Reese is currently starring alongside Jennifer Aniston in Apple TV’s The Morning Show and earns around $2 million (£1.6 million) per episode for her efforts.
Overall, Reese Witherspoon's business moves have been impressive, showcasing her ability to successfully navigate multiple industries and create impactful ventures. Her dedication to supporting women in business and promoting diverse voices in entertainment has made her a trailblazer in her field, and we can expect to see her continue to make more of a positive impact in the years to come.