Bruce Willis's Impressive Net Worth Was Built on His Action-Star Career

Although actor Bruce Willis recently retired from acting, his long career in the industry speaks for itself. The star of the comedy-drama TV series Moonlighting and the Die Hard franchise, Bruce made a name for himself in Hollywood, fighting villains and dodging explosions. In 2010, it was revealed he was the eighth highest-grossing actor of all time, but what does that mean for his net worth?

Here's what we know about Bruce Willis's career and his net worth.

Bruce Willis was born in West Germany as the son of an American soldier stationed there at the time. The family eventually relocated to New Jersey, where his mother worked at a bank, and his father worked as a mechanic and welder. Although Bruce spoke with a stutter growing up, he joined the drama club in high school and realized that acting was helping to reduce his stutter.

After graduating from high school, Bruce took a series of different jobs before enrolling in college for acting. Before college, he worked as a power plant security guard and a private investigator. Eventually, he enrolled in Montclair State University for drama. However, before graduating, he left school and moved to New York City to pursue acting.

Bruce first rose to fame playing David Addison Jr., a private investigator, in the '80s TV series Moonlighting. Bruce reportedly beat 3,000 other actors for the role, which helped establish him as a comedic actor. However, his career breakthrough as an action star was right around the corner, and in 1988 when he portrayed John McClane in Die Hard, his career launched exponentially.

Since 1988, Bruce has performed in many high-profile dramatic roles, including the Die Hard sequel films, The Last Boy Scout, Pulp Fiction, The Fifth Element, Armageddon, Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense, and more. In 2000, Bruce won an Emmy for his work on Friends, where he played the father of Ross Gellar's younger girlfriend.

During the height of his acting career, Bruce also began a musical career. His first solo album was released in 1987, titled "The Return of Bruno," but he also released two additional albums: "If It Doesn't Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger" and "Classic Bruce Willis: The Universal Masters Collection." He made many guest appearances on film soundtracks in the early to mid-2000s as well.

Although his career had been on an incline since the 1980s, things started to slow down in the 2020s,. His performance in the 2015 Broadway adaptation of Stephen King's novel Misery was critically panned, and he began starring in many low-budget independent films. However, his disappointing performances could arguably be attributed to his aphasia, which his family announced in 2022 that he had been diagnosed with.

Per Celebrity Net Worth, Bruce's estimated net worth is $250 million. His box-office success with numerous action films has left him plenty of money to retire with, including funding to send his youngest children to college should they so choose.

Following his diagnosis, Bruce subsequently retired from acting. However, his family has been giving the public updates on his life, and his second wife, Emma Heming, shared a sweet video of him playing basketball in May 2022! It sounds like the retired life has been good to Bruce.