Armie Hammer Is Worth More Than You Think

Armie Hammer first came to prominence portraying the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network, David Fincher's celebrated biopic of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. In the years since, he's proven himself equally adept at handling big-budget blockbusters (The Lone Ranger) and fascinating indie movies (Call Me By Your Name). He even tackled one of the most famous characters in literary history, in Ben Wheatley's Netflix adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca.

Although Hammer has Hollywood good looks and buckets of charm to spare, his story is quite unique. As Entertainment Weekly notes, the actor is the great-grandson of legendary industrialist and philanthropist Armand Hammer, who ran Occidental Petroleum. "Hammer" is a known name, to the extent it's etched in stone at the entrance to the Los Angeles Hammer Museum. Unlike millions of other wannabes, then, Armie Hammer didn't start his acting life out as a penniless nobody.

The young Hammer dropped out of school in the 11th grade to pursue his dream full time, much to his parents' consternation. As he explained to EW, "My entire life had been this long, pressured conversation about the family I represented." However, as fellow famous kid Lily Collins, who starred opposite him in Mirror Mirror, noted, "You'd never know he comes from such a prestigious family. He doesn't make that a part of who he is at all. It's really important to him that his last name isn't the thing that got him where he is."

In keeping with that idea, Hammer took a long time to break into the industry, with blink-and-you'll-miss-it roles in the likes of Arrested Development and Veronica Mars clogging up his CV until Fincher finally took him on after two nerve-wracking auditions. Nowadays, the actor is quick to note, "I am not supported by [family money] in any way. I support myself. ...I'm really proud of that."

Hammer reiterated his financial independence in a 2019 interview with GQ, explaining, "I don't get any money from my family. ...Would I have a safety net, where I could go to my parents, who are now separated, and ask for help if I couldn't pay my rent? ...Yes. Would I ever do that? No. ...I haven't taken anything from my parents to live and survive since, well, it's been over a decade." The actor made it very clear that he didn't want to be someone who lived off the family name.

Clearly, Hammer has managed to do pretty well for himself even though he admitted to worrying about money constantly. As the actor tells it, he's only had two massive paychecks in his career. However, he's certainly doing something right as Celebrity Net Worth puts him at $16 million. Not bad for someone who, by his own estimation, didn't choose the path to considerable wealth.