Zach Galifianakis Net Worth

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Zach Galifianakis is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is perhaps most known for playing Alan in The Hangover and its sequels.

He also hosts his own talk show on Funny or Die called Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis for which has won an Emmy. With all his success, Zach Galifianakis’ net worth has increased drastically since the beginning of his career. Let’s take a look at the actor’s career, and how much he has made over the years.

Early Life

The famous comedian that we know today as Zach Galifianakis was born as Zachary Knight Galifianakis on October 1, 1969, in Wilkesboro NC. His mother Mary Frances was of Scottish descent. She ran a community arts center. And his father Harry worked as a heating oil vendor and was originally from Crete, Greece.

Galifianakis has an older brother named Greg, and a younger sister named Merritt. He attended Wilkes Central High School. And after graduating, he majored in communications at North Carolina State University.

Acting Career

Television was Galifianakis’ gateway to the comedic success that he is enjoying today. He began by appearing in Boston Common on NBC. Later on, he worked as a writer for Saturday Night Live in a gig that just lasted for two weeks.

Galifianakis got his first big break in September 2001, when he appeared on an episode of Comedy Central Presents special. He did stand-up comedy and played the piano. His performance was a hit and a year later, he already has his own talk show on VH1 called Late World with Zach. He also appeared on other talk shows, including Jimmy Kimmel Live and played the role of Frisbee in 4 episodes of Reno 911!

Also around this time, Galifianakis also began taking film roles. Some of his first appearances from 2001 to 2002 were on Corky Romano, Bubble Boy, Heartbreakers, and Below.

Later on, he was also cast for significant roles in Into the Wild and Super High Me, both in 2007. A year later, he landed a starring role in the independent film entitled Visioneers.

The Hangover

In 2009, Galifianakis was cast as Alan Garner in The Hangover. This would eventually become his most famous film role to date. Even the critics recognized his acting skills. He took home the MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance that year. And he went on to reprise the role for two subsequent sequels.

Despite the commercial success of the first Hangover film, it barely increased Zach Galifianakis’ net worth. The movie had such low expectations from the studio, and the salary for the entire cast did not even reach $1 million. But after it hit the box office big time, Galifianakis and the rest of the cast got a considerable increase in salary. They received a well-deserved $5 million each for Hangover Part II, and $10 million each for Hangover Part III.

Recent Roles

The excellent reception for the Hangover series opened the doors to even bigger roles for Galifianakis. Starting in 2009, he made at least one commercially successful movie per year. Some of the most popular ones are Operation: Endgame in 2009, Due Date in 2010, The Muppets in 2011, The Campaign in 2012, and Keeping Up with the Joneses in 2016. Each film adding to his overall net worth.

Galifianakis played the happy medium in A Wrinkle in Time in 2018. He has also voiced the lead characters, Ron, in Ron’s Gone Wrong and Felix Fischoeder in The Bob’s Burgers Movie.

Zach Galifianakis in A Wrinkle in Time — Photo Credit: Tinseltown

Comedic Success

Meanwhile, Galifianakis continued appearing in a variety of comedy shows on television. He has been seen on The Sarah Silverman Program, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job, and Tom Goes to the Mayor.

Galifianakis has also appeared in a few music videos. He was in Fiona Apple’s Not about Love video in 2006, as well as in Kanye West’s Can’t Tell Me Nothing in 2007.

Also around this time, in 2006, Zach Galifianakis Live at the Purple Onion was released. It was the first special and DVD produced by Galifianakis.

The Comedians of Comedy

In 2005, Galifianakis joined the comedy tour called The Comedians of Comedy. Together with fellow members Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford, and Patton Oswalt, they toured the entire United States. Instead of the typical comedy club venue, they performed their acts at live rock clubs to attract a different audience.

Between Two Ferns

Galifianakis left the tour in 2008. And he started his own talk show on Funny or Die. Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis mainly revolved around Galifianakis interviewing popular celebrities while they were seated between two potted ferns.

Some of the most popular celebrities that he had on the show were Natalie Portman, Ben Stiller, Steve Carrell, Bradley Cooper, and Justin Bieber. Even Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama once sat between those two ferns.

Galifianakis used an interview style that was deliberately inappropriate and very bizarre. But for some reason, the show clicked. It even won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Format Live Action Entertainment Program. The series also inspired Between Two Ferns: The Movie which was released as a Netflix original.

Personal Life

Galifianakis is married to Quinn Lundberg, who is the co-founder of the charity, Growing Voices. The couple tied the knot in August 2012. And they now have two sons together. The eldest was born in 2013 but his name was never made public. The second son is named Rufus Emmanuel Lundberg, and was born in November 2016.

Galifianakis keeps a very low profile when it comes to his family. He likes to keep his work separate from his private life. In fact, he says his sons don’t even know what he does for a living, and that they think he is a librarian. (Though, we have to think Galifianakis is joking when he says this.)