Jonathan Banks net worth is $6 million in 2026, according to Celebrity Net Worth. The five-time Emmy nominee spent decades as a journeyman character actor before finding his most recognizable character in his 60s: Mike Ehrmantraut, the world-weary former police officer and criminal fixer on “Breaking Bad” and its prequel, “Better Call Saul.” Across a career spanning more than five decades and nearly 200 film and television productions, Banks has played villains, authority figures and, eventually, one of the most beloved supporting characters in modern television.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Jonathan Ray Banks |
| Born | January 31, 1947, Washington, D.C. |
| Occupation | Actor, voice actor |
| Known for | “Breaking Bad,” “Better Call Saul,” “Wiseguy,” “Community” |
| Net worth | $6 million (Celebrity Net Worth estimate) |
Early Life
Jonathan Ray Banks was born on January 31, 1947, in Washington, D.C., and was raised in Chillum Heights, Maryland, by his mother, Elena Adams Banks, a federal government employee who later became a professor at Indiana State University. His parents separated when he was young, and his mother raised him under modest financial circumstances.
Banks attended Northwood High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, before enrolling at Indiana University Bloomington, where he performed in “The Threepenny Opera” alongside future Academy Award winner Kevin Kline. Although he performed well academically, Banks left before graduating: he had made the dean’s list shortly before learning that his girlfriend was pregnant, and the couple married. More than four decades after leaving college, Indiana University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in April 2016.
Stage Work and Early Career
Banks began working backstage for a touring production of the musical “Hair,” eventually becoming a stage manager, with the job taking him to Australia and New Zealand. In 1974, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a screen career, taking guest roles on “Barnaby Jones,” “Family,” “Carter Country,” “Lou Grant” and “The Waltons,” and made his feature film debut in the 1978 Vietnam War drama “Coming Home,” starring Jane Fonda and Jon Voight.
His film career gained momentum during the early 1980s: in 1980, he played Gunderson in the comedy “Airplane!” and appeared in “Stir Crazy,” followed by “48 Hrs.,” “Frances” and “Gremlins.” In 1984, Banks played Zack, one of the criminals pursuing Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley, in the blockbuster “Beverly Hills Cop,” which grossed more than $300 million worldwide. He also appeared on “Little House on the Prairie,” “Hill Street Blues” and “The Gangster Chronicles,” in which he portrayed real-life mobster Dutch Schultz, and starred in “Otherworld” as Commander Nuveen Kroll.
Wiseguy
Banks achieved his first substantial television breakthrough in 1987 as FBI Special Agent Frank McPike on the CBS crime drama “Wiseguy,” playing the experienced supervisor of undercover agent Vinnie Terranova, portrayed by Ken Wahl. “Wiseguy” featured extended storylines that unfolded over multiple episodes, allowing Banks to develop McPike into a complex character. He remained a central cast member throughout the show’s four seasons, from 1987 to 1990, earning a 1989 Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor, the first of his career.
Breaking Bad
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Banks appeared on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Matlock,” “Walker, Texas Ranger,” “Alias,” “Cold Case,” “Dexter,” “ER” and “CSI: Miami,” starred in the NBC sitcom “Fired Up,” and played Conrad Detweiler on the 2006β2007 drama “Day Break.”
In 2009, Banks joined the second season of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” as Mike Ehrmantraut, a former Philadelphia police officer who works as a private investigator, security consultant and fixer for criminal organizations. Mike was introduced in the second-season finale, “ABQ,” arriving at Jesse Pinkman’s apartment to clean up evidence following the death of Jesse’s girlfriend, Jane.
The character originally did not exist in the show’s plans: the writers had intended to use Saul Goodman, played by Bob Odenkirk, for the cleanup scene, but Odenkirk was unavailable because of a prior commitment to “How I Met Your Mother.” Rather than rewrite the scene, the producers created a new fixer and cast Banks, whose work on “Wiseguy” they admired. Mike proved so compelling that he became a recurring character and eventually one of the show’s central supporting players, emerging as a trusted associate of Gustavo Fring, portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito. Mike’s storyline concluded during the first half of the fifth season in 2012, and Banks received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 2013, more than two decades after his first nomination for “Wiseguy.”
Better Call Saul
Banks returned as Mike Ehrmantraut in 2015 when AMC launched “Better Call Saul,” the prequel centered on Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill, which explored Mike’s past as a corrupt Philadelphia police officer, the death of his son Matt, and his efforts to provide for his widowed daughter-in-law and granddaughter. In a 2022 interview with The Washington Post, Banks said he viewed Mike’s love for his granddaughter as the character’s principal redeeming quality.
“Better Call Saul” ran for six seasons between 2015 and 2022. Banks received four additional Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor, in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019, and in 2015 he won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. By the conclusion, Banks had portrayed Mike Ehrmantraut for more than a decade across two major television series and the 2019 sequel film “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.” During the final two seasons, Banks earned $100,000 per episode: around $1 million for the 10-episode fifth season and as much as $1.3 million for the 13-episode sixth season.
Other Television, Voice Acting and Film
While working on “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” Banks played criminology professor Buzz Hickey during the fifth season of NBC’s comedy “Community” in 2014, and portrayed former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper in the 2020 Showtime miniseries “The Comey Rule.” Banks has also become an established voice actor, with credits including Filbrick Pines in Disney’s “Gravity Falls,” Commissioner James Gordon in the video game “Batman: Arkham Knight,” “F Is for Family,” “Kite Man: Hell Yeah!” and Brit in Amazon’s “Invincible” from 2025.
In 2024, he starred alongside Noomi Rapace in the Apple TV thriller “Constellation,” portraying Henry and Bud Caldera, two versions of the same man in different realities. In 2025, Banks joined the Netflix thriller “The Beast in Me,” starring Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys, as Martin Jarvis, a powerful New York real estate magnate.
Banks has appeared in more than 50 feature films, frequently portraying authority figures, criminals and intimidating supporting characters. His later film work included “Identity Thief,” “Horrible Bosses 2” and “Term Life.” In 2017, he played Pappy McAllan in the historical drama “Mudbound,” which earned four Academy Award nominations, and in 2018 he appeared in the Liam Neeson thriller “The Commuter” and voiced agent Rick Dicker in Pixar’s “Incredibles 2.”
Personal Life
Banks married his first wife, Marnie Fausch, in September 1968; the couple had a daughter before divorcing in 1970. In December 1990, he married Gennera Gonzalez Cebian, with whom he has fraternal twins, and Banks also has a stepdaughter from the marriage. Despite his reputation for playing intimidating characters, Banks has described himself as an ordinary working actor fortunate to have maintained a career for so many years, and he has developed close friendships with several of his “Breaking Bad” colleagues, particularly Bryan Cranston.
Malibu Home and Woolsey Fire
In 1990, Jonathan Banks paid $1.185 million for a four-bedroom, five-bathroom home in the hills of Malibu, California, measuring 4,708 square feet, which his family maintained for nearly three decades. In November 2018, however, the home was destroyed in the Woolsey Fire, which destroyed more than 1,600 structures and burned nearly 97,000 acres. Banks and his wife escaped but lost their longtime residence and many belongings; Bryan Cranston invited them to stay at his home after the fire. The property had been valued in the range of $5 million to $7 million before its destruction, and the details of Banks’ insurance recovery and any rebuilding have not been publicly established.
Net worth figures are estimates only, based on public sources.
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