Nicolas Cage net worth is $30 million in 2026. The figure tells only half the story: at his peak, Cage was one of the world’s highest-paid actors, routinely commanding $10–20 million per film and earning more than $150 million in known salaries during a 15-year stretch, with a fortune that once topped $100 million. An extraordinary spending spree, a sprawling property portfolio and more than $13 million in reported tax debts then forced him to sell homes, cars, collectibles and other assets — before a relentless work rate and a critical revival rebuilt his career.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Nicolas Kim Coppola (professionally Nicolas Cage) |
| Born | January 7, 1964, Long Beach, California |
| Occupation | Actor, producer, director |
| Known for | “Leaving Las Vegas,” “The Rock,” “National Treasure,” “Pig,” “Longlegs” |
| Net worth | $30 million (Celebrity Net Worth estimate) |
Early Life
Cage was born Nicolas Kim Coppola on January 7, 1964, in Long Beach, California. His father, August Coppola, was a literature professor, while his mother, Joy Vogelsang, was a dancer and choreographer. He comes from the famous Coppola filmmaking family: his uncle is director Francis Ford Coppola, his aunt is actress Talia Shire, and his cousins include filmmakers Sofia Coppola and Roman Coppola and actor Jason Schwartzman.
He attended Beverly Hills High School and studied acting at UCLA’s School of Theater. Determined to build an identity independent of his famous relatives, he stopped using Coppola professionally. His stage name was inspired in part by Marvel superhero Luke Cage and avant-garde composer John Cage.
Early Acting Career
Cage had a small role in 1982’s “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” before earning greater attention with “Valley Girl” in 1983, for which he earned only around $5,000. Through the rest of the decade he built a reputation as an unusually intense and unpredictable young actor in films including “Rumble Fish,” “Peggy Sue Got Married,” “Raising Arizona,” “Moonstruck” and “Vampire’s Kiss,” for which he earned $40,000.
His dramatic breakthrough came with 1995’s “Leaving Las Vegas.” Playing a suicidal alcoholic who moves to Las Vegas to drink himself to death, Cage won both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Actor — for a salary of approximately $240,000.
Action Movie Stardom and Peak Earnings
Almost immediately after “Leaving Las Vegas,” Cage became one of Hollywood’s biggest action stars: “The Rock” opposite Sean Connery in 1996, followed by “Con Air” and “Face/Off” in 1997. Over the following years he appeared in “City of Angels,” “Snake Eyes,” “Bringing Out the Dead,” “Gone in Sixty Seconds,” “The Family Man” and “Windtalkers.” He earned his second Academy Award nomination playing screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and his fictional twin brother in Spike Jonze’s 2002 film “Adaptation.”
Between 1996 and 2011 alone, Cage earned more than $150 million in known acting salaries and back-end compensation. His most notable paydays included $16 million for “Snake Eyes,” $20 million each for “Gone in Sixty Seconds,” “Windtalkers” and “National Treasure,” $10 million for “Bringing Out the Dead,” $7 million for “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,” $6 million for “Face/Off” and $4 million for “The Rock.”
Another major commercial phase began with Disney’s “National Treasure” in 2004, in which he played historian and treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates; the film’s success led to the 2007 sequel “National Treasure: Book of Secrets.” He also played Marvel antihero Johnny Blaze in 2007’s “Ghost Rider” and returned for “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” in 2012.
Financial Problems and $13 Million Tax Debt
Cage’s enormous income was matched by extraordinary spending. During the 2000s he assembled a collection of roughly 15 homes, including two castles, along with a private island in the Bahamas, four luxury yachts, exotic cars, art, jewelry, rare comic books and a Gulfstream private jet. His unusual collectibles ranged from shrunken heads to a 67-million-year-old dinosaur skull, which he later surrendered to authorities after it was determined to have been illegally removed from Mongolia.
The spending might have been sustainable while he was earning tens of millions per year, but his real estate investments collided with the housing crash — and serious tax problems emerged. By 2009, his unpaid federal taxes, interest and penalties were reported to have exceeded $13 million.
Cage blamed much of the situation on his former business manager, Samuel Levin, and sued him for $20 million, accusing him of negligence and mismanagement. Levin disputed the allegations and argued he had repeatedly warned Cage that his spending was unsustainable. Faced with tax bills, creditors, falling property values and fewer studio offers, Cage began selling assets and dramatically increased his workload. He refused to file for bankruptcy. He later said that during the decade following his financial collapse he appeared in 46 movies, often accepting projects primarily because he needed the money — while insisting he still tried to find something meaningful in every role.
In a 2022 interview with GQ, Cage revealed he had finally finished paying off all his debts roughly a year and a half earlier. With his finances stabilized, he said he intended to become far more selective about the projects he accepted.
Action Comics #1
One of the strangest episodes in Cage’s financial story involved his near-pristine copy of “Action Comics #1,” the 1938 comic containing the first appearance of Superman. Cage bought the comic for $150,000 in the 1990s. It was stolen from his home during a party in 2000 and remained missing for more than a decade, until it resurfaced in 2011 among the contents of a California storage locker.
After it was recovered and returned to Cage, he sold it through ComicConnect for $2.16 million, at the time the highest price ever paid for a comic book. The sale provided liquidity during his financial recovery. The story gained an astonishing epilogue in January 2026, when the exact same copy changed hands in a private transaction for $15 million, once again setting a world record for a comic book.
Career Resurgence
Cage’s period of relentless work eventually fueled a remarkable critical comeback. His performance as a grieving man seeking revenge in 2018’s psychedelic horror film “Mandy” became one of the most acclaimed roles of his later career. He followed with another widely praised performance in 2021’s “Pig,” playing a reclusive former chef searching for his stolen truffle pig. In 2022, he leaned directly into his own public persona by playing a fictionalized version of himself in “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.” His performance in 2023’s “Dream Scenario” earned him another Golden Globe nomination.
Cage then played the title serial killer in the 2024 horror film “Longlegs,” which he also produced. Made on a production budget of roughly $10 million, “Longlegs” grossed around $128 million worldwide, becoming one of the biggest independent horror successes of the year.
In 2026, Cage took on his first leading television role in “Spider-Noir,” playing private detective Ben Reilly in a 1930s-set live-action interpretation of the Marvel character he had previously voiced in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” The eight-episode Prime Video series was offered in both black-and-white and color versions. It received 11 Emmy nominations and won five Creative Arts Emmys before ending after one season.
Other Ventures and Personal Life
Cage made his feature-film directing debut with 2002’s “Sonny” and has worked extensively as a producer, with credits including “Shadow of the Vampire,” “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” and “Longlegs.” His voice roles include Superman in “Teen Titans Go! To the Movies” and Spider-Man Noir in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” In 2023, he entered the world of video games by appearing as himself as a playable survivor in “Dead by Daylight.” He and his son Weston co-created the comic “Voodoo Child” in 2007.
Cage has been married five times. He has a son, Weston, born in 1990 from his long-term relationship with actress Christina Fulton. He married actress Patricia Arquette in 1995 (divorced 2001) and Lisa Marie Presley in August 2002 (divorce filed 107 days later, finalized 2004). Later in 2004 he married Alice Kim; their son Kal-El was born in 2005, and they separated in 2016. In March 2019 he married Erika Koike in Las Vegas and sought an annulment four days later. He married Riko Shibata in February 2021, and they welcomed daughter August Francesca Coppola Cage in September 2022.
Cage has donated millions to humanitarian causes, including $2 million to Amnesty International for children affected by armed conflict and $1 million to Hurricane Katrina relief, and was recognized by the United Nations for his humanitarian work.
Real Estate
At the height of his spending, Cage owned an extraordinary international property portfolio of approximately 15 properties, including mansions in California, Nevada, Rhode Island and Louisiana, a private island in the Bahamas and castles in England and Germany. His most famous American properties included a sprawling Bel-Air mansion and the historic LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans. Several properties were lost to foreclosure or sold at steep losses as his financial problems intensified.
In 2006, Cage paid $8.5 million for a roughly 14,000-square-foot home in Las Vegas; that property was eventually lost to foreclosure. In 2021, after rebuilding his finances, he paid $2.85 million for another home in Las Vegas. In August 2024, he paid $10.5 million for a beachfront home in Malibu, a four-level contemporary residence of roughly 4,000 square feet with four bedrooms, six bathrooms and a rooftop deck. He expanded his portfolio again in March 2026, paying $6.5 million for two combined condominium units at the JW Marriott Essex House at 160 Central Park South in Manhattan, financed with a $4.55 million mortgage.
Net worth figures are estimates only, based on public sources.
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