One of the best actors of our time, Paul Bettany, has achieved his success in stage, television and film. He has made a successful career in British television and transitioned that into films including "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", "A Beautiful Mind", "Wimbledon", "The Da Vinci Code", and most recently in the Marvel Comics hits including "Iron Man", "Captain America" and "The Avengers".
Bettany's role as the Marvel's character Vision has led to the television series "Wanda Vision". Bettany has been married to his "A Beautiful Mind" co-star Jennifer Connelly since 2003. Bettany has made his fortune through his successful stage, television and film career. He and Connelly have also done well with their New York real estate endeavors. Here's how Paul Bettany achieved a net worth of $50 million.
Early Life In London
Paul Bettany was born and raised in London. He was born to Anne and Thane Bettany on May 27, 1971. Anne worked as a stage singer and a stage manager. Thane was a dancer, actor and drama teacher. He also happens to be Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones' Godfather.
Sophie is better known today as the wife of Queen Elizabeth II's youngest son Prince Edward and as the Countess of Wessex. Paul was just 16 years old when his younger brother, 8 years old Matthew, died in a fall at a tennis pavilion. Devastated, Paul quit school to work as a street performer in London playing the guitar. He later also worked in a nursing home before enrolling in the Drama Center in London.
Stage and Television
Bettany studied the theater at the Drama Center and made his stage debut in 1990 at Aldwych Theatre in the West End. He was in the revival of Stephen Daldry's "An Inspector Calls". Bettany also performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in plays including "Julius Casesar", "Richard III" and "Romeo & Juliet". In 1992 he was cast in the BBC series "Oliver Twist".
Bettany appeared in several British television shows regularly. He was cast in 1994's "Wycliffe", 1997's television film "Sharpes Waterloo" as Prince William of Orange and the 1998 miniseries "Killer Net" and "Every Woman Knows a Secret". In 2000 Bettany appeared in the television film "David Copperfield".
He branched away from television to film but continues to appear in television. In 2017 he played Ted Kaczynski in the miniseries "Manhunt: Unibomber". Most recently he appears as his Marvel Comics character Vision along with Elizabeth Olsen in the Marvel Comics/Disney + series "Wanda Vision".
Film
In the early 2000's Paul Bettany broke into film. He appeared in the 2001 British comedy "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang". The following year he played Geoffry Chaucer in "A Knights Tale", and he played Charles Herman in the Ron Howard directed and Brian Grazer produced "A Beautiful Mind".
The biographical film follows the studies and life of John Nash played by Russell Crowe. Nash was a mathematical scholar who studied at Princeton during the late 1940's. Nash suffered from schizophrenia. Bettany played his Princeton roommate and later a vision that would haunt Nash. The film also starred Jennifer Connelly as Nash's wife. Connelly and Bettany began dating during filming and married in 2003.
Paul Bettany would appear in several movies over the next 10 years including 2003's "Master & Commander: The Far Side of The World", "Wimbledon" in 2004 and as Silas the albino villain monk in Tom Hank's "The Da Vinci Code in 2006; In 2008 Bettany joined the Marvel Comics world as the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S., the artificial intelligence device created by Iron Man's Tony Stark.
Bettany would continue to voice the role of J.A.R.V.I.S. in "Iron Man" and "Avengers" sequels. The Marvel film series has grossed billions of dollars world wide. Bettany played both J.A.R.V.I.S. and Vision in 2015's "Iron Man: Age of Ultran" and Vision in subsequent sequels before bringing Vision to the series "Wanda Vision".
Bettany also starred in 2008's "The Secret Life of Bees", "Solo: A Star Wars Story", "Priest", "Legend" and as Frank Bledsoe in 2020's "Uncle Frank". In 2014 Bettany made his directorial debut in "Shelter" with his wife in the leading role.
Awards
Paul Bettany has been nominated and won several prestigious awards during his career. He won the London Film Critics' Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2001 for "A Knight's Tale". In 2003 he won Best Actor in Evening Standard British Film Awards and London's Film Critics' Circle Award for his role in "Master & Commander". Bettany won the Jordan Award for Best Actor in "Wimbledon" in 2004 and the 2006 Glamour Man of the Year Award.
Personal Life
A long time fan, Paul Bettany got to work with Jennifer Connolley in "A Beautiful Mind". They married in Scotland in 2003. Connolley was already a star in her own right. She was in "Once Upon A Time In America", "Labyrinth", "Phenomena", "Requiem For A Dream" and "Dark City" as well as other successful films. She also works with Revlon and Balenciago. The Bettany's have lived in Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights and Tribeca. They have two children together, a son born in 2003 and a daughter born in 2011. Connelly has a son from a previous relationship.
Real Estate
Along with their acting, writing and directing endeavors, Paul and Jennifer have made money in real estate. They were one of the first Hollywood stars to move to Brooklyn when it was the new "place to live". They owned an 1899 built Brooklyn home with 7 bedroom and 3/12 bathrooms that they purchased in 2003 for $3.7 million and sold in 2008 for $8.45 million.
They owned a 4000 square foot Penthouse in Manhattan which they purchased for $6.92 million in 2008 and sold for $9 million 10 years later. They also owned an 8000 square foot Brooklyn Heights home which they recently sold for $12.9 million. The Bettany's main home is currently in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan.
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