Val Kilmer’s net worth: Building a fortune through triumph and tragedy

Although he was strikingly handsome, actor Val Kilmer never relied on his looks; instead, he portrayed characters that were unique and often eccentric, prizing his craft over commercial success. Still, Kilmer appeared in some of the most popular movies of the ‘80s and ‘90s, and in the process generated millions in net wealth.

Kilmer starred in 1995’s “Batman Forever,” portrayed Jim Morrison in “The Doors” (1991), and Doc Holliday in “Tombstone” (1993)—and when he reprised his role as Iceman in 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” he even made Tom Cruise, whom he considered to be “a real friend,” cry.

In 2014, Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent a tracheotomy that permanently damaged his vocal chords, although that didn’t stop him from continuing to act. He appeared in “Paydirt” (2020) with his daughter, Mercedes, who told Too Fab that because of his limitations with speech, he had to creatively use his other senses. It was so powerful to witness, she went on to say, that it revealed the limitations of her own acting abilities.

💸💰Get expert insights and actionable trade alerts from veteran investing experts and hedge fund managers. Join TheStreet Pro today and get first month FREE💸💰

Mercedes hoped that Kilmer’s celebrity would help make Hollywood most inclusive, opening doors for actors with disabilities. According to Forbes, 95% of characters with disabilities in Hollywood are actually played by able-bodied actors.

But while Kilmer made millions throughout his long career, he seemed most comfortable outside of Hollywood; he owned a sprawling ranch in New Mexico, where he lived for decades, building a treehouse, painting, and advocating for Native American, wildlife, and environmental causes.

So how much is his net worth?

View the original article to see embedded media.

What’s Val Kilmer’s net worth in 2025?

According to online sources, Val Kilmer had a net worth of $10 million at the time of his death on April 1, 2025. Most of that came from his film roles in the 1990s, when he was one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors.

Val Kilmer’s biggest paydays

However, a high-profile divorce, rumors of being difficult on set, and a string of box office flops in the 2000s scuttled his film career, but Kilmer didn’t seem to mind. He instead found roles on TV as well the stage, the place where he first got his start, and where, some said, he felt most at home. Due to his fascination with the American author, Mark Twain, Kilmer even wrote and performed a one-man play, “Citizen Twain,” embarking on a nationwide tour in 2012. 

Val Kilmer’s early life and career

Val Edward Kilmer was born on December 31, 1959 in Los Angeles, California. His mother, Gladys Swanette Ekstadt, was of Swedish descent, while his father, Eugene Dorris Kilmer, was Irish, German, and Cherokee; his grandfather had been a gold miner in New Mexico, a place where Kilmer would live for nearly all of his adult life.

Related: Prince Harry’s net worth: How much has he made since his Royal exit?

When Val was eight, his parents divorced, and his mother remarried William Bernard Leach. He had two brothers, Mark and Wesley. The family lived in Chatsworth, California, and Kilmer attended Chatsworth High School along with fellow actors Kevin Spacey and Mare Winningham, who was Kilmer’s high school girlfriend.

When he was 17, Kilmer became the youngest student ever accepted into the Juilliard School’s drama program, but tragically, before he left for college, Wesley, his younger brother, had an epileptic seizure in the family’s Jacuzzi and passed away. He was just 15 years old.

In his 2021 documentary, “Val,” Kilmer said that his brother, who had been an inspiring filmmaker, was “brilliant” and would inspire him for the rest of his life. He added that his family “was never the same” after the accident, and he threw himself into his acting studies as a way to understand more about life and death.

After graduating from Juilliard, Kilmer appeared in several stage and TV productions; one, an ABC Afterschool Special called “One Too Many,” was a drama about the perils of drinking and driving that co-starred Michelle Pfeiffer, who became his girlfriend. Kilmer wrote poems about the experience, self-publishing the book, “My Edens After Burns.” First-edition copies command up to $3,500 on Amazon.

(Another collection of Kilmer’s poetry spanning the years 1987–2020 and entitled “Cowboy Poet Outlaw Madman: Selected Poems by Val Kilmer,” was published to coincide with the release of the documentary, “Val.” It is priced more affordably, at $28, and includes a forward by David Mamet.) 

Kilmer’s film debut came in 1984, when he starred in the spy spoof, “Top Secret!” He played Nick Rivers, an American rock star who travels to East Germany and accidentally becomes entangled in a Communist plot to reunify the country. Kilmer was responsible for singing all of the movie’s songs and even released an album under his character’s name.

But Kilmer’s big-screen breakthrough would come a few years later, in “Top Gun,” the highest-grossing movie of 1986. Generating $357 million at the box office, the film became a cult classic and was even re-released in IMAX 3D format in 2013. It also inspired the 2022 sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick,” as well as a decades-long friendship between Kilmer and Cruise.

Val Kilmer’s best roles

A Method actor and prolific performer, Kilmer appeared in Broadway productions of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” and “Hamlet,” on TV shows like “Entourage,” and “Knight Rider,” and as the voices of Moses and God in the Dreamworks animated film “The Prince of Egypt” (1998).

Here are a few of his most memorable roles:

“Top Gun” (1986)

As Navy pilot Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, Kilmer wowed audiences as the complex and competitive foil to Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, played by Tom Cruise. Initially Kilmer didn’t want the part, but he felt pressured by his agent to audition for it. “I showed up looking the fool, or the goon,” he wrote in his memoir, “I’m Your Huckleberry,” (2020), “I wore oversize gonky Australian shorts in nausea green. I read the lines indifferently. And yet, amazingly, I was told I had the part.”

Related: Demi Moore’s net worth after Oscars loss

“Willow” (1988)

Kilmer ventured into fantasy realms as Madmartigan, the disgraced knight who joins the quest to protect a child prophesied to overthrow the evil Queen Bavmorda in this fan favorite, Ron Howard film. Kilmer added emotional depth and humor to his heroic role; along the way, his character falls in love with Princess Sorsha, played by Joanne Whalley, who would later become Kilmer’s wife.

“The Doors” (1991)

Oliver Stone’s 1991 film captured both the spirit and energy of 1960’s counterculture as well as Jim Morrison, the band’s brilliant but self-destructive frontman. As one of Kilmer’s most iconic roles, not only did he physically resemble the singer; he actually auditioned by recording an eight-minute video of himself singing Doors’ songs. Kilmer’s portrayal astonished the band’s original members, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore, who could not distinguish his voice from Morrison’s.

“True Romance” (1993)

Kilmer portrayed another iconic singer in Quentin Tarantino’s violent romantic adventure: Elvis Presley. Although it was a small role, it added a unique layer to the film’s character development. Kilmer spent nearly eight hours a day in the makeup chair to transform himself into the famous singer, reportedly becoming so intensely preoccupied with the role that he destroyed his marriage in the process. 

“Tombstone” (1993)

Kilmer gave another scene-stealing turn as Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp’s hard-drinking ally in the critically acclaimed Western epic. Kilmer reportedly lost 30 pounds to portray the charming yet tragic gunslinger’s final demise from tuberculosis; many consider his nuanced performance to be one of cinema’s best.

“Batman Forever” (1995)

Kilmer’s highest-profile role in Joel Schumacher’s 1995 installment of the DC Comic franchise actually wasn’t lauded by critics: Many felt that he was overshadowed by the movie’s villains, played by Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey, and that his performance didn’t measure up to his predecessor, Michael Keaton.

Kilmer himself admitted to feeling encumbered by the sheer weight of his Batman costume, revealing in his documentary that “it was a struggle for me to get a performance past the suit, and it was frustrating until I realised that my role in the film was just to show up and stand where I was told to.” Still, out of all of the men to don the crusader’s cape, Batman co-creator Bob Kane said that Kilmer’s performance was his personal favorite.

View the original article to see embedded media.

Val Kilmer’s health issues

In 2014, Kilmer noticed a lump in his throat that made it difficult to swallow, although he didn’t seek medical attention for another year. As he recounted in his memoir, “One night I suddenly awoke vomiting blood that covered the bed like a scene out of ‘The Godfather.’ I prayed immediately, then called 911.” The diagnosis was throat cancer.

As a lifelong Christian Scientist, Kilmer avoided seeking medical treatment, telling The New York Times that his religion instead prescribed a spiritual adviser who could “pray his fear away.” Realizing he had grown children he loved and cared for, however, Kilmer decided to take a more active approach.

In 2014, he underwent tracheotomy surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, but the treatments permanently damaged his voice. He used a voice box in order to speak, admitting that he sounded different than he used to. Because of his difficulties speaking, Kilmer’s son, Jack, served as the narrator in his documentary, “Val.”

In 2021, Kilmer stated that he was completely cancer free, although he was not fully out of the woods. According to the American Thoracic Society, tracheostomy tubes increased a patient’s chance of catching pneumonia. According to his daughter, Mercedes, Kilmer succumbed from pneumonia on April 1, 2025. He was 65.

Val Kilmer’s personal life

His “leading man” looks made him quite the ladies’ man, and Kilmer dated some of the biggest stars of the 1980s and ’90s, from Cindy Crawford to Daryl Hannah, Ellen Barkin, and even Angelina Jolie.

But his biggest celebrity relationship was his two-year romance with Cher. She was 36 when it began; he was just 22. In a 2021 interview with People Magazine, Cher admitted that she had been “madly in love” with Kilmer, saying the two shared “unbelievable times and then put up with some times when they weren’t (that way) because we were both Alpha males. We were both individuals and neither of us was going to give up on that.” 

Although their relationship ended, they remained friends for years—Cher even stayed at Kilmer’s home when he battled cancer. 

More on entertainment:

• Drake’s net worth: Just how rich is the Toronto rapper in 2025?
• Tony Robbins’ net worth after 40+ years of selling success
• Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 net worth: How the Super Bowl Halftime rapper got so rich

Kilmer married actress Joanne Whalley in March 1988. They share two children together; Mercedes, born in 1991, and Jack, born in 1995. The couple divorced in 1996, and Kilmer never remarried.

Val Kilmer’s real estate

Kilmer first fell in love with New Mexico on his drive from California to New York to attend Juilliard, vowing to return.

In 1991, he purchased 27 acres of property in Tesuque, near the home of Gene Hackman, embarking on a large-scale home renovation with then-wife Whalley. They added traditional features, like a kiva, as well as Navajo and Cheyenne antiques. Architectural Digest profiled the property in its August 1998 issue.

After their divorce, Kilmer sold the home in 2003 for $1.65 million.

Kilmer next purchased a sprawling 6,000-acre ranch north of Santa Fe on the Pecos River. Complete with canyons, a pine forest, and a massive, 5,600-square-foot log home, Kilmer worked on his art and writing, and added a treehouse for his children when they came to visit. It was a rustic paradise.

In October 2011, Kilmer put the entire property on the market for $33 million, later reducing the price to $18.5 million. It was sold to an oil man who planned to turn it into a trout fishing ranch. 

According to Realtor.com, Kilmer then relocated to Los Angeles where he later underwent cancer treatment. 

#Val #Kilmers #net #worth #Building #fortune #triumph #tragedy