Ryan Murphy's Net Worth Is an American Success Story
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Ryan Murphy is behind some of the biggest TV shows of the past two decades—Glee, American Horror Story, Pose, The Watcher. With a resumé like that, it’s no wonder the mega-producer's net worth is in the nine-figures. But Murphy wasn’t always the most powerful man in television.
“I am a gay kid from Indiana who moved to Hollywood in 1989 with $55 in savings in my pocket," Murphy said in 2018, after signing an unprecedented five-year deal with Netflix that was reportedly worth $300 million. "So the fact that my dreams have crystallized and come true in such a major way is emotional and overwhelming to me."
Read on for more details about how Murphy got his start and how much he's earned along the way.
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How did Ryan Murphy get famous?
Murphy was born and raised in suburban Indiana, where he was often treated like an outcast for being gay (his parents sent him to counseling when he was 15, after his mother discovered a drawer full of love letters he exchanged with a boyfriend).
“The only way to get through the life I had was just to have a big head of steam and determination,” Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter in 2015. “I would walk down the hallway in high school and be called ‘f-g,’ but I’d never let it stop me. I’d make a joke about it or I’d make it my goal to befriend those people, and then I’d end up sleeping with their boyfriends. … I had a goal even then: I wanted to make it through high school alive, and along the way, I was like, ‘Well, why can’t I be popular? Why can’t I go to the prom? Why can’t I be the president of this or that club?’ That was always important to me.”
Professionally, Murphy started out as a journalist, writing movie reviews and profiles for the Miami Herald, and racking up bylines at Los Angeles Times, The New York Daily News and Entertainment Weekly. In 1995, he had a stroke of luck when he wrote a screenplay entitled Why Can’t I Be Audrey Hepburn? and sold the script to none other than Steven Spielberg. The movie was never made, but it got Murphy’s foot in the door of Hollywood.
His first show, the teen comedy series Popular, debuted on the WB in 1999 and was by all accounts a flop (it got canceled after two seasons). But he had his first hit series, Nip/Tuck, on FX in 2003 and became a household name by 2009, with the premiere of Glee.
Related: Lea Michele Reflects on 'Dream Come True' Tony Awards Performance
What is Ryan Murphy's net worth?
Murphy’s net worth is estimated to be $150 million thanks to his long career as a writer, producer and director, his very lucrative Netflix deal and other creative ventures.
How much has Ryan Murphy made from Netflix?
Murphy signed a record-setting five-year deal with Netflix for a reported $300 million in 2018.
Since the start of his contract with the streamer, Murphy has made two documentaries, three films and six series for the platform, including hits like The Watcher and Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, and less successful efforts like Ratched and The Politician. Interestingly, the latter series reportedly had a budget that rivaled The Crown. “I’m trying to do things that are big and commercial, fun and shiny,” Murphy told the New York Times around the time of the show's premiere. “They didn’t ask me to come there to make some grainy, drab creation.”
Has Ryan Murphy left Netflix?
Reports surfaced in late June that Murphy is leaving Netflix now that his five-year deal with the streamer is up. Murphy hasn't commented on the reports, and details of his next move are likely to remain under wraps for the duration of the WGA writers' strike. (Speaking of the writers' strike: Murphy recently came under fire for not speaking out in support of the union and for keeping Season 12 of American Horror Story in production long after other series shut down in solidarity.)
Related: Everything to Know About the 2023 Writers' Strike
Is Ryan Murphy moving to Disney?
In June 2023, Deadline reported that Murphy was in talks to sign with Disney. The move would reunite him with FX boss John Landgraf, who greenlit Nip/Tuck, American Horror Story, Feud and Pose, as well as Dana Walden, with whom he worked at 20th Century Fox (she's now co-chairman of Disney Entertainment).
Assuming Murphy does make the move to Disney, he would still be on the hook at Netflix for Seasons 2 of Monster and The Watcher.
How much does Ryan Murphy make a year?
If Murphy made $300 million upfront for his five years at Netflix, that means he made $60 million per year on that deal alone. But his annual income was undoubtedly much more than that, given that he also produced shows like 9-1-1 for Fox (although the show recently moved to ABC) and American Horror Story for FX.
How much is Ryan Murphy's real estate worth?
Murphy has bought and sold quite a few homes over the years. The ones he’s reportedly still holding onto are a $15.5 million home in Brentwood, Calif., and a $24.5 million townhouse in Manhattan. He also paid $24.15 million for an estate in Westchester County in 2022 and owns a home in Provincetown, R.I.
What awards has Ryan Murphy won?
Murphy has received six Primetime Emmy Awards from 37 nominations, a Tony Award from two nominations, and two Grammy Award nominations.
In January 2023, he received the Carol Burnett Award at the 2023 Golden Globes show and gave a rousing speech dedicated to the many LGBTQ actors he's worked with along the way.
"I've dedicated most of my lifetime achievement speech here tonight to these wonderful actors I've worked with to make a point of hope and progress," he said toward the end of the nearly eight-minute tribute.
"When I was a young person at home in the '70s watching The Carol Burnett Show, I never ever saw a person like me getting an award or even being a character on a TV show. It's hard being an LGBTQ kid in America, in fact all over the world then and now...You are often told you will never become anything, you have to hide your light to survive. But for those kids watching tonight, I offer up M.J. [Rodriguez] and Billy [Porter] and Niecy [Nash] and Matt [Bomer] and Jeremy [Pope] as examples of possibility. There is a way forward. Use them as your North Stars".
