Joel Coen's Net Worth (Updated 2024)

What is Joel Coen’s net worth?

Net Worth:	$20 Million
Age:	59
Born:	August 23, 1963
Gender:	Male
Height:	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Country of Origin:	United States of America
Source of Wealth:	TV/Film Director
Last Updated:	March 8, 2023

Table of Contents

Introduction

Joel Coen is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, and writer from the United States.

He and his brother Ethan Coen are known as the Coen Brothers and have collaborated on several films as writers, producers, and directors.

The Coens have written a variety of movies, such as the comedy Crimewave, and Steven Spielberg’s historical cold war thriller Bridge of Spies.

As of January 2024, Joel Coen’s net worth is estimated to be $20 Million.

Joel Coen Facts

Joel and Ethan co-directed a TV commercial in 2009 that criticized the usage of coal as an environmentally friendly method of generating electricity.
The Ladykillers, released in 2004, was the first movie in which Joel Coen and Ethan Coen shared director and producer credits.
He attended the graduate film program at the University of Texas at Austin for nine months, though he later left.
The brothers executive-produced the 2003 movie Bad Santa, to which they also contributed uncredited rewriting.
His New York City-based movie company, Mike Zoss Productions, is owned by both Joel and his brother.

Early Life

Joel Daniel Coen was born November 29, 1954, in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, United States.

As the oldest of Edward and Rena Coen’s two sons, he joined an older sister, Deborah, who works as a psychiatrist in Israel.

After graduating from the London School of Economics, his father, Edward, fought in the American Army during World War II.

Joel’s dad became a professor of economics at the University of Minnesota while his mother was a St. Cloud State University art historian.

Coen attended St. Louis Park High School and graduated in 1973 before moving on to Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where he joined Simon’s Rock.

Later, he enrolled in the four-year undergraduate film program at New York University and created a half-hour thesis film called Soundings while he was a student.

Together with his brother Ethan, he developed a strong interest in filmmaking from a very young age. The brothers were avid moviegoers, and Joel even saved money to buy a Vivitar Super 8 camera, which they used to recreate television shows they had seen.

The brothers produced various original movies in addition to remakes, including Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go, Lumberjacks of the North, and The Banana Film.

Career

Following his graduation from college, Joel Coen got his start as a production assistant on several commercials and music videos.

He was also employed as an assistant editor on several horror movies, including The Evil Dead, Sam Raimi’s debut feature in 1981.

Ethan Coen joined him after he finished his education, and the two started penning movies for indie producers.

The 1984 independent neo-noir crime thriller Blood Simple, which they co-wrote, directed, and produced, was their first commercial film together.

They received a lot of praise for the movie, and Joel even won the Independent Spirit and Sundance awards for outstanding director.

He co-wrote and co-edited the crime comedy-drama musical, O Brother, Where Art Thou? released in 2000 and the noirish thriller The Man Who Wasn’t There in 2001.

They added the romantic comedy Intolerable Cruelty in 2003 to their list of triumphs and the black comedy The Ladykillers, all of which were released between 2000 and 2004.

The Man Who Wasn’t There earned favorable feedback and nominations for various awards; the latter even won the best director prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? boasted a Grammy-winning soundtrack that was also popular and served as the basis for the concert film Down from the Mountain released in 2000.

Their neo-western crime thriller No Country for Old Men was also released in 2007 and included Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, Josh Brolin, and Javier Bardem.

The movie won Academy Awards for best picture, best director, and best-adapted screenplay and was written, directed, produced, and edited by them.

This marked the first time since 1961 that two directors were recognized with the same Oscar for best director.

Joel Coen’s Career Earnings

The brothers directed Angelina Jolie’s biographical war drama Unbroken, which was released late in 2014.

Here’s an estimated overview of Joel Coen’s annual income:

Joel Coen’s Salary In 2013 – $33 Million
Joel Coen’s Salary In 2014 – $164 Million
Joel Coen’s Salary In 2015 – $165 Million
Joel Coen’s Salary In 2016 – $64 Million
Joel Coen’s Salary In 2017 – $10 Million
Joel Coen’s Salary In 2018 – $800,000
Joel Coen’s Salary In 2019- $750,000
Joel Coen’s Salary In 2020 – $1 Million
Joel Coen’s Salary In 2020 – $1 Million
Joel Coen’s Salary In 2021 – $1.5 Million
Joel Coen’s Salary In 2022 – $1 Million

The brothers’ writing, directing, producing, and editing work on Burn After Reading in 2008, A Serious Man in 2009, and True Grit gained praise.

Positive reviews and numerous nominations for awards were given to all three films, further bolstering their reputations.

Joel Coen’s Net Worth Annually

The brothers collaborated on many top movies, including Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail, Caesar!, and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, starring Tim Nelson and Liam Neeson, released in 2008.

Here’s a breakdown of Joel Coen’s annual net worth:

Joel Coen’s Net Worth In 2016 – $75 Million
Joel Coen’s Net Worth In 2017 – $95 Million
Joel Coen’s Net Worth In 2018 – $96.2 Million
Joel Coen’s Net Worth In 2019 – $96.5 Million
Joel Coen’s Net Worth In 2020 – $97 Million
Joel Coen’s Net Worth In 2021 – $98 Million
Joel Coen’s Net Worth In 2022 – $100 Million

They also co-wrote the scripts for movies like Gambit in 2012, Unbroken in 2014, Bridge of Spies in 2015, and Suburbicon released in 2017.

Personal Life

In the late 1970s, after a brief marriage to a woman that ended in divorce, Joel wed the actress Frances McDormand in 1984.

Blood Simple, Fargo, Raising Arizona, and other Coen brothers movies feature McDormand in supporting roles.

When Pedro McDormand Coen was just six months old, the couple adopted him from Paraguay and gave him the name Pedro McDormand Coen.

You can check out Joel’s official Instagram account to see what he’s getting up to next.

Awards & Achievements

Although the brothers collaborated on their projects from the start, Joel was always given the director’s credit himself, with Ethan receiving the producer’s credit.

Here are some of the more memorable moments from Joel Coen’s career:

Coen made his directing debut in 1985 with Blood Simple, for which he received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Director.
In 1985, Blood Simple was judged the best movie at the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Dramatic.
The London Film Critics Circle Award for Screenwriter of the Year went to The Man Who Wasn’t There in 1996.
Joel received the Independent Spirit Award for Best Director in 1997 for the movie Fargo.
Denzel Washington co-stars in his recent movie about Macbeth.

As a way to fly under the radar, the brothers co-edited their movies and shared writing credits under the alias Roderick Jaynes.

In 2022, Joel directed a documentary about one of the richest singers in the world, Jerry Lee Lewis, called, Trouble in Mind, starring Keith Carradine.

How Does Joel Coen Spend His Money?

Joel and his wife, Frances McDormand, lead a very private life with very little information publicly available to see what they do as a family.

Coen is said to own some of the most expensive cars in the world and often uses a variety of these vehicles in his films, to help tell the story.

He loves gardening and a dispute with his neighbors in Bolinas, where he owns a home, has resulted in a lawsuit and public recriminations due to a boundary line and green belt access.

Coen also travels on the most expensive private jets in the world, as commercial airline travel is just not good enough for him and his brother.

Highlights

By classifying an established partnership as one candidate for the same movie, the Coen brothers have equaled the record for the most nominations received by a single nominee.

Here are some of the best highlights of Joel Coen’s career:

Joel won the Golden Palm for best film at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1991 for Barton Fink, and he was nominated in 1994 for The Hudsucker Proxy and 1996 for Fargo.
When Frances McDormand won Best Actress for Fargo, Joel became the first person to direct his own wife in an Oscar-winning performance.
Joel won the Academy Award for Best Writing in 2008 for the film, No Country for Old Men.
He received the Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award for A Serious Man in 2010.
Coen was given the Best Screenplay Award in 2018 for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

No Country for Old Men garnered Joel and his brother four Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.

They were nominated under the name Roderick Jaynes, the “nom-de Guerre” they used when collaborating on various projects.

Favorite Joel Coen Quotes

The Coen brothers are never idle and revealed in February 2017, that they are penning the script for the Scarface remake, which fans are now eagerly awaiting.

Luca Guadagnino declared his intention to direct the movie originally made famous by Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer in their Al Capone-based story.

Here are our favorite quotes from Joel Coen:

“We create monsters and then we can’t control them.” – Joel Coen
“Usually, I don’t want to sit down and listen to the director gas on about his movie. I just can’t actually imagine myself sitting down and having that much to say.” – Joel Coen
“If the material is challenging, it forces you to challenge yourself when handling it.” – Joel Coen
“I couldn’t have been happier with the relationship we had with Disney, it couldn’t have been easier.” – Joel Coen
“I guess everything having to do with your background has some influence on how you tell stories.” – Joel Coen

3 Amazing Lessons From Joel Coen

Joel and his brother had a tough life growing up in Minnesota and it affected the way they told their stories.

Now that you know all about Joel Coen’s net worth, here are some of the best success lessons to learn from Joel Coen:

1. You Make Your Own Luck

Joel knew from early on that he wanted to be involved in filmmaking and everything he did was aimed toward that goal.

When he and his brother got together to work on projects, they worked hard to achieve success.

2. Take A Chance

Joel feels that anything worthwhile is worth doing properly. Every detail of his production is carefully thought out and every thread is neatly tied.

But in the final analysis, nobody can predict how the audience will respond to a movie, but it is worth taking a chance to see if they love it.

3. Be Different

Joel and his brother were different from their peers and came up with ideas and concepts that were out of the ordinary.

After seeing their films and the effect they had on their audience, being different really paid off for Joel.

Summary

Joel and his brother have written, produced, and directed several box office hits, bringing in an estimated $100 million.

They have various projects that they are currently working on and it remains to be seen if they will create another award-winning movie.