Kathleen Kennedy Net Worth

What is Kathleen Kennedy's Net Worth and Salary?

Kathleen Kennedy is an American film producer who has a net worth of $300 million. That is a combined net worth with her husband, fellow producer Frank Marshall. Together, they form one of the most commercially successful producing teams in Hollywood history. Across her career, Kennedy's films have generated roughly $13 billion in worldwide box office revenue, making her the second-highest-grossing film producer of all time. Marshall ranks close behind as the sixth-highest-grossing producer with approximately $9.4 billion in global grosses. The only producer to surpass Kennedy is Kevin Feige, whose Marvel films have earned more than $26 billion worldwide.

Kennedy's career spans more than four decades and includes some of the most iconic films ever made. She began her producing career with the 1982 classic "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" and quickly became a key creative partner to Steven Spielberg and other major filmmakers. Over the years, she served as a producer or executive producer on landmark projects such as "Back to the Future," "Jurassic Park," and "Schindler's List," films that helped define modern blockbuster cinema while also earning critical acclaim.

Her single most commercially successful film is "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which grossed $2.068 billion worldwide and relaunched the Star Wars franchise for a new generation. In 1992, Kennedy and Marshall co-founded The Kennedy/Marshall Company, producing a wide range of successful films before Kennedy departed the company in 2012 to become president of Lucasfilm following Disney's $4 billion acquisition of the studio.

In 2019, Kennedy was named an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her contributions to film. In January 2026, after more than a decade leading Lucasfilm, she formally stepped down as president, marking the end of one of the most influential executive tenures in modern Hollywood.

Early Life

Kathleen Kennedy was born on June 5, 1953, in Berkeley, California. Her mother, Dione, was a former theater actress, while her father, Donald Kennedy, worked as an attorney and later served as a judge. She grew up in a household that blended creativity with discipline, an environment that would later shape her career as both a producer and studio executive. Kennedy has a twin sister, Connie, who became an executive producer with Profile Studios, and another sister, Dana, who worked as press secretary for former Washington governor Gary Locke.

Kennedy attended Shasta High School, graduating in 1971, before enrolling at San Diego State University, where she majored in film and telecommunications. During her senior year, she landed a job at San Diego television station KCST. There, she gained hands-on experience as a video editor, camera operator, and floor director, eventually becoming a news production coordinator. After leaving KCST, she spent four years producing the local talk show "You're On." Seeking broader opportunities, Kennedy moved to Los Angeles, where she began working as an assistant to director John Milius, who at the time was an executive producer on Steven Spielberg's "1941." That position proved to be the gateway to a career that would place her at the center of modern Hollywood.

Early Producing Career and Amblin Entertainment

Kennedy's work with Milius led directly to her introduction to Steven Spielberg, who hired her as an assistant. She quickly became an indispensable part of Spielberg's creative orbit. Her early credits included "associate to Steven Spielberg" on "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in 1981 and associate producer on "Poltergeist" in 1982. That same year, she served as a producer on "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," a landmark success that earned a Best Picture Academy Award nomination and became the highest-grossing film of all time.

In 1981, Kennedy co-founded Amblin Entertainment alongside Spielberg and Frank Marshall. The company became one of the defining production banners of the 1980s, responsible for a string of culturally enduring films. In 1984, Kennedy produced "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" with Marshall and George Lucas and even made a brief on-screen appearance as a dancer in the film's opening sequence. She earned her first executive producer credit with "Gremlins" that same year and went on to executive-produce films such as "The Goonies," "An American Tail," and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." During this period, she also produced "The Color Purple," which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.

Blockbusters, Prestige Films, and Oscar Recognition

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Kennedy established herself as one of the rare producers equally adept at commercial blockbusters and prestige dramas. She worked on more than 30 projects during the 1990s alone, including "Cape Fear," "The Bridges of Madison County," and "The Sixth Sense." The latter earned her another Best Picture Oscar nomination and became one of the most influential psychological thrillers of its era.

Her streak of awards recognition continued into the following decade. Kennedy received additional Academy Award nominations for producing "Seabiscuit," "Munich," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "War Horse," and "Lincoln." By the early 2010s, she had accumulated eight Best Picture nominations, cementing her reputation as one of the most consistently respected producers in the industry. Beyond filmmaking, she served as co-president of the Producers Guild of America from 2001 to 2002 and remained active in mentoring and advocacy roles, including long-standing involvement with the National Student Film Institute.

Lucasfilm and the Star Wars Era

In June 2012, Kennedy was named co-chair of Lucasfilm, working alongside company founder George Lucas. Just months later, following Disney's $4 billion acquisition of the studio, she became president of Lucasfilm. Under her leadership, the Star Wars franchise returned to theaters with "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which grossed more than $2 billion worldwide and relaunched the series for a new generation.

During her tenure, Kennedy oversaw a slate of Star Wars films that collectively generated billions in box office revenue, as well as the expansion of the franchise into television. The Disney+ series "The Mandalorian" became a cultural phenomenon and earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series, helping establish Star Wars as a cornerstone of Disney's streaming strategy. While the era was marked by both massive successes and public controversies, Kennedy remained one of the most influential executives in modern franchise filmmaking.

In January 2026, after more than a decade at the helm, Kennedy formally stepped down as president of Lucasfilm, closing a defining chapter of her career while remaining active as a producer on select projects.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Personal Life

Kathleen Kennedy married fellow producer Frank Marshall in 1987. The couple has two daughters, Lily and Megan. Both have been involved in the entertainment industry in various capacities. Lily appeared in the 2009 film "The Scenesters," while Megan has worked both in front of and behind the camera, guest-starring on shows such as "Blue's Clues" and "FaceSpace" and working as a lighting technician on the horror film "Insidious." Kennedy and Marshall are widely regarded as one of Hollywood's most enduring power couples, both professionally and personally.

(Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Awards and Honors

Before receiving an honorary Oscar, Kennedy was nominated for eight Academy Awards for Best Picture. In 2019, she was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in recognition of her body of work. The following year, she received the Academy Fellowship at the BAFTA Awards. Over her career, Kennedy has been honored by organizations including the Producers Guild of America, the National Board of Review, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, and Women in Film. She was named Woman of the Year at the Elle Women in Hollywood Awards in 2017 and received the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Award at CinemaCon in 2013, among many other distinctions.

Real Estate

Kennedy and Marshall have owned several notable properties in the Los Angeles area. In 2010, they sold their Pacific Palisades home to Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson for $26 million. In 2015, they expanded their real estate portfolio with a $9.75 million Malibu property and a $14.925 million home in Sullivan Canyon that had previously belonged to "Golden Girls" star Bea Arthur. In August 2023, the couple listed the Malibu property for $18.5 million and ultimately sold it for $12.7 million, continuing a long pattern of high-value real estate transactions befitting one of Hollywood's most successful producing families.

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