Dev Patel Net Worth

What Is Dev Patel's Net Worth?

Dev Patel is a British actor who has a net worth of $10 million. Dev Patel rose to prominence after playing Jamal in the 2008 Academy Award-winning drama "Slumdog Millionaire." He has since gone on to enjoy a successful film and television career.

Early Life

Dev Patel was born on April 23, 1990, in Harrow, London. His mother, Anita, was a care worker, and his father, Raju, worked as an IT consultant. Patel's parents both identify as Gujarati Indian Hindus, though they were born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya. In Nairobi, both of Patel's parents lived in a sizable Indian community. However, they emigrated separately in their teens to England and first met in London. Patel was raised with a Hindu upbringing and claims to speak some Gujarati. His ancestors hail from Jamnagar and Unjha in Gujarat. Dev grew up in the Rayners Lane district of Harrow and attended Longfield Primary School, then Whitmore High School. Patel earned his initial acting stripes playing Sir Andrew Aguecheek in a school staging of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night."

Patel earned an A+ grade in the subject of GCSE Drama for what he claims was a "self-penned portrayal of a child in the Beslan school siege." His drama teacher, Niamh Wright, was so touched by Patel's work that he went on record saying, "Dev was a gifted student who quickly impressed me with his innate ability to communicate a wide variety of characters imaginatively and creatively." Patel was awarded full marks for this GCSE performance which was played to a live audience. A visiting examiner was reportedly moved to tears by Patel's touching portrayal. Dev was still attending Whitmore High School while earning television work on the acclaimed series "Skins."

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Television and Film Career

Prior to becoming famous for his work in television and film, Dev claimed to be an ordinary teen who had two great passions close to his heart: acting and tae kwon-do. Although Patel would show much promise when it came to his acting skills while starring on "Skins," it was his work with director Danny Boyle that would largely put him on the Hollywood radar.

Patel was avidly searching for non-traditional leading man roles of Indian descent, and this demographic fit a part that Boyle needed to fill to a "T." Boyle was confident that he'd found the actor he was looking for in Dev Patel for his film "Slumdog Millionaire."

Patel landed the role of Jamal, a young resident of the Mumbai slums who gets a shot at making his life better via the game show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" His endearing performance, opposite Freida Pinto, earned him rave reviews and made the film an instant hit. As for his subsequent notable turns, they include feature films like M. Night Shyamalan's "The Last Airbender" (2010) and "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" (2011), as well as Aaron Sorkin's HBO show "The Newsroom".

In 2014, Dev starred alongside Robert Sheehan and Zoë Kravitz in "The Road Within." The film is about three unlikely friends, one character having Tourette's syndrome (Sheehan), one living with OCD (Patel), and one struggling with anorexia (Kravitz). The film documents the three friends as they embark on a road trip. Although the film itself received mixed reviews, "Variety" called the performances "bristling and committed" while adding the critique that "there remains a nagging tidiness to the whole endeavor that leaves a strained, cloying aftertaste."

In 2016, Patel starred as Saroo Brierley, a boy from a poverty-stricken family in India who went to sleep on a train and woke up far from home in the biographical film "Lion." The film was directed by Garth Davis, and Dev co-starred with Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara. "Lion" premiered to rave reviews and had a ton of "Oscar buzz" behind it that was largely garnered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. The film itself is largely based upon source material from Saroo Brierley's memoir "A Long Way Home." Patel went on to win the BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. At the 89th Academy Awards, Dev was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his efforts in the film.

Patel starred as David Copperfield in 2019's "The Personal History of David Copperfield," an adaptation of the 1850 Charles Dickens classic "David Copperfield" helmed by Armando Iannucci. Dev also portrayed Gawain in 2021's "The Green Knight."

Personal Life

Off-screen, Dev dated his "Slumdog Millionaire" co-star Freida Pinto for roughly six years. The couple broke up in 2014.