Alexander Payne Net Worth

What Is Alexander Payne's Net Worth?

Alexander Payne is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer who has a net worth of $25 million. Alexander Payne has directed the films "Citizen Ruth" (1996), "Election" (1999), "About Schmidt" (2002), "Sideways" (2004), "The Descendants" (2011), "Nebraska" (2013), "Downsizing" (2017), and "The Holdovers" (2023), and he co-wrote all of them except "Nebraska" and "The Holdovers." Alexander has earned seven Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay for "Sideways" and "The Descendants." He was a writer on the films "Jurassic Park III" (2001) and "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" (2007), and he has published the books "The Coffee Table Coffee Table Book" (2003) and "The Sideways Guide to Wine and Life." (2005). Payne has won more than 80 awards for his work.

Early Life

Alexander Payne was born Constantine Alexander Payne on February 10, 1961, in Omaha, Nebraska. He is the son of restaurant owners George and Peggy Payne, and he grew up with two older brothers in the Dundee neighborhood. Alexander has Greek ancestry, and his paternal grandfather Nicholas Payne's original surname was Papadopoulos. Nicholas founded The Virginia Cafe, and George later took it over; a fire destroyed the restaurant in the late '60s. Alexander studied at Dundee Elementary School, Brownell-Talbot School, and Lewis and Clark Junior High before graduating from Creighton Prep in 1979. While attending Creighton Prep, he wrote a humor column for the school's newspaper and served as the editor of the yearbook. After high school, Payne majored in History and Spanish at Stanford University, and he also studied at the University of Salamanca in Spain and spent a few months living in Medellín, Colombia. In 1990, he earned an MFA from the UCLA Film School.

Career

Shortly after earning his MFA, Payne signed a writing and directing deal with Universal Pictures. The studio turned down the first screenplay he submitted, which eventually became the 2002 film "About Schmidt." Alexander made his feature film directorial debut with 1996's "Citizen Ruth," which he co-wrote with Jim Taylor. The film starred Laura Dern, Swoosie Kurtz, Kelly Preston, and Burt Reynolds, and it won the Best Screenplay award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival and earned Payne a Grand Jury Prize nomination in the Dramatic category at the Sundance Film Festival. Alexander directed Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon in 1999's "Election," which he also co-wrote with Jim Taylor. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published and won three Independent Spirit Awards and a Writers Guild of America Award. Payne and Taylor co-wrote 2002's "About Schmidt," in which Alexander directed Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, and Kathy Bates. The film grossed $105.8 million against a $30 million budget, and it won a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay – Motion Picture.

Payne won his first Academy Award for 2004's "Sideways," which was co-written with Taylor and starred Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, and Sandra Oh. The film grossed $109.7 million at the box office and won more than 120 awards. Alexander won another Academy Award for 2011's "The Descendants," which he co-wrote with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. He also produced the film, which starred George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges, and Judy Greer and earned $177.2 million at the box office and won over 60 awards. Payne then directed 2013's "Nebraska," starring Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Stacy Keach, and Bob Odenkirk. The film received six Academy Award nominations. Payne and Taylor reunited for the 2017 film "Downsizing," which Alexander directed and produced. Starring Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau, and Kristen Wiig, "Downsizing" was named one of the year's ten best films by the National Board of Review. In 2023, Alexander directed the film "The Holdovers," which starred Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Dominic Sessa and won more than 80 awards.

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Personal Life

On January 1, 2003, Alexander married actress Sandra Oh, who starred in "Sideways." They separated in early 2005, and their divorce was finalized in December 2006. In September 2015, Payne wed Maria Kontos, whom he met in Greece. They have a daughter (born in 2017), and they divorced in 2022. Alexander became a Greek citizen in 2022. He has served on the Board of Directors of Film Streams, a nonprofit movie theater in Omaha, and he previously co-owned a Chinese restaurant, King Fong, in the city.

In 2018, actress Rose McGowan accused a "prominent" Hollywood figure of statutory rape. She stated, "This man picked me up when I was 15 years old. He took me home after he met me and he showed me a soft porn movie he had made for Showtime, under a different name. And then he had sex with me." In 2020, McGowan said that Payne was the man in question and had been in his late twenties at the time. Alexander subsequently wrote a guest column for Deadline Hollywood, stating, "Rose is mistaken in saying we met when she was fifteen, in the late 1980s. I was a full-time film student at UCLA from 1984 until 1990, and I know that our paths never crossed. She claims that I showed her a 'soft-core porn movie' I had directed for Showtime 'under a different name.' This would have been impossible, since I had never directed anything professionally, lurid or otherwise. I have also never worked for Showtime or directed under any name other than my own." Payne went on to say that he met McGowan at a 1991 audition for a short he was making for the Playboy Channel and that the role she auditioned for "required an actor who was of age."

Awards and Nominations

Payne has won more than 80 awards for his work, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, three Writers Guild of America Awards, and five Independent Spirit Awards. He has received seven Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay for "Sideways" and "The Descendants." His other nominations were for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published for "Election," Best Achievement in Directing for "Sideways," "The Descendants," and "Nebraska," and Best Motion Picture of the Year for "The Descendants." Alexander has earned seven Golden Globe nominations, taking home the prize for Best Screenplay – Motion Picture for "About Schmidt" and "Sideways." He was also nominated in that category for "The Descendants," and he received Best Director – Motion Picture nominations for "About Schmidt," "Sideways," "The Descendants," and "Nebraska." Payne has won five Independent Spirit Awards: Best Screenplay for "Election," "Sideways," and "The Descendants," and Best Director for "Election" and "Sideways." He also won Writers Guild of America Awards for "Election," "Sideways," and "The Descendants."

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