Tao Ruspoli Net Worth

What Is Tao Ruspoli's Net Worth?

Tao Ruspoli is an Italian and American filmmaker and aristocrat who has a net worth of $9 million. Tao Ruspoli founded LAFCO, the Los Angeles Filmmakers Collective, in 2000. The group of filmmakers and musicians collaborated on film projects in and around the Los Angeles area. Through LAFCO, Ruspoli directed and produced a number of short films and documentaries, including, "Just Say Know" (2002), "This Film Needs No Title: A Portrait of Raymond Smullyan" (2004), "El Cable" (2004), "Flamenco: A Personal Journey" (2005), and "Fix" (2008). He also produced, edited, and appeared in the 2006 feature film, "Camjackers." In addition to his film work, Tao is also an accomplished photographer and flamenco guitarist. He made headlines in 2011 when it was announced that he and actress Olivia Wilde were dissolving their eight-year marriage.

Early Life

Tao Ruspoli was born Tao dei Principi Ruspoli on November 7, 1975, in Bangkok. His mother, Debra Berger, is an Austrian-American actress, and his father, Alessandro Ruspoli, 9th Prince of Cerveteri, was an aristocrat and occasional actor. Tao grew up in Rome, Italy, and Los Angeles, California, and he has a brother, Bartolomeo, and two half-siblings, Mélusine Ruspoli and Francesco Ruspoli, 10th Prince of Cerveteri. He attended Beverly Hills High School, and after graduating in 1993, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1998. In college, he studied under Hubert Dreyfus, who taught him about Martin Heidegger's being-in-the-world concept. This inspired Ruspoli's approach to filmmaking and his artistic development, and he later featured Dreyfus in his 2010 documentary "Being in the World."

In May 2024, Tao returned to the school to give the commencement speech. He later said of that day, "I had the incredible honor of delivering the commencement address to UC Berkeley Philosophy department's graduating class of 2024 during this time of momentous social upheaval. As an alumnus who studied under legendary professor Hubert Dreyfus, a pioneer in applying existential phenomenology to critique technology and 'Artificial Intelligence' (AI), it was powerful to return and share reflections with these bright young minds."

Career

Ruspoli established the Los Angeles Filmmakers Cooperative (LAFCO) in 2000. Tao produced his early documentaries through LAFCO, "a bohemian collective of filmmakers and musicians who worked out of a converted school bus." He made his debut with the 2002 short documentary "Just Say Know," serving as the director, editor, and cinematographer. The film featured his parents and brother, and it explored familial addiction. Ruspoli followed his debut with the 2004 documentaries "This Film Needs No Title: A Portrait of Raymond Smullyan" and "El Cable." He was the director, editor, and cinematographer on both films, and he also produced "El Cable." Next, Tao was the director, producer, and cinematographer on the 2005 documentary "Flamenco: A Personal Journey," and he edited, executive produced, and appeared in the 2006 feature film "Camjackers." In 2008, he directed the documentary "Behind the Wheel," and he was the director and cinematographer on the feature film "Fix," which he also starred in and co-wrote. "Fix" won several awards, including a Best Narrative Feature award at the Brooklyn International Film Festival and a Best Film award at the Vail Film Festival.

Ruspoli produced the 2009 documentary "American Casino," then he directed 2010's "Being in the World," which was named Best Documentary at the Vail Film Festival. He produced the 2014 documentary "Dying to Know: Ram Dass & Timothy Leary," and a few years after his divorce from Olivia Wilde, he directed and co-wrote the 2017 documentary "Monogamish," in which he "takes to the road to talk to his relatives, advice columnists, psychologists, historians, anthropologists, artists, philosophers, sex workers, sex therapists, and ordinary couples about love, sex & monogamy in our culture." In 2016, Tao co-founded the annual event the Bombay Beach Biennale, which is described as a "renegade celebration of art, music, and philosophy that takes place on the literal edge of western civilization." He later co-founded the nonprofit organization the Bombay Beach Institute for Industrial Espionage & Post-Apocalyptic Studies, a "cultural laboratory and think tank dedicated to experiments in social terraforming, creative world building, and alternative governance." In 2020, Ruspoli began co-hosting the podcast "Being in the World" with writer / neuroscientist Patrick House.

Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

Personal Life

On January 16, 2003, Tao married actress Olivia Wilde, in Venice, California. They co-starred in his 2008 feature film "Fix," and they both appeared in the 2006 film "Camjackers," which Ruspoli edited and produced. Tao and Olivia separated in early 2011, and the divorce was finalized in September of that year. In 2020, Ruspoli began a relationship with artist / filmmaker Dulcinée DeGuere. The couple has collaborated on several creative projects, and they co-founded the Bombay Beach Institute for Industrial Espionage & Post-Apocalyptic Studies. In a 2025 essay for CounterPunch, Tao said that they spend three to four months per year at Bombay Beach "alongside a growing community of artists, thinkers, and locals committed to reimagining what this place could be."

Awards

At the Vail Film Festival, Ruspoli won a Festival Award for Best Film for "Fix" (2008) and Best Documentary for "Being in the World" (2010). "Fix" also earned him awards from the HardAcre Film Festival, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Brooklyn International Film Festival, Woods Hole Film Festival, Twin Rivers Media Festival, and Strasbourg International Film Festival. "Camjackers" won an Editing Award at the 2006 Ann Arbor Film Festival, and "Being in the World" received an Audience Award for Documentary Feature at the 2010 Brooklyn International Film Festival.

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