‘Yellowstone’ has made Kevin Costner one of the highest-paid actors on television. Here’s how he makes and spends his millions
- Kevin Costner earns $1.3 million per episode of “Yellowstone,” according to Variety.
- Even before his pivot to TV, the Oscar winner earned a fortune from his movies in the 1990s.
- The actor has reinvested his money in movies, property, as well as several business ventures.
Kevin Costner has been gracing movie screens for more than 40 years.
Costner began his professional acting career in the early 1980s and although he was famously cut from one of his earliest movies, “The Big Chill,” it wasn’t long before the actor became a name to know thanks to his roles in “Silverado,” “The Untouchables,” “Bill Durham,” and “Field of Dreams.”
According to Forbes, in 1991, after his directorial debut, “Dances in Wolves,” took home the best picture and best director Academy Awards, the actor earned $50 million.
The years following saw Costner take on roles in the likes of box-office hits such as “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” “JFK,” and “The Bodyguard,” all of which would’ve recompensed the Oscar-winner actor handsomely.
In recent years, the actor has starred in the likes of “Hidden Figures,” “Molly’s Game,” and “Man of Steel.”
Costner is raking in more than $1.3 million for each episode of “Yellowstone.”
Costner has only a handful of television credits to his name, which is why it’s hardly surprising that the actor commanded a huge fee when he agreed to star in Taylor Sheridan’s neo-Western drama “Yellowstone.”
Per Puck, when the Paramount Network series began in 2018, Costner signed a deal that earned him $500,000 per episode.
Fortunately for him, he was able to renegotiate his contract after the show became a success because he had only signed a one-season agreement.
As “Yellowstone” grew and became the biggest show on cable, so did Costner’s paychecks.
Now, the series, which is currently midway through its fifth season, has made the actor the most well-paid actor on television as, according to Variety, he’s earning $1.3 million per episode. Most seasons have been 10 episodes long, although season five (if it ever gets completed) will have 14.
Although it’s been confirmed that the show will end with its current season, Puck reported in February, amid the news of a behind-the-scenes dispute between the actor and the show’s co-creator Taylor Sheridan, that Costner was looking to up his salary to $1.5 million for a potential sixth season.
For over 15 years, the star has been recording and performing as part of his band, Kevin Costner & Modern West.
The actor founded the nine-piece country rock band in 2007 and has embarked on several tours, the latest of which was in 2021. They are also bookable for corporate events, private parties, and weddings for an undisclosed fee.
The band has released five studio albums, “Untold Truths,” which was released in 2008, “Turn It On,” in 2010, and “From Where I Stand,” which came the following year in 2011. The latest two albums have been tied into Costner’s roles in “Hatfields & McCoys” and “Yellowstone.”
In the mid-1990s, Costner launched an environmental cleanup company which gave him a huge payday in 2010.
In 1995, the “Field of Dreams” star began developing oil and water separation technology through a company called Costner in Nevada Corporation.
In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Costner marketed his device and landed a $52 million contract with BP, who loaned out 32 of his centrifugal oil-water separators.
Costner previously owned a casino and restaurant in South Dakota, but it shuttered in 2017.
Costner opened the Midnight Star Casino and Restaurant in Deadwood, South Dakota, in 1991 because of his “deep love for Deadwood and the Black Hills of South Dakota and their historical importance in our country’s story.”
He had discovered the area while scouting locations for “Dances With Wolves.”
At the time, gambling had only recently been legalized in Deadwood.
However, Casino.org noted that at the time of the venue’s closure, gambling was down 3.5%, meaning that it perhaps wasn’t generating enough revenue. It eventually sold to a buyer in 2020.
In 2020, Costner invested an unknown amount of capital in a new audio entertainment travel app.
The actor is credited as an investor, cofounder, and podcast narrator for Autio, an audio entertainment and immersive storytelling road-trip app, which first launched under the name HearHere in 2020.
The business raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by RV and outdoor retailer Camping World in 2022, according to TechCrunch.
When Costner’s cofounder Woody Sears appeared on an episode of “Shark Tank” in 2023, asking for $1 million in return for 5% equity in the company, he told the sharks that the app had more than 500,00 active users and had generated $200,000 in gross revenue in 2021 and more than $700,000 in the 2022 year.
Costner has also used his money to back many of the Hollywood movies he’s starred in.
For the 1990 western epic “Dances with Wolves,” which he directed, produced, and starred in, Costner used $3 million of his own money.
It turned out to be a wise investment as the film, which had a budget of $22 million, ended up becoming a huge success, scoring two Academy Awards and taking home $184 million at the US box office and $424 million in total worldwide.
In 2014, he also provided the entire budget — $9 million — for “Black or White,” a drama that also starred Octavia Spencer, Bill Burr, and Anthony Mackie. The film more than doubled its investment, making over $21.5 million.
However, the star hasn’t always backed winners. He reportedly contributed to the 1997 post-apocalyptic action film “The Postman,” which was a notable failure at the box office, returning only $20.8 million on a budget of more than $85 million.
Costner’s 1994 divorce from his first wife reportedly resulted in an $80 million settlement.
When the “Bodyguard” actor split from his college sweetheart-turned-first wife Cindy Silva in 1994 it was during his peak earning years, resulting in one of the most expensive celebrity divorces of all time.
According to Forbes, Silva — with whom Costner shares three children — was awarded $80 million, a substantial piece of his net worth.
The Los Angeles Times reported in May that Costner is now getting divorced for a second time after Christine Baumgartner filed to dissolve their 18-year marriage. It’s not known how much it will cost the actor.
Costner has an impressive property portfolio. He has a $145 million home in Santa Barbara, and a ranch in Colorado which he rents out for $36,000 per night.
Costner and his family’s primary residence is in Ventura, California, which is worth an estimated $145 million, according to MailOnline.
Costner also owns a modest 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom home on the same street, which he purchased for $28.5 million in 2006 (it was on the market for $60 million in 2017).
However, the most impressive of Costner’s houses is located near downtown Aspen, Colorado.
Known as the Dunbar Ranch, named after his “Dances With Wolves” character, the 160-acre estate features 12 bedrooms and eight bathrooms in its main house while there are more rooms in its lake house and a river house.
It also boasts a baseball field, a sledding hill, a private ice rink, a tubing track, and facilities for horseback riding, kayaking, hiking, and fishing.
Costner purchased the land the property lies on for $30 million in 2000 and these days, he rents it out for $36,000 a night, per a listing on Aspen Resort Luxury Rentals.
