Akshay Kumar Net Worth, Actor, Early Life

But how did Akshay Kumar get his big break into Bollywood and how did he reach his wealth status?

His life and versatile career are worth studying for any aspiring actor or producer.

Akshay Kumar's Net Worth stands at around $50 million. Read on to learn about his exciting life and career:

Before Akshay Kumar, There Was Rajiv Bhatia

Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia was born on the 9th of September, 1967, in the historical city of Amritsar in Punjab. However, as a young child, his family moved to Delhi and he grew up in the famous Chandni Chowk neighborhood.

His father, the late Shri Hari Om Bhatia, served in the Indian Army and later worked as an accountant. His mother, Aruna, was a housewife. The family had a simple life growing up in Chandni Chowk.

Later, they moved to Mumbai, then Bombay, where Rajiv finished his higher education. He wasn't the best student and at this point in life, he was directionless.

As one can expect, at this point in his life he must have lost out on many opportunities. But he had to find a way to stand out from the crowd to make it big.

Early Struggles

While Rajiv wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life, one benefit to his life was that he always had strong discipline. No doubt this was in part because of his father's Army background.

At a young age, he took an interest in martial arts. He studied martial arts in India but then decided to emigrate to Thailand to study it further. Upon finishing high school, he briefly attended Guru Nanak Khalsa College.

However, he soon dropped out to fly to Bangkok. He lived there for a few years to study Taekwondo and Muay Thai. He also worked as a waiter to support himself while living in the city.

He became such an expert at martial arts, that, upon his return to India he worked as a martial arts instructor.

After becoming a huge film star, he would eventually open up martial arts schools across the country. However, being a martial arts instructor during the 1980s and 1990s wasn't particularly lucrative.

He worked for a travel agency as well as made deliveries for a jeweler to make ends meet.

This was one of the hardest points in Rajiv's life. He was working hard but still was struggling financially and his life was more about survival than chasing his dreams.

Rajiv Bhatia Becomes Akshay Kumar

While working as a martial arts instructor, one of Rajiv's students commented about his good looks. He told Rajiv that he had the face and the stature to be a model.

While Rajiv wasn't particularly interested in becoming a model, he needed to find a way to survive. As he would later recall on an episode of The Anupam Kher Show, he needed to survive and he thought modeling was easy and great for earning money.

He became successful as a model and it wasn't long until film producers took notice of him. He soon started acting in low-budget, independent, and often B-grade films.

While these films didn't have the best reputation, his main concern was to make money. He naturally had a great on-screen presence and it wasn't long until he got offers to appear in major films.

In the 1990s, he would receive offers to star in such films. It was during this decade that he became mainstream. When he decided to break into films, he adopted the stage name, Akshay Kumar.

While this name seemed ordinary at the time, it's now associated with one of India's most dynamic actors. Early in his career, Akshay Kumar acted in a film with the Australian-Indian actor Bob Christo.

Bob Christo recalled in his memoirs that he felt Akshay Kumar would become a big star one day. That's exactly what happened!

Making Money From Acting

By the early 1990s, Akshay Kumar was one of the biggest stars in Hindi Cinema. While not as famous as Shah Rukh Khan or Salman Khan, he was still popular among the younger generation.

He made his name in the 1990s through romance and action films. In the 2000s, he'd begin working on comedy films and in recent years he's been lauded for his patriotic films.

One of his earliest hits was a crime film called Mohra (Pawn). The film grossed $7 million worldwide and Akshay got a great cut from it.

While the film also included other great actors such as Paresh Rawal, Naseeruddin Shah, Raveena Tandon, Gulshan Grover, and Sunil Shetty, Akshay Kumar still managed to stand out.

While not much is known about his salary from acting in his early days, we know now that he is one of the highest-paid actors in the Indian Film Industry today.

His salary ranges from 45 to 50 Crore INR per film. This is equivalent to $5.6 million to $6.3 million. While these numbers might seem small compared to Hollywood's standards, these are incredible for the still-burgeoning Indian economy.

Now in his fifties, Akshay Kumar remains a bankable star and is desired by both commercial and arthouse filmmakers. While many other leading men have joined the industry, he still retains popularity among a swath of fans across generations.

But, it's not just his acting that earns him money. In recent years, Akshay Kumar has turned his talents behind the camera and become a film producer. He's managed to turn this venture into a lucrative one as well!

Akshay Kumar: The Film Producer

While acting can become a lucrative venture, it only awards a one-time payment in most cases.

Film production allows one to earn money without having to trade their labor. You can even make money while traveling as audiences buy tickers for, download, or stream your films.

The first film he produced was a 2010 comedy film called Khatta Meeta (Bitter, Sweet). Though this film is often considered underrated it's one of Akshay Kumar's biggest hits as a producer. He also starred in the film.

He followed this up with Action Replayy which he also starred in. The extra 'y' in the film's title might seem strange to some. While not as successful as Khatta Meeta, it still managed to gross $5.7 million worldwide!

Following in the tradition of numerology, Akshay Kumar added an extra 'y' to the film's title, believing this would make it more successful. Clearly, it worked!

The film ended with one of the biggest hits in his career and the history of Hindi Cinema. The film was Tees Maar Khan which grossed almost $13.7 million.

Since then, he's produced at least 1 film each year except for 2018. He produced one TV show entitled Jamai Raja — which ran from 2014 to 2018.

His most recent production was the 2021 film Sooryavanshi which grossed close to $7 million worldwide. In 2022, he's co-producing the film OMG 2 which he's starring in, and is a sequel to OMG which he also starred in.

As you can see, he has one of the most impressive resumes in the business. Regardless of your career path, make sure you create a dynamic resume so you can gain more opportunities in the future.

Akshay Kumar Gives Back

Akshay Kumar's wealth has given him and his family a comfortable life. The luxury he experiences is a far cry away from his humble upbringing in Chandni Chowk.

Yet, he's never forgotten about his roots and he also has always been aware of the struggles of everyday Indians. He has used a lot of his wealth to give back to those who need it.

He's used his money to build martial arts schools and fund martial arts programs throughout the country. He's spoken at great lengths about the importance of learning self-defense.

He has also used his wealth to build schools, including in troublesome areas such as Kashmir. He also helped promote an app that allows Indians to make donations to war veterans and victims.

While not always vocal about his charitable efforts, we can be assured that he has given much of his money to charity and philanthropic organizations.

He has a reputation for choosing patriotic films as well as films that deal with social issues in India. He takes these subjects seriously and uses part of his wealth to improve living conditions within the country.

Akshay Kumar's Assets

Of course, wealth isn't just measured in one's salary or bank balance. Akshay Kumar also owns many assets fitting for one of India's greatest stars and producers.

Akshay Kumar owns 11 luxury cars. These cars include a Bentley, Mercedes-Benz, and a Porsche. He also owns several motorcycles.

He owns a home in one of Mumbai's most prestigious neighborhoods. One of his most memorable stories is that, as a struggling actor, he once walked around this very neighborhood.

He walked onto an empty plot of land thinking it was public property. A security guard found him and yelled at him — demanding that he leave immediately!

By sheer coincidence, his house today was built on that very plot of land that he set foot on during his struggling days!

He's often one of the best-dressed men when he attends a public event. As a result, one can expect that he spends his wealth on luxury and designer clothing.

Akshay Kumar's Family

Akshay Kumar was linked with many beautiful actresses during his career. He's been married to actress Twinkle Khanna since 2001 and has two children, a daughter Nitara, and a son, Aarav.

His wife acts on occasion now and focuses mainly on writing. His son has shown interest in cooking.

While film dynasty families are very popular in Indian Cinema, so far there's no inkling on whether Akshay Kumar's children will work in the industry in the future.

Fun Facts About Akshay Kumar

Let's wrap up with a few fun facts about Akshay Kumar that you might not know.

While Akshay Kumar had a steady rise from the 1990s, there was one group of people who often dismissed him. Critics wrote him off and often stated that his acting was over the top.

While many critics have now praised his recent work, there are still several who dismiss him. This, of course, hasn't stopped him from becoming a huge star.

While he avoided negative roles during his early career, he experimented more as he became an established star. He won praise for his villainous role in the 2001 film Ajnabee (Stranger).

He established himself as one of the best comedy actors in Hindi Cinema when he worked alongside Paresh Rawal and Sunil Shetty in Hera Pheri (Chaos) and its sequel, Phir Hera Pheri (Chaos Again).

He's worked with both Paresh Rawal and Sunil Shetty in many films throughout the decades. One of their earliest successes was in Mohra and he re-united with Paresh Rawal in the film OMG.

His film production company was named after his father Hari Om. He's got a few more film releases in 2022 and already has several films lined up for 2023.

One can only expect great things from Akshay Kumar in the coming years.

What We Can Learn From Akshay Kumar

Akshay Kumar has lived a whirlwind of a life and yet, somehow, we think he's just getting started. While he was directionless at first, he always had discipline and always strived for excellence.

He began his career as a jack-of-all-trades looking to survive with whatever opportunity came his way.

Once he fell in love with martial arts he began to transition from Rajiv Bhatia to Akshay Kumar.

He became one of the most popular leading men of the 1990s. Since the 2000s, he has become one of India's most versatile and respected actors. He is also an accomplished producer and we're eager to see what else he has in store for us.

Our net worths are for entertainment purposes only. We do our best to provide accurate figures, but we cannot guarantee their accuracy. The figures are based on public information and estimates, and may not reflect the true value of assets or liabilities.