From child star to billionaire: Hollywood's richest actress is unrecognizable on rare outing

Daily Mail​

a day ago

An actress who shot to fame in the 1980s but has since receded from the public eye and become a billionaire was unrecognizable when she was spotted this week.
In 1989, she married a banker who over the course of the following decade forged a career in private equity and rose to become a major tycoon.
He now boasts an estimated net worth of more than $14 billion and is the co-owner, with his wife, of a sports team famous around the world.
Meanwhile she has not had a blockbuster movie in decades and her last regular TV role ended in 2014, but she is still reported to be the richest actress in the world.
She cut a stylish figure at 59 when she was spotted this week having lunch at a private members' club beloved by the Hollywood power elite.
Can you guess who she is?
She is Jami Gertz, who acted in 1980s classics like The Lost Boys and Sixteen Candles and is now married to business mogul Tony Ressler.
When she was seen out to lunch this week, Jami was the image of understated glamour in a powder blouse blouse, white trousers and matching loafers.
Accessorizing with a scarlet handbag and a set of sunglasses, she brought along a blue wrap in case of a drop in temperatures.
Her venue of choice was the San Vicente Bungalows, an exclusive private members club in West Hollywood known for a glittering celebrity clientele thought to include Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Bieber, Steven Spielberg and even Elon Musk.
Jami began her career as a child actress before landing her breakthrough at 21 in the 1987 addiction drama Less than Zero with Robert Downey, Jr. and Andrew McCarthy.
That year, she cemented her position as an enduring cult star of the decade by playing one half of a vampire couple with Kiefer Sutherland in The Lost Boys, amid a cast that included Corey Feldman and Corey Haim.
In 1989 she married her husband, who at that time worked at the investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., which went bankrupt the next year after becoming enmeshed in insider trading and improprieties in the junk bond market.
Jami continued acting through the 1990s, landing what turned out to be her final movie to emerge as a major box office success - the 1996 thriller Twister with Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt.
She is Jami Gertz, who acted in 1980s classics like The Lost Boys and Sixteen Candles and is now married to business mogul Tony Ressler
That was the decade her husband rose to become a giant in private equity, founding Apollo Global Management and then Ares Management.
Jami starred on the family sitcom Still Standing from 2002 to 2006 and did guest appearances on shows including ER, Entourage, Ally McBeal and Modern Family.
Although Jami's onscreen career has fizzled in recent years - her last major TV role was on a sitcom about aliens called The Neighbors that ended in 2014 - she hit the headlines this year when claims about her wealth went viral.
Her husband Tony Ressler wound up on the annual list at Forbes, which currently credits him with a staggering net worth of $14.2 billion.
Meanwhile Jami has been pegged as having a whopping $12 billion to her own name, according to Celebrity Net Worth, in an estimate that set tongues wagging online.
Jami and Tony are the co-owners of the NBA team the Atlanta Hawks, which he acquired in 2015 alongside former basketball player Grant Hill.
They bid on the team after the previous owner sold his stake amid a scandal over a controversial email about how 'the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a significant season ticket base.'
Now, alongside her co-ownership of the Hawks, Jami still occasionally acts, with her last project being a 2022 small black comedy called I Want You Back starring Jenny Slate, Charlie Day, Gina Rodriguez and Scott Eastwood.
'Everyone thinks I married a rich guy,' she remarked in 2018. 'But I made more money - way more money - than Tony when I met him. I paid for our first house. I paid for our first vacation. I married him because I fell in love with him.'
Jami recalled that when she met Tony in the 1980s, he was just 'a nice guy with a job. Which is what any Jewish girl from Glenview would want. It would have been nice if it was a doctor or a lawyer, but a banker was OK, too,' via The Hollywood Reporter.