What Is Johnny Vegas’ Net Worth?
Johnny Vegas is an English actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer who has a net worth of $10 million. Johnny Vegas is known for his surreal humor, angry rants, and high husky voice. He first appeared on television in 1996 as a contestant on the UK game show “Win, Lose or Draw.”
He has starred as Charlie Doyle on the BBC series “Happiness” (2001–2003), Moz / Roger on BBC Three’s “Ideal” (2005–2011), Geoff Maltby on ITV’s “Benidorm” (2007–2009; 2015–2017), and Wet Eric Agnew on BBC One’s “Still Open All Hours” (2013–2019), and he has voiced Dave Spud on CITV’s “The Rubbish World of Dave Spud” (2019). Vegas has more than 60 acting credits to his name, including the films “Blackball” (2003), “The Libertine” (2004), “Grimsby” / “The Brothers Grimsby” (2016), “Eaten by Lions” (2018), and “Tales from the Lodge” (2019), the miniseries “Bleak House” (2005), and the television series “Dead Man Weds” (2005), “Massive” (2008), “Moone Boy” (2012–2015), “Home from Home” (2016–2018), “Meet the Richardsons” (2020–2022), “Murder, They Hope” (2021–2023), and “Romantic Getaway” (2023). Johnny has directed episodes of the TV series “Little Crackers” (2011), “Playhouse Presents” (2013), and “Moving On” (2013) and the podcast “Gaslight” (2023). He was a producer on “Ideal” and “Little Crackers,” and he also produced the 2009 special “Johnny Vegas: Live at the Benidorm Palace” and the 2021 film “The Drowning of Arthur Braxton.” Vegas has written for “Little Crackers” and “Moving On” as well as “Attention Scum” (2001) and “Common Ground” (2013). He published the memoir “Becoming Johnny Vegas” in 2011.
Early Life
Johnny Vegas was born Michael Joseph Pennington on September 5, 1970, in St Helens, Merseyside, England. He grew up in a Roman Catholic household with mother Patricia, father Laurence, and three older siblings. When Johnny was 11 years old, he began attending the seminary / boarding school St Joseph’s College to train to become a priest, but he returned to his family after four terms because he was homesick. Vegas later attended London’s Middlesex University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art and Ceramics. After graduation, he returned to St Helens and took odd jobs, such as selling boiler insurance and working as a bartender. From 1994 to 1997, Johnny was a member of the comedy group Cluub Zarathustra, which was led by Roger Mann, Stewart Lee, and Simon Munnery.
Career
Vegas made his acting debut on the BBC Two series “Attention Scum” in 2001, and from 2001 to 2003, he played Charlie Doyle on the drama “Happiness” on the same network. He starred in and co-wrote the 2002 BBC Radio 4 program “Night Class,” which earned a Sony Radio Academy Award nomination for Best Comedy. Johnny’s first film was 2003’s “The Virgin of Liverpool,” and he followed it with “Cheeky” (2003), “Blackball” (2003), “Sex Lives of the Potato Men” (2004), and “The Libertine” (2004). Johnny played Lewis Donat on ITV’s “Dead Man Weds” (2005), Moz / Roger on BBC Three’s “Ideal” (2005–2011), Geoff Maltby (aka “The Oracle”) on ITV’s “Benidorm” (2007–2009; 2015–2017), Tony on BBC Three’s “Massive” (2008), and Krook in the award-winning miniseries “Bleak House” (2005), and he hosted Channel 4’s “18 Stone of Idiot” in 2005. From 2012 to 2015, he had a recurring role as Crunchie Haystacks on the Sky One series “Moone Boy,” and he starred as Wet Eric Agnew on BBC One’s “Still Open All Hours” from 2013 to 2019.
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Vegas co-starred with Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong, Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson, Annabelle Wallis, and Penélope Cruz in 2016’s “Grimsby” (known as “The Brothers Grimsby” in the U.S.), then he appeared in the films “Tulip Fever” (2017), “Eaten by Lions” (2018), “Tales from the Lodge” (2019), “Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunchbreak” (2021), and “The Drowning of Arthur Braxton” (2021). From 2016 to 2018, he starred as Neil Hackett on the BBC One sitcom “Home from Home,” and in 2019, he played Ron Ormorod on Amazon Prime Video’s “Good Omens” and began voicing the title character on the animated CITV series “The Rubbish World of Dave Spud.” Johnny played himself on the Dave comedy “Meet the Richardsons” from 2020 to 2022, and from 2021 to 2022, he starred as Terry Bremmer on the Gold series “Murder, They Hope.” In 2023, he played Alfie on Sky Television’s “Romantic Getaway.”
Personal Life
Johnny married Catherine “Kitty” Donnelly on August 2, 2002, and they welcomed son Michael Jr. before divorcing in 2008. To satirize celebrities selling exclusive wedding photos to publications, Vegas sold photos of the wedding ceremony to “Viz,” an adult comic magazine, for £1. Johnny wed Maïa Dunphy in March 2011, and they have a son named Tom, who was born in 2015. Vegas and Dunphy separated near the end of 2017, reconciled around a year later, and separated again in 2020. In 2012, Johnny said that he had returned to the Roman Catholic faith he was brought up in. In 2014, he received an honorary doctorate from Lancashire’s Edge Hill University. Vegas supports the Labour Party, and he has spoken about how much he appreciates the National Health Service (NHS). During a 2018 appearance on Channel 4’s “The Last Leg,” he spoke out against NHS privatization, stating, “I get really upset on this one, it really offends me. It’s given me years with my parents, not all of those years happy, my mum can nag, but they can give us years of valuable life and they don’t care about it.” He added, “If we don’t fight for the NHS we lose ourselves as well.” Though Johnny is mostly known for his work in the entertainment business, the magazine “Ceramic Review” praised his ceramic work, which led to a role in the film “Pot Shots.” His ceramics were later shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and Old Spice commissioned him to design an aftershave bottle.
Awards and Nominations
In 2001, Vegas won a British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Newcomer for “Happiness.” The series also earned him a Royal Television Society Award for Network Newcomer – On Screen. In 2006, Johnny received an Online Film & Television Association Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries for “Bleak House,” and in 2019, he earned a National Film Award (UK) nomination for Best Performance in an Animation film for “Early Man.” In 2020, he shared a British Animation Award nomination for Best Voice Performance with his “The Rubbish World of Dave Spud” castmates Gina Yashere, Jane Horrocks, Philip Glenister, and Lisa Hammond.
