Kevin O’Leary
$400 million
Richard Dreyfuss’s net worth is estimated at $1 million, a figure that has declined significantly from the peak of his career due to well-documented financial mismanagement, legal issues, and reduced work in later decades. Dreyfuss is one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation — the winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Goodbye Girl (1977), making him the youngest recipient of that honor at the time, at age 29. He is also known for starring in several of the highest-grossing films of the 1970s, including Jaws (1975) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
Updated March 2026: According to Variety, Dreyfuss was hospitalized in 2025 with viral bronchitis and missed SharkCon, a Jaws-themed fan convention. With the 50th anniversary of Jaws approaching in 2025, Dreyfuss has given several retrospective interviews. His estimated net worth of $1 million reflects a difficult financial history, including disclosed bankruptcies and substance abuse issues that affected his career trajectory for more than a decade.
Richard Stephen Dreyfuss was born on October 29, 1947, in Brooklyn, New York City, to Norman Dreyfuss and Geraldine Dreyfuss. The family relocated to Los Angeles when Dreyfuss was nine years old, and he attended Beverly Hills High School, where he discovered acting. He studied briefly at San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University, Northridge) before leaving to pursue acting full-time. He appeared in community theater and small television roles in the mid-1960s before making his film debut in The Graduate (1967) in an uncredited role as a college student.
Dreyfuss’s career breakthrough came with George Lucas’s American Graffiti (1973), in which he played the lead role of Curt Henderson. Two years later, he starred opposite Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), which became the first modern blockbuster and grossed over $470 million worldwide against a $9 million budget, per Box Office Mojo. He reunited with Spielberg for Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). That same year, he starred in Neil Simon’s The Goodbye Girl, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor — at 29, he was the youngest person to win that award at the time of his win. His other notable films include Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995), What About Bob? (1991), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), and Stakeout (1987). A substance abuse struggle in the late 1970s and early 1980s — including a 1982 cocaine-related car accident — interrupted his career momentum. He made a public comeback with the hit comedy Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986).
Richard Dreyfuss married Svetlana Erokhin in 2006; she is his third wife. He was previously married to Jeramie Rain (1983–1995) and Janelle Lacey (1999–2000). He has three children from his marriage to Jeramie Rain: daughter Emily Robin Dreyfuss, son Benjamin Darrow Dreyfuss, and son Harry Spencer Dreyfuss. In 2025, his son Benjamin publicly disclosed estrangement from his father, adding to the personal challenges that have marked the latter portion of Dreyfuss’s public life. He lives in Encinitas, California. He has been active in civic causes, particularly around civics education, founding the Dreyfuss Initiative, an organization dedicated to renewing civics education in American schools.
Richard Dreyfuss’s net worth is estimated at $1 million as of 2026, a figure that reflects a difficult financial history including the effects of substance abuse, disclosed bankruptcies, and reduced work in later decades. At the height of his career in the late 1970s and 1980s, his net worth was substantially higher; his films generated hundreds of millions at the box office, though actors of his era rarely held backend participation rights.
Richard Dreyfuss’s current wife is Svetlana Erokhin, whom he married in 2006. She is his third wife. He was previously married to actress Jeramie Rain (1983–1995), with whom he has three children, and briefly to Janelle Lacey (1999–2000).
Richard Dreyfuss was born on October 29, 1947, in Brooklyn, New York City. He is 78 years old as of 2026. He grew up in Los Angeles after his family relocated there when he was nine, and attended Beverly Hills High School before pursuing acting.
Richard Dreyfuss stands 5 feet 5 inches (165 cm) tall. His height was occasionally a subject of discussion during his Hollywood career, as it was below the typical leading man standard of the era, but it did not prevent him from achieving major stardom and winning the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Richard Dreyfuss is best known for three iconic films: Jaws (1975, directed by Steven Spielberg), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977, also Spielberg), and The Goodbye Girl (1977), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. At the time of his win, he was the youngest Best Actor winner in Oscar history at age 29.
Richard Dreyfuss has three children: Emily Robin Dreyfuss, Benjamin Darrow Dreyfuss, and Harry Spencer Dreyfuss — all from his marriage to Jeramie Rain (1983–1995). In 2025, his son Benjamin publicly discussed family estrangement. Richard Dreyfuss has no publicly known children from his other marriages.
Richard Dreyfuss lives in Encinitas, California, a coastal city in San Diego County. His home there is estimated to be worth approximately $2 million based on current Encinitas real estate values.