Donald Glover is a multi-hyphenate entertainer, with more successful ventures in entertainment than most people could accomplish in several lifetimes. The 40-year-old has mastered the art of rapping, singing, stand-up comedy, acting, directing, screenwriting and live performance, and has created a plethora of thought-provoking and award-winning television shows. Most recently, Donald Glover co-created and starred in the Amazon Prime Video original series “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” alongside Maya Erskine.
With all of these ventures and more under his belt, the artist has amassed an impressive net worth of $40 million. With such a long and storied career, it appears as though Glover’s financial portfolio will only continue to expand, as he continues to chase creative fulfillment around every corner. Here’s a brief look into Glover’s many financial ventures in art and entertainment, and an exploration of his projected wealth.
Glover Got His Start Writing For NBC
After graduating from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in dramatic writing, Donald Glover began his media career writing for the NBC sitcom “30 Rock.” The show was highly celebrated by fans and critics for its sharp writing, making Glover a hot commodity in the years to follow. After writing on the NBC series from 2006 until 2009, Donald Glover joined the cast of a new NBC show, Community, as Troy Barnes, an athletic young adult attending community college alongside an ensemble study group known as the Greendale Seven. During the entirety of his early career, Glover had also been working on a budding music project, releasing a handful of online mixtapes consisting mostly of crude rap lyrics. The young artist took on the musical moniker of Childish Gambino, which he took from a Wu-Tang Clan random name generator.
The multi-faceted artist also released a Comedy Central stand-up hour in 2012, under the title “Donald Glover: Weirdo.” During this time, Glover inspired the creation of the character Miles Morales in the Spider-Man franchise, as told by comic writer Brian Michael Bendis. Donald Glover voiced an iteration of the character in the animated series “Ultimate Spider-Man.” Today, Miles Morales is arguably as popular as Peter Parker, bolstering major installments in franchises such as the PlayStation exclusive Spider-Man video games and the ongoing Sony “Spider-Verse” film series. Donald Glover has since appeared as Morales’ uncle Aaron, AKA The Prowler, in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and 2023’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” These high-level appearances surely contributed to Donald Glover’s net worth.
Glover’s Career In Music
Over time, Donald Glover honed his multiple skills, resulting in him becoming one of the funniest and most beloved cast members of “Community.” Series creator Dan Harmon has said of Glover’s improv skills on the show “literally, the writers room would, if we were operating at a fast enough pace, we would put at the end of a scene, ‘And then Donald says something funny.'” In 2014, Glover left “Community” to dive head-first into his music career, which had already begun to mature and evolve. He has since released landmark projects such as “Because The Internet,” “Awaken My Love,” and the cryptic “3.15.20.”
Over the course of Donald Glover’s music career, he has continued to evolve and shift his musical sound, drawing influence from soulful jazz, funk, electronic hyper-pop and a series of other powerful music soundscapes to create a blend of sounds unlike any other.
Donald Glover has 12 Grammy nominations and 5 wins, 4 of which were awarded for his landmark single and music video for the track “This Is America” released in 2018. Several of his songs have also been certified platinum by the RIAA.
Glover Has A Penchant For Creating Popular TV Shows
While many fans know Donald Glover from his music or his time on Community, most modern fans likely know him from one of his many television creations. In 2013 Glover inked a deal with FX to create, produce, write, and star in a half-hour comedy titled “Atlanta.” Glover has described the series as “‘Twin Peaks’ with rappers” due to its abstract and surrealist nature. The series saw massive success, earning Glover a host of awards, including two Golden Globes, and two Primetime Emmys. For his work on Atlanta, Donald Glover became the first black person to ever win an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.
Following the success of “Atlanta,” Donald Glover co-created “Swarm” and Mr. & Mrs. Smith for Amazon Prime Video, in partnership with Janine Nabers and Francesca Sloane, respectively. Nabers and Sloane both served as producers for “Atlanta” before spawning their own television projects. Glover was also originally poised to create more television ventures for FX, including an animated “Deadpool” series which ultimately never materialized.
Glover’s Filmography Is Highly Impressive
Despite Donald Glover’s massive success from television, comedy, writing, and music, it seems likely that a massive factor contributing to Donald Glover’s net worth of $40 million is his career on the big screen. Donald Glover has appeared in leading roles in global blockbusters such as 2019’s “The Lion King” and 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story.””The Lion King” made over $1.6 billion at the global box office, while Solo has prompted a spinoff venture starring Glover which is still in development. While it is unclear just how much money Glover made from his feature film roles, sources indicate he was paid roughly $75,000 per episode for the first season of “Atlanta” in 2016, so we can safely assume his minimum rate is well into six-figure territory.
Glover’s Future And Upcoming Projects
With a resume like his, you’d be forgiven for expecting Donald Glover to rest on his laurels. However, the prolific multi-hyphenate shows no signs of slowing or stopping, with a host of projects lined up ahead of him. Glover is expected to make a long-awaited return to the role of Troy Barnes in the upcoming “Community” movie, which is expected to begin filming later this year. Additionally, Glover has teased an upcoming music release titled “Atavista.” While “Atavista” appears to be a rerelease of his underrated “3.15.20” album, Glover has assured fans that brand-new material will be present on the project.
Furthermore, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” recently premiered to excellent streaming numbers and audience acclaim, leaving many fans hopeful for a second season. While no additional seasons of the Amazon original have been announced, Glover and company have expressed interest in creating additional episodes.
Donald Glover’s accolades could easily fill a library, resulting in his impressive multi-million net worth. With so many irons in the fire, it seems clear that the creative genius has much more art and entertainment to give to his millions of fans. Glover also recently founded a mysterious media company called Gilga, which he’s referred to as a creative incubator.
He most recently released projects, “Atavista” and the soundtrack to short film “Bando Stone & The New World”, will be the last under his stage name of Childish Gambino. On his episode of Hot Ones, he referenced “The death of Superman,” in that all projects and aliases must come to an end with regard to dropping the name. In an interview with The New York Times, he also cited a problem with logistics in keeping the stage name.
What Is Donald Glover’s Net Worth?
According to a write-up in The Things, Donald Glover made over $16 million from his 2018 This Is America Tour alone, bolstering his net worth by a wide margin. While it’s unclear how much money was made from previous tours, it’s clear that Donald Glover took in millions over the course of multiple nation-wide tours from 2014 through 2018.
Donald Glover’s net worth is expected to clock in at roughly $40 million according to Celebrity Net Worth. Through his acting and musical endeavors, it seems that the future is bright for Glover.
