Mr. T isn’t just someone who brought the character of B.A. Barracus to life on the cult classic television show, “The A-Team.”

The man born Lawrence Tureaud is a Chicago native and a son of a preacher, who initially tried out for a career in the NFL after a failed stint in college and a successful military career, per Biography. But when his bid to become the next Deion Sanders failed, he got a job working as a bouncer at various Chicago nightclubs, where he quickly earned a fierce and fearsome reputation, eventually becoming known as one of the toughest doormen in the city.

It was in the Chicago nightclubs, in fact, that the “Mr. T” persona was born: after the night was over, Tureaud would go around collecting all the lost and misplaced gold chains around his neck, and it eventually became the most defining part of his persona. But in 2005, he decided to stop wearing gold chains altogether after witnessing the tragedy suffered by those in the path of Hurricane Katrina.

“As a Christian, I said I would never wear my own gold again because of what happened with Hurricane Katrina. It would be a sin against God for me to wear my gold when so many people lost everything,” he said to the New York Daily News (via Digital Spy). “Sure, it’s my trademark, but I am the same person whether I’m wearing the gold or not. My moral values are the same. The gold don’t make me, I make the gold.”

And that’s not the only thing that’s inspiring about Mr. T’s story. Let’s take a look at all the ways he earned his $1 million net worth, per Celebrity Net Worth.

Editorial note: The net worth listed in this piece is a speculative estimate drawn from a variety of online sources.

Mr. T

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