What Is Armand Assante's Net Worth?
Armand Assante is an American actor and producer who has a net worth of $2 million. Unfortunately, after a highly-successful multi-decade career, Armand Assante has found himself in difficult financial waters a number of times in recent years. As we detail later in this article, he filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and in 2014 lost a home to foreclosure.
Armand Assante won a Primetime Emmy for his portrayal of mobster John Gotti in the 1996 TV movie "Gotti," and he starred as Dr. Michael Powers on the NBC soap opera "The Doctors" (1975–1976) and Sal Dash on the BET drama "The Family Business" (2018–2019).
Armand has more than 140 acting credits to his name, including the films "Prophecy" (1979), "Private Benjamin" (1980), "I, the Jury" (1982), "Q&A" (1990), "Judge Dredd" (1995), "American Gangster" (2007), and "Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn" (2013), the miniseries "Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story" (1987), "Jack the Ripper" (1988), and "The Odyssey" (1997), and the television series "ER" (2006), "NCIS" (2007), "October Road" (2008), and "The Deuce" (2018–2019). He also starred in and executive produced the 2005 film "Dot.Kill," and in 2013, he launched Ora Vivo Cigars, a premium cigar brand. In 2010, Assante was honored with a star on Toronto's Italian Walk of Fame.
Early Life
Armand Assante was born Armand Anthony Assante, Jr. on October 4, 1949, in New York City. He grew up in Cornwall, New York, and his heritage is Irish and Italian. His mother, Katharine, was an English teacher, music teacher, and poet, and his father, Armand Sr., was an artist. Assante attended Cornwall Central High School, and he graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1969.
Career
Armand made his film debut in 1974's "The Lords of Flatbush" (though his role was cut from the final version of the movie), and the following year, he guest-starred on "How to Survive a Marriage," appeared in the TV movie "First Ladies Diaries: Rachel Jackson," and began starring as Dr. Michael Powers on "The Doctors." He then guest-starred on "Kojak" (1977) and "Mrs. Columbo" (1979) and appeared in the films "Paradise Alley" (1978), "Prophecy" (1979), "Little Darlings" (1980), "Private Benjamin" (1980), "Love and Money" (1982), "Unfaithfully Yours" (1984), "Belizaire the Cajun" (1986), "The Penitent" (1988), and "Animal Behavior" (1989). In the '80s, Assante also starred in the TV movies "Sophia Loren: Her Own Story" (1980), "Rage of Angels" (1983), "Why Me?" (1984), "A Deadly Business" (1986), "Stranger in My Bed" (1987), "Hands of a Stranger" (1987), and "Passion and Paradise" (1989), and he played detective Mike Hammer in the 1982 film "I, the Jury" and Napoleon Bonaparte in the 1987 miniseries "Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story." In the '90s, he appeared in films such as "Q&A" (1990), "The Mambo King" (1992), "Hoffa" (1992), "Trial by Jury" (1994), "Judge Dredd" (1995), and "Striptease" (1996), and he portrayed Bugsy Siegel in "The Marrying Man" (1991) and Odysseus in "The Odyssey" (1997). Armand earned a Primetime Emmy award and a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as John Gotti in the 1996 HBO movie "Gotti," and in 2021, it was announced that he would be reprising his role in "Gotti 2: The Final Chapter, Facts Undisputed."
Assante voiced Tzekel-Kan in the 2000 animated film "The Road to El Dorado," then he appeared in "Looking for an Echo" (2000), "Last Run" (2001), "One Eyed King" (2001), "Partners in Action" (2002), "Tough Luck" (2003), "Citizen Verdict" (2003), "Consequence" (2003), "Dot.Kill" (2005), "The Third Wish" (2005), "Two for the Money" (2005), "Rambam: The Story of Maimonides" (2005), "Funny Money" (2007), "California Dreamin'" (2007), "The Man Who Came Back" (2008), and "Breaking Point" (2009). In 2007, he portrayed philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in the drama "When Nietzsche Wept," and he co-starred with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe in the biographical film "American Gangster." Armand guest-starred on "Push, Nevada" (2002), "Chuck" (2010), "Human Target" (2010), and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2015), and he had recurring roles as Richard Elliot on "ER" (2006), René 'La Grenouille' Benoit on "NCIS" (2007), and Gabriel Diaz on "October Road" (2008). He appeared in the films "Magic Man" (2010), "Jesse" (2011), "The Night Never Sleeps" (2012), "Dead Man Down" (2013), "The Fix" (2013), "Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn" (2013), "In Between Engagements" (2014), "Diamond Cartel" (2015), "Beyond the Game" (2016), and "The Wanderers: The Quest of The Demon Hunter" (2017), and he narrated 2017's "Power of Silence." From 2018 to 2019, he played Sal Dash on "The Family Business" and had a recurring role as Mr. Martino on "The Deuce." In recent years, Assante has starred in the films "Con Man" (2018), "Darc" (2018), "The P.I.M.P." (2018), "The Brave" (2019), "Infamous Six" (2020), "The Match" (2021), and "A Song to Kill For" (2021).
(Photo by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images)
Awards and Nominations
Assante has earned two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for "Gotti" in 1997. His other nomination was for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for "Jack the Ripper" (1989). Armand has received four Golden Globe nominations: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture for "Jack the Ripper" (1989), Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for "Q & A" (1991), and Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for "Gotti" (1997) and "The Odyssey" (1998). "Gotti" also earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, and he received a nomination as a member of the "American Gangster" cast as well. Assante and his "The Red Maple Leaf" co-stars won an Action on Film Award for Outstanding Cast Performance – Feature at the 2016 Action on Film International Film Festival, and "The Wanderers: The Quest of The Demon Hunter" earned him a Festival Prize for Best Performance at the 2017 Unreal Film Festival and a Most Valuable Player award at the 2018 Garden State Film Festival. In 2007, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Westchester Film Festival, and in 2017, "The Man Who Unlocked the Universe" won the Ischia Documentary Feature Award at the Ischia Global Film & Music Festival. Armand has also earned nominations from the Annie Awards ("The Road to El Dorado"), Gopo Awards ("California Dreamin'"), Online Film & Television Association ("The Odyssey"), and Satellite Awards ("The Odyssey").
Personal Life
Armand married Karen McArn on February 28, 1982, and they welcomed daughters Alessandra and Anya before divorcing in 1994. Karen co-starred with Armand in the 1992 film "The Mambo Kings."
According to the terms of their 1997 divorce settlement, Armand agreed to pay Karen $15,000 per month until she was 59.5 years old. As we detail in a moment, Armand filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2011. At the time of his filing, Karen was 52 years old and therefore was due to receive $15,000 per month for another, 7.5 years, a total of $1.35 million.
In February 2012, Karen Assante sued Armand claiming he owed her $1.8 million in matrimonial support.
Bankruptcy and Farm Foreclosure
According to one of Armand's one-time accountants, the actor's income fell nearly 80% in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks and subsequent economic shock-waves.
With the goal of shoring up his finances, in 2005, Armand was advised by his accountants to refinance the mortgage on a vast farm estate he owned Orange County, New York. Prior to refinancing he had been paying a 16% interest rate. After refinancing he had a 30-year, $1.5 million mortgage with a 10% interest against the property. As time went on, he could no longer afford the payments and would claim that he was a victim of predatory lending. In his defense, the refinance, which typically is only worth doing if it lowers the monthly payments, actually increased Armand's monthly mortgage from $11,000 to $16,000.
When combined with his $15,000 monthly spousal support payment, Armand owed $31,000 a month just for these two obligations alone.
In October 2011 Armand Assante filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Poughkeepsie, New York. The move was meant to prevent the 222-acre horse farm from being foreclosed on, and put himself back on better financial footing. The bankruptcy filing showed that at the time Armand had roughly $36,000 worth of unpaid taxes related to the years 2006, 2007 and 2009 and owed $12,000 to the Screen Actor's Guild's credit union. He also at that point had spent $150,000 on legal fees and owed $66,000 to an accounting firm
In early 2014, it was announced that Assante's horse farm would be going up for auction due to foreclosure. His lawyer, Tom Vlasti, claimed that the bank refused to accept Armand's settlement offers because it had always planned to foreclose on the $3.5 million property. His lawyer added:
"Mr. Assante, like nearly all others working in the entertainment industry, suffered a significant and sustained decrease in his income in the years following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001… This is one of the most predatory loans and one of the most ugly lending practices I've seen."
Assante said of the property:
"It's my home. It's something I built with my father. It's the legacy I want to leave to my children."
When it was all said and done, Armand appears to have been able to maintain one of the three plots of land that made up his original 222 acres. The plot he kept had the home he built with his father. The other two lots appear to have been sold off, with one of them coming to market in 2021 for $2.75 million. Here's a video tour of that land:
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