Jane Leeves (born 18 April 1961) is an English actress who has a net worth of $16 million. Jane Leeves’ net worth of $16 million was accumulated from her career in the entertainment industry.

The English actress has been in the acting business since the early 80s and has acted in a plethora of films and TV shows, however, she is widely recognized for her role as Daphne Moon in the NBC hit sitcom, Fraiser. Her other notable roles include Joy Scroggs in the sitcom, Hot in Cleveland, and Prudence Anne “Blue” Bartlett in Throb.

More than being an actress, Jane is also a talented dancer, singer, and comedian. None of these has been financially rewarding for her compared to her exploits as an actress which is believed to be the prime source of her massive $16 million fortune.

She Began Accumulating Her Massive Fortune As An Actress When She Was 20

Leeves was born Jane Elizabeth Leeves on April, 18th, 1961 in a little town in Essex called Ilford to Collin and Ruth Leeves. She has a sister named Kathryn Leeves and her family would come to relocate to Crawley in Western Sussex and subsequently to East Grinstead. Growing up, her mother instilled the love of ballet in her and sent young Jane to the Bush Davies School of Dance where she trained as a ballet dancer and worked as a model. Her dancing ability got her to make her very first film appearance in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life; this happened in 1983.

Before that, she featured as a Performer in a 1981 television film titled Nice to See You. She was only 20 years old then and it was her debut as an actress which means it was the first time she made money from acting, at least to the best of our knowledge. Her love for dancing was derailed as she had to abandon her hopes of making a long career in it as a result of an ankle injury she sustained earlier on in her life. Leeves reportedly moved to New York at the age of 21 with $1000 to pursue her acting career, although she had to move back when things did not immediately go according to plan.

After she made her acting debut in the 1981 TV film, her performance thereof earned her other roles including one as Hill’s Angel in four episodes of The Benny Hill. Since then, the English actress has been seen in numerous small and big-screen projects through which she came to accumulate her $16 million fortune. For someone who has been active in the competitive industry for four decades, Jane deserves every bit of her wealth as she worked for it and it is only a reflection of her years of commitment to performing arts. From acting in television to theater and film, Leeves has undoubtedly made an enduring name for herself in entertainment but as you would soon learn, her exploits on the small screen have been more rewarding.

Jane Leeves Has Made More Money From TV Roles

Jane Leeves has shown she is a versatile actress. Apart from her big and small screen roles, she has also explored the world of theater. Notably, she played Sally Bowles in Cabaret, a Roundabout Broadway production. While her talent is unquestionable, she seems to have thrived more on television. The English actress has pulled off more gigs thereof; therefore, she made most of her $16 million net worth from the sector.

Her first major small-screen role came in Throb, an American sitcom wherein she featured as one of the main characters. The series was short-lived as it aired from September 1986 to May 1988. However, it was popular enough to earn Jane Leeves more roles. In the years that followed, she was seen in an episode each of Murder, She Wrote (1987), It’s a Living (1989) Mr. Belvedere (1989), and Hooperman (1989).

Post-Throb, Jane Leeves’ next prominent TV show was in Murphy Brown, an American sitcom created by Diane English wherein she played Audrey Cohen across nine episodes from 1989 to 1993. While she worked on Murphy Brown, Jane made appearances in an episode each of Who’s the Boss? (1990), Room for Romance (1990), My Two Dads (1990), and Blossom (1991).

She Earned As Much As $385,000 Per Episode of Fraiser

Before the English actress landed the role which has largely defined her career, she played Marla Penny in four episodes of the American sitcom television series, Seinfeld, from 1992 to 1998. It was in 1993 that she began playing Daphne Moon in Frasier. The American television sitcom aired for a total of 11 seasons on NBC from September 1993 to May 2004. Jane held down the main role throughout its run and it remains one of her most popular projects that contributed in no small manner to her net worth. The series spewed a total of 264 episodes and Jane Leeves featured in 263. Given that, it is not hard to see how it became the most lucrative work of her acting career.

In January 2002, it was reported that she would receive £19 million (valued at over $26.6 million in 2021) to continue playing the role of Daphne Moon on Frasier. As reported, her salary on the show was reviewed and raised from £45,000 (over $63,000) per episode to £275,000 (over $385,000). While the figure involved is a massive one for the actress, it pales when compared to her co-stars on the show. John Mahoney, David Hyde Pierce, and Kelsey Grammer were the other actors who played major roles in the series. While the first two pocketed £700,000 each per episode, Kelsey who was the star of the show earned as much as £1 million per episode.

And $75,000 Per Episode of Hot in Cleveland

After Frasier wrapped up, the next time the English actress would be seen in another main role in a popular project was as Joy Scroggs in another American sitcom, Hot in Cleveland. Before this, she was seen as Daphne Moon in an episode of Caroline in the City and Athena in six episodes of Hercules: The Animated Series. In addition to that, she voiced Edwina in an episode of The Simpsons, played Amanda Watson in seven episodes of Misconceptions, and Mary Frances and Ann Hefton respectively on Twenty Good Years and The Starter Wife. Thereafter, she voiced Lulu in two episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar and various characters in Phineas and Ferb.

That’s not all, she was also seen as Dr. Graham in two episodes of Desperate Housewives and Gracie in the “Accidental Family Bed” episode of Notes from the Underbelly before she began playing Joy Scroggs. After Hot in Cleveland which aired for a total of 128 episodes across six seasons with Jane Leeves appearing in 125 episodes, the actress has been part of other TV productions like Crowded, Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, Mickey and the Roadster Racers, We Bare Bears, and The Resident.

What she earned from all of these projects are yet to be uncovered but we can confirm that none of them came close to her earnings on Frasier, not even Hot in Cleveland which earned her a Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination in 2011 for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. Alongside Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick, and Betty White, Jane was one of the main cast of the TV Land sitcom. It was reported that Betty White earned $75,000 per episode of the show. Jane’s salary should be around that figure.