American stylist, author, actor, podcaster, and activist Jonathan Van Ness’s trajectory is an example for minorities that perseverance, ambition, and drive can get anyone to where they want to be. This man, whose role in Netflix’s revival of Queer Eye put him in the global spotlight, has managed to combine multiple sources of income resulting from his media exposure, social media handling, business savviness, and entrepreneurial niched style that’s worth exploring.
This story of an openly gay man, who managed to overcome the difficulties that life threw his way, is one that deserves to be heard. His work speaks for itself, and his successes have propelled him onto the world stage. In addition to Queer Eye, Van Ness is a regular on daytime and late-night television and starred in a show of his own called Gay of Thrones.
The Rise To Fame Of Jonathan Van Ness
Van Ness is native of Quincy, Illinois, where he was born on 28 March 1987; his mom and dad worked at a newspaper business that was owned by their families. He studied at his local high school, becoming the first male cheerleader in his school, he then went to study political science at the University of Arizona, but he dropped out after becoming a drug addict. Still, he managed to tame his addiction, went to Aveda Institute, got a diploma, and moved on to work as a hairdresser at a salon where he discovered he had a lot of talent for grooming and hair styling.
He started podcasting; he began to write, he posted on social media, and then, in 2018, Netflix cast him for his trajectory as the grooming expert for the Queer Eye For The Straight Guy web series reboot with Booby Ber, Tan France, and Antoni Porowski, which catapulted him and his colleagues into global fame, becoming one of the most outspoken persons on topics like gender identity, self-care, mental health awareness and other social-political causes. Van Ness is a fan of gymnastics, ice skating, and cheerleading; he identifies as nonbinary and is currently married to a man named Mark Peacock since 2020.
Jonathan at the GLAAD Awards (Credit: Brut)
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Jonathan Van Ness’s Business Ventures
Jonathan Van Ness likes to hustle, asides from his most famous work with Netflix for Queer Eye since 2018; this man makes bank from his voice acting, as he’s lent his voice to shows like Netflix’s Big Mouth and Our Carton President. Van Ness is also reporting income from his podcast, “Getting Curious.”
But that’s not all; he also makes money from cleverly using his social media accounts, like the time he started a pet product company with Antoni Porowski, his deals with FitOn, a digital wellness platform for workouts, and his own brand of beauty and grooming products, JVN Hair. Last but not least, Van Ness has written books that also net him an extra passive income.
Jonathan Van Ness’s Net Worth
After reviewing some of Van Ness’s business ventures, book deals, and endorsements, we have to take a look at his deal for the Netflix revival of Queer Eye, where he takes the place of Carson Kressley as the grooming advisor. Just from his appearance at Netflix’s Queer Eye, which nets him around $8 to $10K per episode, Van Ness makes around $350,000. And if we put that on top of his sponsorships, brand deals, and other business ventures that derive from his hairdressing activities, the man is one of the most wealthy cast members of the new Fab Five from Queer Eye.
Taking all those things into account, we calculate that Jonathan Van Ness’s net worth is north of $7 million, a wealth that he administers with the company of his loved ones and friends. Van Ness is known for doing philanthropic work for HIV patients —he’s HIV positive—campaigns for immigrants, minorities, the empowerment of sexual minorities as well as raising awareness for skin diseases like psoriasis. Aside from his charity work, Van Ness has two known real estate properties, one in Austin, Texas, and a two-story loft in Manhattan, New York.
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