Celebrity
Kali Reis Net Worth
Kali Reis has made a seamless transition form boxing to acting.
Kali Reis is an accomplished American boxer and rising actress with world titles in two weight classes. In 2018, she challenged the undisputed champion, Cecilia Brækhus, for the welterweight title and performed impressively.
She made her acclaimed acting debut in 2021 as the star of the thriller film Catch the Fair One, earning an Independent Spirit Award nomination. She followed up this breakthrough role by starring in the 2024 mystery series True Detective: Night Country.
With championship belts and critical acting success propelling her career, Reis has built an impressive net worth at 37. In this article, we look closely at her career and finances.
Kali Reis’ net worth and transition from boxing to acting
According to estimates, Reis has accumulated an impressive net worth of between $1 million and $5 million; most of her wealth comes from her accomplished professional boxing career, where she held world titles in multiple weight classes over a decade.
Her highest purse was likely the Brækhus fight in 2018, although pay details were undisclosed. She has also generated income from her blossoming acting career in recent years.
Her acclaimed lead performance in the 2021 indie thriller Catch the Fair One put her on the map in Hollywood.
While acting pay tends to start low, her follow-up role co-starring with Jodie Foster in the 2024 HBO series True Detective: Night Country likely earned her a sizable salary.
As she looks for more prominent acting jobs, this income stream could overtake her boxing earnings. The transition from the boxing ring to the television drama set played to Reis’s strengths.
She sees a lot of parallels in the dedication, repetition, and persistence required to succeed in both fields. Like boxing, acting requires being fully present and attentive to nuances that the camera picks up.
Her boxing career also made Reis comfortable with repeating takes and learning from directors, similar to taking instruction from coaches. So, while in very different fields, her background uniquely prepared her for the demands of acting.
Kali Reis is just taking an extended hiatus from boxing
Even as her acting career has become Reis’s main focus in recent years, the pioneer of women’s boxing makes it clear she is not hanging up the gloves for good. She may be on a break now, but she still has eyes on the thriving women’s boxing scene landscape.
Reis is proud to have been part of the growth of women’s boxing from the early days when she was part of the first-ever female fight broadcast on HBO in 2018.
She is thrilled to see how stars like Amanda Serrano, Katie Taylor, and Claressa Shields have carried the torch. Reis fondly sees herself as the “J. Cole of women’s boxing” – she’s not retired and can still deliver a knockout performance when needed.
Kali Reis with one of her championship belts (Source: World Boxing Association)
The former two-division champion has used this hiatus to address reproductive health issues. She relinquished her light welterweight titles in 2022 without setting a firm timeline for her comeback.
But she is still on an impressive six-fight winning streak and feels she has more to give at 19-7-1 in her career. She accepts the rise of influencer boxing as a way to bring new fans to the sport, although she dislikes untrained novices treating it like a circus act.
She respects Jake Paul for supporting real female fighters and improving his skills. Reis also cheers stars like Amanda Serrano standing up for better rules – she proved women can handle 12 three-minute rounds but agrees gradual change might be needed.
For now, she eagerly awaits the positive reception of her HBO series True Detective: Night Country among the viewers.
Kali Reis in ‘True Detective: Night Country’
In the fourth season of HBO’s acclaimed anthology crime drama True Detective, titled Night Country, Reis plays the co-lead role of Alaska State Trooper Evangeline Navarro. She stars opposite Jodie Foster, who plays Police Chief Liz Danvers.
Reis’ character, Navarro, is a Dominican and Indigenous woman who transfers to the remote Alaskan town of Ennis to serve on the police force after a stint in the military. She previously had a close partnership with Danvers, which turned sour due to a traumatic past case.
This case involved the unsolved brutal murder of an Indigenous activist named Annie, which Danvers failed to investigate adequately.
When a group of scientists mysteriously vanishes from an Arctic research center, Navarro becomes convinced it is connected to Annie’s murder. She reluctantly teams up again with her estranged ex-partner Danvers to get to the bottom of the bizarre disappearance.
Throughout the season, the two detectives are forced to confront past demons from their broken relationship while navigating the disturbing supernatural-tinged conspiracy around them.
Early reviews have praised the chemistry and tension between Reis and Oscar-winner Foster.
Their dynamic propels the moody, atmospheric thriller narrative that aims to recapture some of the magic that made the first True Detective season such a cultural phenomenon.
After her acclaimed lead film role last year, this marks another significant step in Reis’ rapid ascent as an actress.
Kali Ries’ next project ‘Wind River: The Next Chapter’
Reis is set to appear in the upcoming crime thriller Wind River: The Next Chapter, which is a sequel to the acclaimed 2017 neo-Western Wind River.
She joins series star Martin Sensmeier and an ensemble cast that includes Jason Clarke, Scott Eastwood, Gil Birmingham, and others.
The film will see Sensmeier reprising his role as Chip Hanson, a tracker investigating murders on an Indian reservation in Wyoming. The FBI once again enlists his expertise to get to the bottom of a new series of ritualistic killings plaguing the reservation community.
Kali Reis is gradually gaining more high-profile projects (Source: UPI)
Details are scarce on the exact nature of Reis’ role, but she adds even more Native American representation to the film’s creative team and cast. The original Wind River shone a light on the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Reis has also been an outspoken activist committed to this cause, so the project’s subject matter likely resonated with her personal advocacy efforts.
Coming off her breakout acting role in True Detective: Night Country this year, she continues her rising star momentum by joining the next chapter in a contemporary Western franchise anchored in Indigenous themes.
With director Kari Skogland and a pedigreed cast, Reis helps round out an ensemble poised to deliver a tense, socially relevant thriller when The Next Chapter hits theaters.