Tess Harper Net Worth

Tess Harper has built an impressive career in film and television since her lauded feature film debut performance in 1983’s Tender Mercies. 

With an Academy Award and Golden Globe nomination already under her belt early on, she appeared in numerous high-profile movies over the next several decades of her career.

Now entering her fifth decade as a professional actress, she has amassed a body of quality work few achieve, followed by equally qualitative net worth and consistent success.

A closer look at her finances provides some revealing insight into the career and fortune of this celebrated character actress, who is still active today six years after reaching septuagenarian status.

Tess Harper’s net worth and career

Harper is reported to have a net worth of $5 million, establishing her as one of the wealthiest television actresses in the United States.

Her substantial net worth is attributed to her over 40-year career as a respected character actor in film and television. She started performing in theme parks before transitioning to theater and landing her breakthrough film role in 1983’s Tender Mercies.

Her performance garnered instant recognition, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. 

Over the decades, this launched a prolific movie career with roles in prominent films like Crimes of the Heart, Ishtar, No Country for Old Men, and many others.

Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Tess Harper, and Garret Dillahunt at the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (Source: East Bay Times)

On television, she found consistent work with recurring TV roles on series like Christy, Early Edition, and her most well-known part on Breaking Bad. 

These high-profile film and television credits have provided her with financial stability and allowed her to amass a multi-million dollar net worth estimated to be around $5 million. 

Now in her 70s, she continues to act actively on both the big and small screen. Her over 50 credits and counting stand as a testament to both her longevity and respect within the entertainment industry. 

Though details on Harper’s salary and assets need to be more fully transparent, her immense body of quality acting work paints a picture of a highly accomplished performer who has managed to accumulate impressive wealth fitting her talents.

Tess Harper was nominated for the Golden Globe for her film debut

Tender Mercies marked the feature film debut of actress Harper in 1983. She landed the lead female role of young widow Rosa Lee after impressing director Bruce Beresford in an audition. 

Beresford had come across Harper in a TV commercial and arranged for her to read for the part. Despite her lack of prior film experience, Beresford was struck by her authentic rural quality and cast her opposite Robert Duvall’s washed-up country singer, Mac Sledge. 

Her character, Rosa Lee, is a motel owner who helps give Mac’s life new meaning when he comes to work for her.

Tess Harper as Rosa Lee in ‘Tender Mercies.’ (Source: IMDb)

Upon the film’s release, she instantly gained acclaim for her acting talents in her first-ever movie role. 

Her emotional yet grounded performance bagged her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress the following year. It was a rare achievement to garner awards recognition of that caliber right at the start of her career.

So, while it began almost by chance, Harper’s film debut as Rosa Lee provided a springboard to instant critical acclaim. The surprise Golden Globe nomination instantly made her an acting talent to watch in the years ahead. 

In Harper’s own words, looking back – “I started at the top and worked my way down.”

Tess Harper is Diane Pinkman from ‘Breaking Bad’

Veteran actress Harper had a recurring guest role as Diane Pinkman across the first three seasons of the acclaimed AMC drama Breaking Bad.

She played the wife of Adam Pinkman and the struggling mother of drug addict and meth cook Jesse Pinkman, played by Aaron Paul.

Harper’s Diane Pinkman is introduced as a disapproving parent, firmly opposed to Jesse’s involvement in the illegal drug trade. When Jesse temporarily stays with his parents after a rough spell, Diane allows it only on the condition he remains clean and sober. 

Tess Harper played the role of Diane Pinkman in ‘Breaking Bad’ (Source: Breaking Bad Wiki)

She worries over Jesse’s influence on his younger brother Jake as well. When Jesse inevitably falls back into cooking and using meth, his parents kick him out after finding marijuana they assume belongs to him. 

Diane wants Jesse to straighten out his life but enables his behavior no longer. As the seasons progress, Diane cuts off contact with her troubled son, showing tough love amidst Jesse’s continued drug crimes with former teacher Walter White.

So through Breaking Bad’s early seasons, Harper appeared periodically as the long-suffering but morally resolved mother of the show’s conflicted meth dealer Jesse – cutting ties with him despite residual love and hope for change.

Tess Harper’s most recent project is ‘Our (Almost Completely True) Love Story’

Harper appears in the 2022 romantic comedy film “Our (Almost Completely True) Love Story.” The movie premiered at the Sedona International Film Festival earlier this year, winning the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Comedy.

Now, the film is making its Northern Arizona theatrical debut with a week-long engagement from December 8-14 at the Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatre in Sedona.

Harper joins an ensemble cast led by Mariette Hartley and Jerry Sroka as the central couple finding love. 

Additional co-stars include Morgan Fairchild, Peter MacNicol, and Bernie Kopell. The lighthearted rom-com follows an aging Hollywood actress who unexpectedly falls for a short Jewish man after some dating mishaps.

His charm and humor eventually win her over. So, at age 72, she continues acting with her role in this recent indie release.

After past acclaim in films like Crimes of the Heart and No Country for Old Men, plus her run on Breaking Bad, Harper is still going strong by appearing in 2022’s Our (Almost Completely True) Love Story. 

The movie now screens in Sedona, showing Harper’s longevity and continued to draw at this later stage of her decades-spanning career.