At sixteen, Jami Gertz was already earning more than her father.
The Illinois teenager had entered Hollywood without a famous family, but the money brought pressures that applause could never erase. Years later, the actress would help build a life worth billions with a financier, leaving her biggest transformation far beyond the cameras and changing everything about her fut…
Raised in Glenview, Illinois, Gertz attended public school before a nationwide talent search opened an unexpected door.
Roles in films including The Lost Boys and appearances in popular sitcoms established her career, but celebrity never became her only ambition. When she married Tony Ressler in 1989, she was the more established earner. She has recalled paying for their first home and vacations—a detail that complicates assumptions about how their extraordinary financial story began.
