Glen Powell started his acting journey by appearing in minor roles on TV and in movies like Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003) and Fast Food Nation (2006).
Powell rose to fame with his lead roles in the action flick Top Gun: Maverick (2022) and the romantic comedy Anyone but You (2023). He also wrote and produced the dark comedy Hit Man (2023), in which he starred.
Childhood & Education
Glen Thomas Powell Jr. grew up in Austin, Texas with his two sisters. His father, Glen Powell Sr., worked as an executive coach while his mother, Cyndy, was a homemaker. His lineage includes Lipka Tatar roots in his great-great-grandfather, Mustapha (also known as Stephen) Chutsky on his father’s side.
In 2007, Powell completed his high school education at Westwood High School in northwest Austin, where he was involved in football and lacrosse.
He enrolled in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin but did not finish his degree. Although he had originally planned to graduate in the spring of 2024, his career obligations caused him to push his expected graduation date to 2025.
Glen Powell’s Acting Career
At the age of sixteen, Powell’s acting career kickstarted with minor parts in well-known films like Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003), and Andrew and Luke Wilson’s comedy The Wendell Baker Story (2005).
He also starred in Richard Linklater’s thought-provoking drama Fast Food Nation (2006), Ethan Hawke’s musical drama The Hottest State (2006), and Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters (2007).
After appearing in a series of minor roles in blockbuster films like Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Glen Powell moved on to supporting roles in smaller films like Josh Boone’s comedy-drama Stuck in Love (2012) and Brea Grant’s independent film Best Friends Forever (2013), where he also served as a writer and director.
However, Powell’s breakthrough came when he landed his first lead role in the low-budget Western Red Wing (2013), produced and directed by Will Wallace and executive-produced by Terrence Malick. The film also featured Luke Perry, Bill Paxton, and Frances Fisher.
Powell became a part of the star-studded cast in The Expendables 3 (2014), written by Sly Stallone. The film also featured big names such as Jason Statham, Antonio Banderas, Jet Li, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Kelsey Grammer, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. It earned more than twice its $100 million budget at the worldwide box office.
Following the low-budget film Sex Ed (2014) starring Haley Joel Osment, Powell had smaller roles in Misconduct (2016), a thriller featuring Josh Duhamel, Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, Malin Akerman, Byung-hun Lee, and Julia Stiles.
He also appeared in the successful sequel Ride Along 2 (2016) alongside Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Ken Jeong, Benjamin Bratt, and Olivia Munn, which earned almost $125 million globally.
In 2016, Glen Powell joined forces with Richard Linklater once again for the wild Texas college film, Everybody Wants Some! Although it starred Blake Jenner, Zoey Deutch, and Ryan Guzman, the movie did not manage to make a profit at the box office, despite its $10 million budget.
In the 2016 Oscar-nominated NASA drama Hidden Figures, Glen Powell played astronaut hero John Glenn, earning ten times its budget at $236.2 million globally. Powell starred in writer-director Carlos Rincones’ The Bad Guys (2018), which premiered at the Austin film festival in his hometown.
He then had a co-starring role in the U.K./France romantic drama The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society (2018), starring Lily James, Matthew Goode, and Tom Courtenay. The film earned $23 million in European theatrical release.
Glen Powell reprised an astronaut role in Netflix’s “Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood” with Zachary Levi and Jack Black. He had a major supporting role in “Top Gun: Maverick,” which grossed $1.487 billion globally and became the highest-grossing movie of 2022. Powell also served as executive producer and co-star in the Korean War drama “Devotion.”
In 2023, Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney co-starred in the rom-com Anyone but You (directed by Will Gluck), a modern take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. The film, released by Sony Pictures, also featured Alexandra Shipp, Hadley Robinson, Michelle Hurd, Dermot Mulroney, and Rachel Griffiths.
In the upcoming film Twisters (2024), which has a budget of $200 million and will be distributed by Universal in the U.S., Powell will be acting alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos, Maura Tierney, and Sasha Lane.
Additionally, Glen Powell has also collaborated with director Linklater to write the script for Hitman, in which he stars alongside Adria Arjona, Retta, Austin Amelio, Molly Bernard, and Kate Adair, showcasing his expanded artistic abilities.
Net Worth
As of 2024, Glen Powell’s net worth is estimated to be $7 million. Through his determination and persistent pursuit of success, he has gained both recognition and a substantial amount of wealth.
