Top 25 Richest Heirs & Heiresses in America

Net Worth: $25 million*
Wealth Inherited From: Frank Shields

Brooke Shields is an actress and former famous child model (she also did some modeling in her adulthood as well). She was born in Manhattan, and she still resides there. It was her role in the movie Pretty Baby, by Louis Malle, which got her critical acclaim.

Brooke Shields ©Jaguar PS / Shutterstock.com

After Paramount Pictures’ Pretty Baby, she appeared in other dramas and continued modeling. She appeared in The Blue Lagoon and Endless Love, two famous 80s films that have become cult classics through the decades. 

She was briefly married to tennis star Andre Agassi for two years, but they divorced in 1999. Since then, she has been married to Chris Hency for eighteen years. The two have two children. She is the heir to Revlon executive Frank Shields’ fortune.

Net Worth: $2.8 billion*
Wealth Inherited From: Standard Oil

Ariana Rockefeller is a rich heiress to Standard Oil and a member of the historic, highly prominent Rockefeller dynasty. The Rockefellers date back to the early nineteenth-century when their patriarch founded Standard Oil and made billions. The family has remained wealthy, but they have also managed to be very charitable. 

Ariana Rockefeller © lev radin / Shutterstock.com

Standard Oil was bought by BP, meaning another big payday for the wealthy family. Rockefeller is very interested in fashion, and she studied at Columbia University. She had an internship at the United Nations, but she decided to start her own fashion brand. Her label is very successful, and she just added a handbag line. 

Rockefeller is a major supporter of the Humane Society, and she chaired the NYBG Winter Ball. She lives in the Upper East Side of Manhattan with her husband, an entrepreneur named Matthew Bucklin.

Net Worth: $80 million*
Wealth Inherited From: Goldie Hawn

Kate Hudson is an Oscar-nominated actress, and daughter of Hollywood legend Goldie Hawn. Her biological father is actor Bill Hudson, and her stepfather is actor Kurt Russell. Hudson first began acting when she was eleven, appearing onstage. Her venue was the Santa Monica Playhouse. She then moved up, trying her hand at film in 1998’s Desert Blue.

Kate Hudson ©DFree/Shutterstock.com

She had her breakthrough in Sony’s Columbia Pictures feature Almost Famous. Her unforgettable performance as band groupie Penny Lane won her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. She also has appeared in Fool’s Gold, My Best Friend’s Girl and Bride Wars, among others. Hudson also has her own fashion label, Fabletics. 

While Kate has certainly made a sizable fortune of her own from her acting and business pursuits, she stands to inherit a fortune when her mother passes away. Goldie was a formidable actress herself for decades and is still a true Hollywood icon.

Net Worth: $14 million*
Wealth Inherited From: Don Johnson

Dakota Johnson is an actress. Her parents are Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, two actors. She was born in Austin, Texas, and she resides in Los Angeles. She is also a model. She has been in the film industry since 2010. She is best known for her role as Anastasia in Fifty Shades of Grey film series.

Dakota Johnson © Tinseltown / Shutterstock.com

For her Fifty Shades role, she won the People’s Choice Award and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Rising Stars. She also appeared in Suspiria, The Social Network, 21 Jump Street, Wounds, and The Peanut Butter Falcon, which is streaming on Amazon. She is typically cast in dramas, but for this young star, the sky’s the limit!

As the daughter of two established Hollywood personalities, Dakota has always been well-cared for and never short of a buck or two. That being said, she hasn’t always seen eye to eye with her parents. Melanie raised an eyebrow at her daughter’s choice of roles.

Net Worth: $20 billion*
Wealth Inherited From: George Soros (Father)

Alex Soros is the son of billionaire philanthropist and businessman George Soros. He attended NYU and Berkeley, the latter of which granted him a Ph.D. in history. He is the Open Society Foundations’ deputy chair, and he also has a successful writing career. He has published his writing in Politico, The Guardian, The Forward and many more.

Alexander Soros ©lev radin / Shutterstock.com

He is also a philanthropist like his father. He has contributed to the Jewish Funds for Justice, which is an American charity helping Jewish causes. He also is on the board of Global Witness, which campaigns against human rights abuses by multinational companies in poor countries.

He also works with environmental activists, giving out major grants every year to help stop destruction of the Amazon rainforest and to improve the lives and working conditions of domestic international workers.

Net Worth: $110 million*
Wealth Inherited From: Gloria Vanderbilt

Anderson Cooper was born in New York City, and he is related to the Vanderbilt family, which holds one of the largest fortunes in America. He is successful in his own right, as he is a journalist, author, and TV personality. He hosts the popular news show on CNN called Anderson Cooper 360.

Anderson Cooper © Stacey Newman / Shutterstock.com

He attended Yale University. Before that, he took after his fashionista mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, and he modeled for Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. He also was a child model for Harper’s Bazaar. He first started as a fact-checker for Channel One before moving up the ranks. To his current gig on AT&T’s CNN.

Not many people realize just how well-connected Anderson Cooper is, probably because of his last name. Cornelius Vanderbilt was a prominent figure in the 1800s, holding his position as the richest man in America for many years thanks to his success with shipping and railroads.

Net Worth: $25 million*
Wealth Inherited From: Carrie Fisher

Billie Lourd is an actress, and daughter of Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher, who sadly passed away in 2016. Her father is Bryan Lourd, perhaps one of the biggest talent agents in Hollywood. Lourd’s roots make her the heiress to Carrie Fisher’s fortune and estate. She also happens to be the granddaughter of Debbie Reynolds, another Hollywood legend. 

Billie Lourd © lev radin / Shutterstock.com

Lourd currently resides in Beverly Hills and attended NYU. She has appeared in television shows such as Scream Queens and American Horror Story. She portrayed the role of Lieutenant Connix in Disney’s recent Star Wars trilogy, which has released films from 2015 to 2019. 

Billie also lost her grandmother shortly after her mother passed away. While it was a tragedy of epic proportions, Lourd inherited a tidy sum. That’s not to say that she hasn’t been working hard in the industry herself, which adds to her fortune.

Net Worth: $65 million*
Wealth Inherited From: Stephen Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal is the son of Stephen Gyllenhaal, a famous Hollywood director. He is the brother of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. His mother, Naomi Foner, is a screenwriter. He was born in Los Angeles, and he attended Columbia University. He started acting when he was a child, appearing in the 1991 film City Slickers.

Jake Gyllenhaal © lev radin / Shutterstock.com

He had his first breakthrough role in October Sky, where he played Homer Hickam. He won an Indie Award for his role as Donnie Darko in the eponymous film. He acted in the film alongside his sister Maggie. He also has appeared in Comcast’s Focus Features movie Brokeback Mountain, receiving critical acclaim.

Stephen Gyllenhaal amassed his fortune by directing movies like Family of Spies and Waterland, as well as several different TV shows including The Mentalist and Blue Bloods. His connections in the industry certainly didn’t hurt Jake’s career.

Net Worth: $140 million*
Wealth Inherited From: Karsten Olaf Johansson and Melanie Sloan

While Scarlett Johansson’s undeniable talents are solidly self-earned, Hollywood’s biggest starlet certainly got a leg up thanks to her parents: one is a successful Danish architect, and the other is a film producer. This foot in the door surely helped Johansson traverse the murky world of Hollywood.

Scarlett Johansson © Tinseltown / Shutterstock.com

But traverse she did. Today, Johansson has a string of hit films both big and small to her name. She’s been in huge tentpole flicks like Disney’s The Avengers, as well as small arthouse fare like Ghost World, Lost in Translation and Under the Skin. 

The 35-year-old star has an incredible net worth of $140 million, but she’s earned her keep over the years. The action roles she has taken on over the last decade have required serious dedication and hard work, none of which comes easy. 

Net Worth: $16 million*
Wealth Inherited From: Robert Sedgwick

Golden Globe award-winning actress Kyra Sedgwick is a familiar face to TV and film fans alike. But you may not realize that the starlet was actually a born millionaire – she’s the daughter of successful venture capitalist Henry Dwight Sedgwick V.

Kyra Sedgwick © Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

Sedgwick made a name for herself as a teenager, landing a role on Another World when she was still just 16. This led to film roles in movies like Phenomenon, Singles and Heart and Souls. She also co-starred alongside Tom Cruise in the Oscar-nominated Vietnam War film Born on the Fourth of July, distributed by Comcast’s Universal Pictures. 

Most famously, Sedgwick starred for many seasons on the hit TNT series The Closer. The role scored Segwick her highest critical praise, including multiple Golden Globe and SAG award nominations. The actress is also married to fellow Hollywood icon, Kevin Bacon.

Net Worth: $2 Billion*
Wealth Inherited From: Steve Jobs

Ironically, the mostly-unknown daughter of Steve Jobs and Lauren Powell-Jobs is currently a student at Stanford – the exact same campus where her parents met those many years ago. Little is known about Eve Jobs other than her conquest as a champion equestrian – and that she’s an heiress to Jobs’ $20 billion empire.

Eve Jobs @BolesworthInt / Twitter.com

These days the heiress stays mostly out of the spotlight, even limiting her social media presence to the bare minimum. But she has been a vocal champion of her late father’s philosophical outlook on life, even going so far as posting quotes from her father on Instagram.

Net Worth: $300 million*
Wealth Inherited From: Hilton Hotels Corporation

Paris Hilton is one of America’s most well-known celebrities. She was born in New York City, and she is the heiress to the Hilton Hotel fortune. Hilton is a popular brand of hotels, and that has given Paris quite a head start in business.

Paris Hilton © adamziaja.com / Shutterstock.com

However, she isn’t just an heiress; she is also a businesswoman in her own right. She has started several perfume lines, and her brand alone has brought in three billion dollars. She also has started other brands and brand locations, opening Paris Hilton Stores.

These stores, which operate worldwide, have brought in millions in annual revenues, along with profits from her Paris Hilton Beach Club Resort. This Philippines-based destination has brought in $10 million dollars per year alone. She also is paid to appear at events, raking in up to $300K per appearance.

Net Worth: $28 million*
Wealth Inherited From: George Riley Mercer

Tinsley Mortimer is an heiress, socialite, and reality television personality. She has also modeled. Her father, George Mercer, was an extremely wealthy real estate developer and investor, while her mother, Dale, was an interior designer. The other business lineage in her family was her grandfather, George, who founded the Mercer Rug company in 1936.

Tinsley Mortimer © Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

She attended Columbia University, where she achieved a BA in history. She also volunteered at Habitat for Humanity briefly before her acceptance into the prestigious university.

Her other career included working as a beauty assistant for Vogue. She also was a beauty ambassador for Christian Dior, and she even had her own lip gloss: “Tinsley Pink.” She has  appeared on High Society, a reality show about her and other rich housewives

Net Worth: $500 million*
Wealth Inherited From: Seagram’s

Clare Bronfman is the heiress to the Seagram Liquor fortune. The business was eventually sold to Coca-Cola. Her father was Edgar Bronfman, Sr., who founded Seagram. She also has had a lively equestrian career. She was born in New York, and she began her career in equestrianism when she was seventeen.

Clare Bronfman @nypost / Twitter.com

She started competing at a high level when she was twenty. She has won several equestrian competitions, such as the Grand Prix and Samsung Nations Cup. She has won the Grand Prix twice, so she wasn’t a novice and just playing around.  

Another notable member of the Bronfman family, who made their generational wealth through the Coca-Cola deal, is the rapper MIA. The Sri Lankan and British musician and activist met Benjamin Bronfman in Brooklyn in the early 2000s, and the two were quickly engaged.