Chase Stokes Net Worth: How He Went From Having -$36 in His Bank to Being Cast in ‘Outer Banks’
He may not make as much as the $400 million treasure on Outer Banks, but Chase Stokes‘ net worth is still enough to make fans’ jaws drop.
Stokes, who was raised in Annapolis, Maryland, started acting with small roles on shows like Stranger Things and Daytime Divas before his big break as John Booker Routledge—better known as John B.—on Netflix’s Outer Banks. In an interview with Chicks in the Office in 2020, Stokes revealed that initially turned down the audition for John B. “It was four friends on a treasure hunt, Netflix, and the character’s name was John B. So I was like, ‘This is fucking Goonies. It’s a Goonies reboot.’ I said no,” he said. “I don’t want to touch a piece of iconic cinema and destroy it. I was like that’s my worst nightmare is doing a bad reboot.”
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However, Stokes, who originally auditioned for the role of Topper before he read for John B., explained that his opinion changed of the show once he read the pilot. “I read the pilot and I’m like ‘Oh my god, this is not The Goonies,” Stokes said. “I screwed this up so bad.”
In June 2020, Stokes confirmed that he and his Outer Banks co-star, Madelyn Cline (who plays John B.’s love interest, Sarah Cameron), were dating. In an interview with Fashion Week Daily in 2021, Stokes explained what it was like to act with his then-girlfriend. “It’s one of those things where, when you get to work with people that you love and care about—and I say this collectively as a cast—it just makes life so much easier,” he said. “You always hear about drama on sets, after you learn the dirty dark secrets of what really happens, but this is one of those shows where I would justifiably say everybody on this cast is just so wonderful to work with. Madelyn and I are very transparent about our relationship and we keep our personal stuff at home.”
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He continued, “Obviously, we spent a lot of time together, so there’s definitely some that leaks through! And that’s totally fine. But it’s fun to create characters that are not ourselves, and then make different decisions than what we would probably normally make. So it’s fun; it’s a lot of fun to sort of dive into a different world.”
In November 2021, People confirmed that Cline and Stokes had split after less than two years together. “Madelyn and Chase are no longer together,” a source said at the time. “They were trying to work things out privately but broke up a couple of months ago.”
A source also told Us Weekly at the time that the former couple’s “busy schedules” had a lot to do with why their relationship didn’t work. “They’ve been trying to work it out for quite some time but decided going their separate ways was best,” the insider said. “They both have busy schedules, which made it hard for them to spend a lot of time together. They have no bad feelings toward each other and remain friends.”
So what is Chase Stokes’ net worth and how much does he make on Outer Banks and other projects? Read on for what we know about how much Chase Stokes’ net worth is now.
How much does Chase Stokes make on Outer Banks?
How much does Chase Stokes make on Outer Banks? While Stokes’ Outer Banks salary—and how much the rest of his cast makes—isn’t known, there are some clues about how much he could make. Given that Outer Banks season 2 was the most-viewed show on Nielsen’s list in August 2021—with more than 1,160 million views and 2.1 billion minutes on Nielsen’s report—we estimate that Stokes and his cast mates are making a decent amount of money.
As for the Outer Banks‘ cast’s salary, we can estimate that the cast likely made around what the casts of other Netflix shows, like Stranger Things, made in their first and second seasons. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the teen stars of Stranger Things made $20,000 per episode for season 1 before they received $60,000 raises for season 2. While the Outer Banks cast’s salary isn’t known, the cast’s current salary is likely in the $20,000 and $80,000-per-episode range.
Showrunner Jonas Pate also told Entertainment Weekly in 2020 that she expects Outer Banks to run for four to five seasons, which means there’s room for the cast’s salary to go up even more. “Ever since we started, we always viewed it as something that was probably like a four-season, maybe five-season show, but definitely four seasons,” he said. “We’ve sort of long-arced it out pretty far. I’m just hoping that we get a chance to actually tell those stories.”
Stokes stars as John Booker Routledge in Outer Banks, which premiered on Netflix in April 2020. The show is set in a coastal town along the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where there’s a social divide between the Kooks, wealthy residents, and the Pogues, working-class locals. The teen drama follows a group of Pogues as they investigate what happened to the missing father of their ringleader, John B., which leads them to a hunt for a treasure worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Stokes’ character is John B., the leader of the Pogues and the love interest of Sarah Cameron, a Kook and the daughter of his arch nemesis, Ward Cameron.
“When we shoot these things, especially as a young actor, I think it’s a little bit surreal to see a company like Netflix be as excited about the show as everybody who is as responsible for creating it,” Stokes told Brief Take in 2020 about the reaction to Outer Banks. “It’s been very, very humbling and surreal at the same time, because it’s still one of those ‘pinch me’ things. I think for us in particular, when we were making the show, it felt like we were doing this independent film and hopefully, somehow, some way, it was going to see the light of day, but now that it’s in the world in the way that it is, it’s pretty awesome, man, it’s a rad experience.”
How much is Chase Stokes’ net worth?
So what is Chase Stokes’ net worth? Well, according to Pop Buzz, Chase Stokes’ net worth $650,000, which makes him the second richest cast member of Outer Banks. The cast member with the highest net worth is his ex-girlfriend, Madelyn Cline, who is worth $800,000, according to Gossip Gist. Along with Outer Banks, Stokes has also starred in shows like Stranger Things, Daytime Divas, The First and Tell Me Your Secrets, as well as movies likeBetween Waves and Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets. He’s also done partnerships with brands like Sweet Earth Foods and American Eagle.
In an interview with Elle in 2022, Stokes opened up abou the “highs and lows” since his fame as a result of Outer Banks. “As beautiful as it’s been over the past few years, there’s been a lot of highs and lows [with] the show having the success it has,” he said. “And it’s very hard to take a step back and process it all. I’m somebody who doesn’t operate on ego, so barometers of success are things that I try not to pay attention to. I try to stay as pleasant as possible and allow myself to just live moment to moment.”
Stokes also told People in 2023 that, while his success may have seemed overnight, he was working as an actor long before he was cast in Outer Banks. “I think one thing for me is this journey has not been a quick and easy one,” he said. “I’ve been out in LA for a long time and I’ve been through a lot of trials and tribulations. Even prior to jumping into this industry, life was never really handed to me on a silver platter. So I know that it can all be taken away in the blink of an eye.” He continued, “I try to walk through life with that mentality and make sure that everything that I do, I do it to the best of my ability and hopefully it resonates with the world.”
Stokes also revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in July 2021 that he once lived in his car “off-and-on for about two months” when he was struggling as an actor. “It was not great,” he said. “There was a strategy to it. You don’t want to park in a corner. Then, all of a sudden, the parking attendant is like, ‘That dude is for sure sleeping in here.’ So every day, I would try to find a different parking spot, and it worked out. It worked out. I never got caught.” Before he was cast in Outer Banks, Stokes told host Jimmy Kimmel that he’d worked as a waiter, bartender and social media manager. “I was just trying to pay rent at the time,” he said. He continued, “Next thing you know, an eviction notice came on my door, and the role of Topper came up. I was like, ‘I’m so broke that I’m willing to make this effort for [the role].’ And so I did and I bombed the audition.” (As Outer Banks fans know, Stokes was later cast as John B. Routledge.)
Stokes told Kimmel that, at the time he was cast in Outer Banks, he had “two pairs of underwear, three T-shirts and a pair of shorts.” “Our costume department gave me a shirt that said, ‘Charleston County Jail’ on the back, and I wore that to the first dinner with everyone at Netflix,” he said. “That’s the story of John B.” Stokes also revealed to Men’s Health in 2021 that his bank account was overdrafted at the time he was cast in Outer Banks. “My bank account had just overdrafted, and I couldn’t even afford an Uber from the airport. I had to ask someone in production to spot me some cash,” he said. “I never went back to L.A. after that, and all I had were the clothes I’d brought. I couldn’t even buy anything until I got my first paycheck.”
He continued, “L.A. has a reputation of testing your will and mental strength, and did pretty much every job under the sun to make money. But there was a point where I was on unemployment, there were eviction notices on the door, the power was turned off and on. I was two months late on rent when I left for Charleston to shoot Outer Banks. So, it was a journey.”
Despite his success, Stokes told Insider in 2020 that he doesn’t believe he’ll ever “accept the fact” that he’s “made it.” “I don’t think I’ll ever accept the fact I have ‘made it.’ I think for me as an actor and as a creator, my job is to continue to push the limit of where I can go, so I don’t ever want to tell myself I’ve made it. I don’t ever want to feel as if I’ve made it. I don’t like being comfortable. I think I thrive best when I’m uncomfortable,” he said.
He continued, “I’ve told this story a couple of times on air, but when I got to Charleston for Outer Banks, I had -$36 in my bank account, so if I can keep that fighter’s mentality, I hope that that’s something that will help me continue to work. So I’m gonna keep telling myself I haven’t [made it], but it is cool to have a show that people really resonate with, so I’m super, super thankful for that.”
As for how his life has changed, Stokes revealed the celebrity he’s been starstruck the most by since his success on Outer Banks. “I was actually at a little Netflix party for the SAG-AFTRA Awards and I had just broken my foot. I stepped in a sandcastle, it’s a long story, really clumsy. I walked in and Robert De Niro was walking by me and he kind of scuffed his foot on mine and I kind of tripped and looked down at my foot and I didn’t realize it was him at first, so I was more in pain at the fact that I had just tripped on my foot. And I looked up and it was Robert De Niro and I was like [jaw dropped],” he said.
He continued, “And he kind of looked at me and looked at my boot, he kind of had a moment of like, ‘Are you at an event with a boot on?’ and I just didn’t know what to say. I was just like, ‘Congratulations for obviously everything you’ve done in your career and you’re one of my heroes.’ I thought I was going to start drooling and potentially pass out and maybe break my other foot, but thankfully I didn’t, so that’s a plus.”
Outer Banks is available to stream on Netflix.
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