American actor Philip Michael Thomas was born in Columbus, Ohio on 26 May 1949, of part German and Irish ancestry through his mother. He is best recognized for his part as detective Ricardo Tubbs in the ’80s television series “Miami Vice”.
So how rich is Philip Michael Thomas? Sources estimate that Philip has accumulated a net worth of $2.5 million, his wealth having been earned from his career as an actor and a musician now spanning well over 40 years.
Philip’s father Louis Diggs was Afro-American, a Westinghouse plant foreman, and his mother Lulu a housewife with seven half-siblings who were children of his mother’s ex-husband. Philip started acting at a very young age in the church’s theater after his family moved to Los Angeles in 1953. Once he finished high school he studied Religion and Philosophy at Oakwood College after he earned a one-year scholarship. Later he transferred to the University of California and switched to study acting, actually quitting study to follow his ambition into an acting career, starting with many minor roles through the ’70s.
Philip Michael Thomas Net Worth $2.5 Million
Thomas’s first recognized roles were “Coonskin” in 1975 and” Sparkle” in 1976. Later in the ’80s, Philip gained fame by acting in the television series “Miami Vice” as Detective Ricardo Tubbs. In this role Thomas performed as an ex-police officer who relocated to Miami trying to find the person who killed his brother, meeting Sonny Crockett, another police officer who was looking for the same person.
Philip was expecting to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and/or Tony for his performance in “Miami Vice”, but he only won a People Choice award and was nominated for a Golden Globe. Still, this role was good for his net worth. Due to his success, Philip then appeared in some “made-for-TV movies” and some advertisements for telephone services. After the cancellation of “Miami Vice” in 1989, Philip was limited to television movies and Italian television series. His net worth still rose steadily.
In 1994 Philip had an agreement with Florida-based Psychic Reader’s Network (later known as Traffix, Inc.) to be the spokesman for the Philip Michael Thomas Psychic Connection, which gave him the chance to appear again in television advertising, but later Traffix chose Miss Cleo to replace him. This was against the contract between Philip and Traffix, such that in 2002 he was awarded $1.48 million by the New York arbitrator, adding to his net worth.
In 1997 he appeared as Cedrick “Rick” Hawks, a USA postal inspector in the police drama “Nash Bridges”, along with Don Johnson. Thomas then started working in the video game industry by performing the voice for the Lance Vance character in “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City” and “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Story” video games from 2000. In 2001 he appeared again with Johnson as a television star in the series “Nash Bridges”. These projects also helped increase his net worth.
Side by side with his acting career, Philip was also involved in the music industry. In 1985 he released his first two, failed music albums, “Living the Book of My Life” and “Somebody”. In 2001 and 2006 Thomas formed a team including Kathy Rahill and Sandi Morais to launch the “Magic cookie production company” which released the music for the fitness videos of Morais. These added little to Philip’s net worth.
Philip was known for his ego as he considered himself as one of the most effective figures, such as Mahatma Gandi, as he said: “There are only a few who will be the Fords, the Edisons, the Carnegies, and I think I’m in that number.”
In his personal life, Philip has been in relationships with numerous women and is the father of 12 children, including a daughter with his first wife Pat Thomas, a daughter with Merria Ross, two daughters to actress Sheila Dewindt, a daughter and a son with Dhaima Matthews, and a daughter and four sons with second wife Kassandra Thomas(1986-98). Perhaps his private life explains his relatively low net worth!?
