What Is Martha Plimpton's Net Worth?
Martha Plimpton is an American actress and singer who has a net worth of $4.5 million. Plimpton began her professional career as a model in the early '80s, and she landed her first film role at age 11 in 1981's "Rollover." Martha starred as Virginia Chance on the Fox sitcom "Raising Hope" from 2010 to 2014, and she has more than 80 film and television credits to her name, including "The Goonies" (1985), "The Mosquito Coast" (1986), "Parenthood" (1989), "Music from Another Room" (1998), "The Good Wife" (2009–2013), "How to Make It in America" (2010), and "The Real O'Neals" (2016–2017).
She has also performed in numerous stage productions and has appeared on Broadway in "Sixteen Wounded"(2004), "Shining City" (2006), "The Coast of Utopia" (2007), "Cymbeline" (2007–2008), "Top Girls" (2008), "Pal Joey" (2008–2009), and "A Delicate Balance (2014–2015). Martha was an associate producer on the 2004 film "Hair High," and she wrote a 2005 episode of "7th Heaven." She voiced Olivia in the 2015 video game "Minecraft: Story Mode" and Yelena in the 2019 blockbuster "Frozen II," and in 2010, she starred in the one-woman show "Martha Plimpton Sings?" as part of the "American Songbook" program put on by Lincoln Center.
Early Life
Martha Plimpton was born Martha Campbell Plimpton on November 16, 1970, in New York City. Her parents, actors Shelley Plimpton and Keith Carradine, met while starring in "Hair" on Broadway and began a relationship while Shelley was separated from her husband, actor Steve Curry. Keith returned to California after leaving the show and later learned that Shelley was pregnant and had reconciled with her husband; he didn't meet Martha until she was 4 years old. Plimpton attended Manhattan's Professional Children's School, and she first appeared onstage when her mother brought her out during a curtain call of the Broadway play "The Leaf People."
Career
After making her film debut in 1981's "Rollover," Martha co-starred with Tommy Lee Jones in 1984's "The River Rat" and played Stef Steinbrenner in 1985's "The Goonies." She then appeared in 1986's "The Mosquito Coast," 1987's "Shy People," and 1988's "Stars and Bars," "Another Woman," and "Running on Empty" and played Julie Buckman-Higgins in 1989's "Parenthood" alongside Steve Martin, Dianne Wiest, and Keanu Reeves. She co-starred with Robert De Niro in 1990's "Stanley & Iris" and played the lead role of Helene Moskiewicz in the 1991 television film " A Woman at War," then she appeared in the films "Samantha" (1992), "The Perfect Woman" (1993), "I Shot Andy Warhol" (1996), "Beautiful Girls" (1996), "I'm Not Rappaport" (1997), "Pecker" (1998), and "200 Cigarettes" (1999). In 1999, Martha had a recurring role as Meg Corwin on "ER," then she guest-starred on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2002), "Karen Sisco" (2003), "7th Heaven" (2004), "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (2006), "Medium" (2009), and "Grey's Anatomy" (2009). She voiced Miss Crumbles in 2004's "Hair High" and Celia and Lizzie Borden in 2007's "Dante's Inferno," and she appeared in the films "Marvelous" (2006), "Puppy Love" (2008), and "Gone to the Dogs" (2008).
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From 2009 to 2013, Plimpton played Patti Nyholm in five episodes of the CBS legal drama "The Good Wife," which earned her a Primetime Emmy. In 2010, she appeared in the films "I Thought About You," "Small Town Murder Songs," and "Remember Me" and starred as Edie Weitz on HBO's "How to Make It in America." From 2010 to 2014, Martha played Virginia Chance on "Raising Hope," which aired 88 episodes over four seasons. In 2011, she co-starred with Neil Patrick Harris, Stephen Colbert, Jon Cryer, Patti LuPone, Anika Noni Rose, and Christina Hendricks in a filmed production of the musical "Company." Plimpton had a recurring role as Cheryl Sussman on "Younger" from 2015 to 2018, and she starred as Eileen O'Neal on "The Real O'Neals" from 2016 to 2017. She appeared in the films "Hello Again" (2017) and "Honey Bee" (2018), and she guest-starred on "The Blacklist" (2018), "The Guest Book" (2018), "At Home with Amy Sedaris" (2019), and "Brockmire" (2019). In 2021, she appeared in the drama "Mass" and played Megan on the HBO Max series "Generation."
Personal Life
In 1986, Martha began a relationship with actor River Phoenix during the filming of "The Mosquito Coast." They split up in mid-1989 because of River's substance abuse, and Martha said of the relationship, "When we split up, a lot of it was that I had learned that screaming, fighting, and begging wasn't going to change him. He had to change himself, and he didn't want to yet." Sadly, Phoenix died of a drug overdose in 1993. Plimpton is a supporter of abortion rights, and she has lobbied Congress in support of Planned Parenthood. She has served on the board of directors of A Is For, a women's rights organization, and in 2014, she wrote an article speaking out against the Supreme Court decisions in the McCullen v. Coakley and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby cases. In the article, Martha revealed that she has had more than one abortion, writing, "There was nothing tragic or depressing about the circumstances surrounding my decision, and there was no guilt or remorse afterward… I didn't want to have kids at the time or with the people I got pregnant with. Pretty simple. Pretty straightforward. Totally okay."
Awards and Nominations
Plimpton has earned three Primetime Emmy nominations, winning Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for "The Good Wife" in 2012. Her other nominations were for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2002) and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for "Raising Hope" (2011). She won a Phillip Borsos Award for Best Actress for "Small Town Murder Songs" at the 2010 Whistler Film Festival, and in 2011, she received a Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical for "Raising Hope." Martha has earned Critics Choice Television Award nominations for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for "Raising Hope" (2011 and 2012) and Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series for "The Good Wife" (2013), and "Raising Hope" also earned her nominations from the Gold Derby Awards (2011), Online Film & Television Association Awards (2011 and 2013), and Women's Image Network Awards (2011). In 1988, she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female for "Shy People," and she earned a NAVGTR Award nomination for Performance in a Comedy, Supporting for "Minecraft: Story Mode – A Telltale Games Series" in 2016.
Plimpton was also nominated for three Young Artist Awards: Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress – Motion Picture for "The Goonies" (1986), Best Young Female Superstar in Motion Pictures for "The Mosquito Coast" (1988), and Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for "Running on Empty" (1989). For her stage work, Martha has won an Obie Award for Outstanding Performance for "Hobson's Choice" (2001), and for "The Coast of Utopia," she received a Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (2007) as well as a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play. She also earned Tony nominations for "Top Girls" (2008) and "Pal Joey" (2009).
Real Estate
In early 2017, Plimpton paid $1.225 million for a 1,350 square foot, two-bedroom home in Los Angeles. In 2013, she purchased a four-bedroom Brooklyn townhouse that she has described as a "farmhouse in the middle of the city." After buying the home, Martha spent a year renovating it, installing new plumbing, pipes, and electrical wiring and creating her "dream kitchen."
