Television hardman Ross Kemp, renowned for his iconic role as Grant Mitchell in EastEnders, has confessed to a lifelong preoccupation with money, despite achieving what he believes was once the status of the highest-paid person on British TV.
From Paper Rounds to Prime Time
The 61-year-old actor and documentary maker, who also starred as Graham Lodsworth in Emmerdale, traces his financial caution back to his parents' post-war upbringing. Long before his soap opera fame, Kemp was diligently 'staying in the black' through drama school by working a punishing schedule.
He supported himself through a series of humble jobs, including pulling pints in a pub, cleaning toilets, serving pizzas, and labouring for £10 a day after being 'laid off' from Emmerdale in 1987, where he had appeared in 32 episodes.
A Workaholic's Mindset
In a candid interview with The Times, Kemp revealed the deep-seated anxiety that drives him. 'I've always been really worried about not having money,' he stated. He doesn't attribute this solely to his background, noting that other family members are more relaxed, while he has remained 'slightly obsessive about it.'
This financial fear has forged a workaholic mentality. Despite his considerable success, which includes the critically acclaimed Ross Kemp on Gangs series, he admits he still doesn't 'feel wealthy', a feeling that compels him to 'work non-stop.'
Property Wins and Hidden Portfolio Losses
When it comes to investing his earnings, Kemp has a clear winner and loser. His best investments are unequivocally his properties. He strategically purchased a four-bedroom house on the border of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, chosen because it's 'surrounded by National Trust land that can't be built on.'
His property strategy was simple and effective: 'I moved in and kept that one, but then I bought another house, and then I bought another, and then another, and that's where I am now,' he explained, referring to his first three-bed semi in Essex.
Conversely, his worst investments are those managed by his financial advisors that perform poorly. 'The worst ones are done by somebody who runs a portfolio for me and they never want to mention them,' Kemp revealed. 'At the yearly meetings they only want to show you the investments that have gone up.'
With a wry sense of humour, the star, who remembers when a 'Mars bar was 4p', joked that any investment from 20 or 30 years ago simply has to have increased in value. Today, he focuses on his family life with his wife, Renee, and their three children, plus a fourth from a previous relationship, far from the soap studios where he first found fame.
