What is Philip Michael Thomas's Net Worth and Salary?
Philip Michael Thomas is an American actor who has a net worth of $2.5 million. He is best known for his role as detective Ricardo Tubbs ("Tubbs") on the hit '80s TV series Miami Vice.
He has won a People's Choice Award and a Golden Globe nomination. Thomas is responsible for coining the term "EGOT," which means Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. He had plans to win all four one day, but as of this writing he has yet to accomplish this feat.
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Philip Michael Thomas was born May 26, 1949 in Columbus, Ohio. He grew up in San Bernardino, California with his seven half brothers and sisters. He began acting in his church theater group as a kid and became interested in joining the ministry after participating as a teenager in the Pentecostal Delman Heights Four Square Gospel Church choir. Thomas graduated from San Bernardino High School in 1967. He worked as a janitor to save up college tuition money and earned a scholarship to Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. He studied religion and philosophy before transferring to the University of California, Riverside. Thomas landed his first role in the San Francisco cast of "Hair," prompting Thomas's decision to quit school in order to pursue becoming an actor.
Acting Career
In 1972, his first appearance on screen was in the film "Come Back Charleston Blue," in which he played a minister. That same year, he played Dr. Calvin Crosse in the film "Stigma." Next up, Philips had small roles in the films "Book of Numbers," "Mr. Rico," and "Black Fist." His first notable roles were in Coonskin (1975) and opposite Irene Cara in the 1976 film Sparkle.
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(Photo by NBC Television/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Miami Vice
Philip's big break came when landed a starring role alongside Don Johnson in "Miami Vice" in 1984. Thomas played the role of ex-NYPD officer Ricardo Tubbs, who has come to Miami to the Bronx to get revenge on the suspect who murdered his brother.
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Philip Michael Thomas earned $25,000 (equivalent to $62,000 today) per episode for Seasons 1–2. He was paid $50,000 per episode for seasons three through five. In other words, he earned a little over $1 million from seasons 1 & 2 and then $3.35 million for seasons 3 – 5. That's a total of $4.45 million in pre-tax earnings for the entire series run before syndication. After adjusting for inflation, he earned the same as just under $10 million from the series' original run.
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After his success in Miami Vice, Thomas appeared in numerous made-for-TV movies, advertisements and as spokesperson for a cell phone service. In 1994 Thomas landed a deal with Florida-based Psychic Reader's Network (later known as Traffix, Inc.) to become the spokesman for the Philip Michael Thomas Psychic Connection. He appeared in television ads and claimed to have met the planet's premier psychics through his world travels. He even dressed that part to look like his Miami Vice alter ego, and he opened every ad with the phrase, "From Miami Vice to world advice! To promote the psychic line, Thomas appeared in several infomercials with Todd McKee, Eileen Brennan, and his young daughter Sacha Nicole.
Traffix later replaced Thomas with Miss Cleo. Thomas sued, alleging breach of contract, and won. In 2002, a New York arbitrator awarded Thomas $1.48 million for improper use of his name and likeness and an additional $780,000 in interest. In 1997, Thomas was reunited with Don Johnson (from the Miami Vice series) in the police drama Nash Bridges for two episodes. This was his last television appearance to date.
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Music Career
Thomas released an album called "Living the Book of My Life" in 1985, under his own record label Spaceship Records. Although it did not sell well and it didn't produce any hit singles, Thomas produced a video for the song "Just the Way I Planned It." He performed the title song of the album on an episode of "Miami Vice" later that year. Thomas also recorded the song "Ever and Forever" with Lucia Galan in 1987. He released another album in 1988 called "Somebody," which met a similar ill-received fate. Thomas joined forces with Kathy Rahill in 1993 to write the song "My My My Miam…I" which became the city of Miami's theme song. He also worked with Jamaican fitness instructor Sandi Morais to compose songs for a musical called "Sacha" which received generous runs in New York and South Florida. In 2001 and 2006, Thomas produced the music for Sandi's workout videos.
Personal Life
Philip and Kassandra Thomas got married in 1986. The pair split and their divorce was finalized in 1998. They had five children together, and Philip has six other kids from other relationships. He previously was romantically linked in the eighties to Sheila Willis, Dharma Matthews, and Dionne Warwick.
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