Pia Alfreda Schipani was born on 4 May 1953, in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA, of Polish (mother) and Italian (father) descent. As Pia Zadora she is a singer and actress probably best known for various albums and songs she has released throughout her career. Prior to becoming successful in the music industry, she had been in films that were mostly unsuccessful, however, all her efforts have helped put her net worth to where it is now.
How rich is Pia Zadora? As of mid-2016, sources estimate a net worth that is at $25 million, mostly earned through her success in the music industry. Aside from her music career, she earned some of her wealth from acting in films and the theatre. She’s won numerous awards for her music, and within the last decade, sold a mansion for more than $17 million. All of these have ensured her current wealth.
Pia Zadora Net Worth $25 Million
When Pia started her acting career she adopted a part of her mother’s maiden name, Zadorowski, as her stage name. One of her first appearances was in 1964 on stage in a Broadway production of “Fiddler on the Roof”. Her film debut also came in 1964’s “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”, basically a flop, and so after this film, she didn’t have much work until the 1970s, when she started appearing in commercials. In 1982, she became a part of “Butterfly”, with Orson Welles and Stacy Keach, winning a controversial Golden Globe Award for Best New Star of the Year. Despite her award, critics reviewed her performance negatively and she was even awarded the Worst Actress of the Year in the 1982 Golden Raspberry Awards. Zadora then appeared in the film “Fake-Out”, which was also called “Nevada Heat”, starring Desi Arnaz Jr. In 1983, she became a part of “The Lonely Lady” which was rewarded with another Worst Actress of the Year award. The Golden Raspberry Awards even went so far as to award her the Worst New Star of the Decade. After “Voyage of the Rock Aliens”, she started to show musical prowess in “Let’s Dance Tonight” and “Hairspray”.
After so much negativity in terms of her acting career, she started singing and gained a large following in Europe. In 1985, she received a Grammy nomination for her song “Rock It Out” but lost to Tina Turner. “The Clapping Song” which was recorded for the film “The Lonely Lady” reached the US Top 40 charts, and her song in “Voyage of the Rock Aliens” also became number one in various countries of Europe. She then started to work on standards, as she was reportedly encouraged by Frank Sinatra to do so. She released the album “When the Lights Go Out” in 1988 and the following year released “Pia Z”. Though neither album hit the charts, she continued to make music and take minor appearances in films. In 2011, she started a cabaret show entitled “Pia Zadora: Back Again, And Standing Tall” which she performed in various locations. One of her recent appearances was in the television show “Celebrity Ghost Stories”.
For her personal life, it is known that she married Meshulam Riklis during 1977 with a significant age gap of 31 years. As a couple they had two children, and bought a mansion in Beverly Hills from Jerry Buss, then building a 25,000 square foot mansion in the lot replacing some of the structure. After their divorce in 1993, Zadora would sell the mansion thirteen years later. She then married Jonathan Kaufer in 1995 and they had a son, but the marriage ended in 2001. In 2005, she married Michael Jeffries and they currently reside in Summerlin, Nevada.
