Jami Gertz Details Early Romance With Billionaire Husband Tony Ressler: "Everyone Thinks I Married a Rich Guy"

Jami Gertz attended the high-profile opening gala for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s (LACMA) new David Geffen Galleries wearing a striking floral-themed cream coat, an appearance that followed a $50 million donation she and her private equity investor husband, Tony Ressler, made to the museum.

Ressler, cofounder of Ares Management, one of the world’s largest alternative investment firms, has served on the LACMA board for several years. The couple’s donation helped fund the new building, designed by Swiss architect Zumthor.

Together, Gertz and Ressler have built one of Hollywood's most notable family fortunes, which includes the 2015 purchase of the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA for approximately $730 million.

Despite their current financial profile, Gertz has spoken openly about the early days of their relationship, noting in a 2018 interview with The Hollywood Reporter that she was actually the primary breadwinner when they met.

“Everyone thinks I married a rich guy. But I made more money–way more money–than Tony when I met him. I paid for our first house. I paid for our first vacation. I married him because I fell in love with him,” she said.

Gertz grew up in a working-class Jewish family in Glenview, Illinois, where her father sold siding. Her criteria for a partner reflected that background. “He was a nice guy with a job,” she said of Ressler.

“Which is what any Jewish girl from Glenview would want. It would have been nice if it was a doctor or a lawyer, but a banker was OK, too.”

Ressler, who grew up in Long Island, was working at Drexel Burnham Lambert when the two met. He recalled knowing very little about Gertz's career at the time. "All I knew was that she was a working actress," he said.

“All I knew was that she was a working actress,” he recalled, admitting he was entirely unfamiliar with her growing list of movie and TV credits.

The two were introduced by Gertz’s publicist, Susan Geller, at a dinner party in Ressler’s Los Angeles apartment.

He followed up by asking her to brunch and sending a dozen roses to the dressing room of a small theatre on Santa Monica Boulevard, where Gertz was performing in a play at the time. The couple married in 1989.

Gertz’s career roots run deep in Hollywood; she made her debut in 1981's Endless Love before rising to wider recognition alongside Robert Downey Jr. in the 1987 classic Less Than Zero. She later stepped away from full-time acting.

“It just seemed like a natural moment for me to take a break from acting. It’s hard to even say it out loud because I love what I do. It’s given me so many beautiful things in my life, taught me so many things about myself and the world around me," she said during the interview.

Gertz most recently made a brief cameo as herself in the 2022 romantic comedy I Want You Back.