Few Hollywood careers have taken a turn as unexpected—or as successful—as Jami Gertz’s. Best known as an ’80s teen star from films like Sixteen Candles, The Lost Boys, and Less Than Zero, Gertz followed a path that looks nothing like the typical celebrity story. Discovered at just 16 through a talent search, she was quickly cast on the sitcom Square Pegs alongside Sarah Jessica Parker. By her own account, success came fast—and changed everything. By her mid-teens, she was already earning more than her father, a shift she says altered her family dynamic overnight.
Throughout the 1980s and ’90s, Gertz became a familiar face on television and film, later appearing in projects like Twister, Still Standing, Ally McBeal (earning an Emmy nomination), and Jersey Girl. But her life took another major turn in 1986, when she met businessman Tony Ressler at a dinner party.
Despite public assumptions, Gertz has been clear that she didn’t marry into wealth. “I was making far more than Tony when we met,” she once said. They married in 1989 and built careers side by side—Gertz continuing to act and produce, Ressler rising to prominence in finance as a cofounder of Apollo Management and later Ares Management.
In 2015, the couple made headlines by purchasing the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks for $720 million. Today, Gertz balances team ownership with occasional acting roles, embracing a quieter chapter of life. “It felt like the right moment to step back,” she’s said—grateful for a career that gave her far more than fame.