The Netflix star has been candid about how ‘Outer Banks’ catapulted him from a ‘Pogue’ into one of Hollywood’s hottest rising stars.
Chase Stokes’ John B. is a character archetype from a seemingly bygone era. First gracing our small screens during the height of the pandemic—when Netflix’s initial release of Outer Banks was primed to dominate the zeitgeist—the charismatic and tanned beachy heartthrob evokes The CW and WB lover boys of years past.
As life befits art, Stokes’ career and life trajectories have somewhat borrowed from the the soapy teen drama that first catapulted him to fame—and out of a difficult financial situation. While not exactly indicative of the “Pogue” to “Kook” pipeline (those are the nicknames for the Outer Banks working-class locals and wealthy seasonal guests), the actor went from living in a parking lot prior to his stardom to having, as The New York Post put it, “first-edition poster money.”
How did Chase Stokes become famous?
Before hitting the proverbial goldmine with Outer Banks, Stokes landed bit parts on television, including—believe it or not— on fellow Netflix hit Stranger Things (back in one episode of Season 1 as a school bully) and Prime Video’s Tell Me Your Secrets, which premiered almost a full year after the inaugural season of OBX.
However, as the legend foretold, Stokes’ big break was portraying the Pogues’ de-facto leader in Outer Banks. Stokes’ John B became the glue of the ragtag team of teen treasure hunters, earning the town ire from the powers-that-be and facing off against unfamiliar strangers looking to hamper their various quests and adventures.
Along with castmates Madelyn Cline and Drew Starkey, Stokes became one to watch following the series’ blockbuster release.
What is Chase Stokes’ net worth in 2025?
According to Life & Style, Stokes’ estimated net worth in 2025 is around $650,000, but it’s likely higher given how fast his career has exploded.
Stokes’ road to stardom and success has been bumpy. He reiterated in a recent interview that he initially turned down an audition for the show, mistaking it for a half-baked reboot of Steven Spielberg’s 1985 classic The Goonies during Hollywood’s (ongoing) remake craze. The move was a bold decision, given Stokes’ own admission of being “broke” and facing an eviction notice on his apartment at the time, with the electricity faltering. However, a chance connection with the series’ casting director, Lisa Mae Fincannon, whom he had met on his first-ever project, convinced him to read for the part, and the rest is history.
It’s a sentiment Stokes has expressed before—in 2021, he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and detailed his “not great” experience living in his car on and off for a period of two months. He often parked in the Hollywood & Highland lot under the famed TCL Chinese Theatre.
“There was a strategy to it,” he recalled. “You don’t want to park in a corner. Then all of a sudden the parking attendant is like ‘That dude is for sure sleeping in here.’ So every day I would try to find a different parking spot and it worked out. I never got caught.”
Around that time, Stokes recounted landing a job as a waiter for Elton John’s Oscar party through a friend, but he ultimately got fired 15 minutes into the gig for watching the band perform. After that, Stokes got a “bartending” job (air quotes from Stokes), which lasted less than a year and through which he landed a social media manager gig for the restaurant’s owner by lying about his photography skills. Stokes alluded to that boss’ shady practices, refusing to give away more details because “I don’t wanna die,” but adding that he essentially blackmailed him into several more months’ paycheck before getting fired.
While on Kimmel, Stokes also said he originally “bombed” the audition for OBX, initially reading for the part of Topper—and despite still believing the project to be a Goonies remake—because he was “desperate” for income.
That year, Stokes also revealed to Men’s Health that he overdrafted his bank account (he told Business Insider the year prior that the exact figure was $-36) and couldn’t afford an Uber from the airport and had to ask a production member to spot him money.
“I never went back to L.A. after that, and all I had were the clothes I’d brought. I couldn’t even buy anything until I got my first paycheck,” he recalled. Seemingly those days are well behind him now.
How much money does Chase Stokes make per episode of Outer Banks?
Per Capital FM, first-time Netflix actors make roughly $20,000 to $40,000 per episode. With four seasons of the show raising Stokes’ profile—and one last installment to go—he no doubt commands a larger pay-per-episode rate now than during his humble beginnings. Per StyleCaster, the cast of Stranger Things began at the $20,000 rate and received $60,000 bumps for Season 2. It’s possible that a likely trajectory followed for Stokes and the rest of the OBX crew.
Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline, Carlacia Grant
How much money does Chase Stokes make each year?
In addition to OBX, Stokes has appeared in music videos like Kygo’s popular “Hot Stuff” rendition and girlfriend/country star Kelsea Ballerini’s “First Rodeo.” Aside from other film and TV projects on the docket (see below), Stokes has also netted brand deals, like his collection with affordable eyewear brand Zenni Optical, ambassadorships (such as with HEYDUDE shoes), paid Instagram partnerships (like those with Brooks Running and Sweet Earth) and commercial spots with luxury houses like Armani; these can often be more lucrative than Hollywood projects.
Last year, he told the Post that these opportunities and more led him to “one of the most proud purchases I ever made”—a 1981 first-release poster of Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Online searches for the poster yield ranges between $600 to $1,500+.) Stokes is definitely making six figures each year and likely earning even more now.
What other projects has Chase Stokes worked on?
After hitting the jackpot with OBX, Stokes continued his collaboration with Netflix on last year’s adaptation of Scott Westerfield’s YA dystopian novel Uglies, opposite Joey King. Next up, he’ll appear in the romantic drama Marked Men, the Nick Cassavetes-helmed adaptation of Jay Crownover’s bestseller Rule, releasing Jan. 22. Then there’s Valiant One, in theaters at the end of the month, in which he stars alongside Lana Condor as reserve soldiers who must find a way out of North Korea after their helicopter crashes.
Though Stokes’ success seems to have arrived overnight, he told People in 2023: “I think one thing for me is this journey has not been a quick and easy one. I’ve been out in L.A. for a long time and I’ve been through a lot of trials and tribulations. Even prior to jumping into this industry, life was never really handed to me on a silver platter. So I know that it can all be taken away in the blink of an eye. I try to walk through life with that mentality and make sure that everything that I do, I do it to the best of my ability and hopefully it resonates with the world.”
As a result, he said he doesn’t believe he’ll ever “accept the fact” that he’s “made it.”
But when asked by Ballerini if he’d do it all over again, Stokes didn’t hesitate: “It was this sub-300-square-foot junior studio. She said, ‘Would you, if you had to, go back to that apartment and restart?’ … It was a really beautiful thing to give myself that little reminder: I would absolutely go back and take the journey again.”
