Mekhi Phifer, the 39-year-old Hollywood veteran whose highest-profile role came in a six-year run on the hit NBC medical drama ER , says in court papers that he now earns only $7,500 per month and has debts of almost $1.3 million, mostly to Uncle Sam.
As a result, Phifer — most recently seen in the $250 million-grossing film Divergent and on the Showtime series House Of Lies — filed bankruptcy papers last month, the celebrity news site TMZ has reported.
Mekhi Phifer joins Meet The Fockers actress Teri Polo as the most recent celebrity bankruptcies in 2014.
The papers do not appear to indicate why Mekhi Phifer, who has 27 films to his credit as well as numerous TV shows, would earn only $90,000 per year in income, which would appear to be a rather low amount for a steadily working Hollywood actor. The minimum salary for an actor appearing weekly on a network TV show is currently $2,979, or almost $13,000 per month, at least when a show is in production.
Presumably, an actor with the impressive resume of Mekhi Phifer would command well above the minimum rate.
The bankruptcy papers say that Phifer has expenses of $11,600 per month — so according to his court filings, the actor who appeared alongside rapper Eminem in the 2001 film 8 Mile , is rolling up more than $4,000 in new debt every month.
But that’s nothing compared to what Mekhi Phifer owes in unpaid federal taxes, according to the filings. The government has its hooks into Phifer for about $1.2 million.
Phifer, who got his start by beating out dozens of other Hollywood hopefuls at an open casting call for the 1995 Spike Lee crime drama Clockers , also owes his lawyers $50,000 and has an unpaid child support debt of $4,500.
Compared to his $1.3 million in debt, Mekhi Phifer claims $67,000 in assets.
Those possessions claimed as assets by Mekhi Phifer, according to the documents examined by TMZ , include a leather bed, a shotgun, two 9mm handguns and a 12-year-old Segway valued at $1,500.
