From Mansion to Mobile Home: Nutty Professor Director Tom Shadyac Gives up Fortune

Hollywood director Tom Shadyac has traded in his lavish lifetstyle, private jets, and mansion for a mobile home.

The 54-year-old filmmaker, who built up a bank balance of millions of dollars directing blockbuster's including Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor, Patch Adams and Bruce Almighty, has given up his fortune to live a simpler life. The amount has not been specified.

"The more I give away the wealthier I feel," he told CBS. "For everything I 'gave up', so much more was returned. The trappings of fame and fortune are exactly that - a trapping. It's called the spoils of success for a reason."

Shadyac, who now lives in a 1,000 sq ft home in a trailer park in Malibu and gets around on a bicycle, is only accepting the minimum payment for his next film, a remake of the French hit The Intouchables.

Although the fee of $218,000 (£140,000) is still a hefty sum, it's nothing in comparison to the million-dollar commissions that he once commanded.

"I believe I was my least successful when I 'had it all'. I was listening to the social notes of wealth, which is all these private jets mansions, a lot of stuff," he said.

"I didn't need a private jet. It costs $44,000 to fly for an hour and a half. Some [people don't] even make that in a year."

Shadyac decided to make the drastic changes to his life after a bike accident in 2007 left him very sensitive to lights and sounds.

He has since opened up a homeless shelter in Virginia and funded charities that fight poverty and help the environment.

"No-one is ever looking to have a more robust individual retirement account when they are on their deathbed. They are saying, 'I am so happy that I had the opportunity to love this family, to be a part of something'," he added.