The Oppenheim Brothers: All About Selling Sunset Stars Jason and Brett

Jason and Brett Oppenheim have made a name for themselves in both real estate and reality TV.

They are best known for their roles in the Netflix hit series Selling Sunsetwhich follows agents at their Los Angeles-based brokerage, The Oppenheim Group. Over the years, they have amassed a fortune in their industry, reporting more than $3.5 billion in sales and $500 million in active listings. Growing up, though, the siblings struggled financially, and Jason described them as “incorrigible” as kids.

Before they became real estate agents and reality stars, the identical twin brothers had careers in law. As reality stars, Jason and Brett showed their private and professional lives Selling Sunset and spinoffs I am selling OCwhich follows a group of real estate agents based in Orange County, California.

Jason and Brett have shared stories from their childhood and expressed their appreciation and love for each other—as brothers and coworkers—in podcast interviews, TED talks, social media posts, and more.

“On our birthday, I’m reminded of how lucky I am to have a twin brother, a best friend, and someone who never left my side,” Brett wrote in a 2021 Instagram post.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Oppenheim brothers, Jason and Brett.

Jason is the older twin

Jason and Brett Oppenheim as children.

Jason Oppenheim’s Instagram

The brothers are identical twins, but Jason is a few minutes older than Brett. In an Instagram post celebrating their shared birthday in April 2021, Jason mentioned their age difference.

“Today I was born at 1:17pm, I made sure everything was cool, then Brett came into the world at 1:25pm, after I made sure everything was cool,” he captioned the post. “Happy birthday, brother! Not at all.”

They were raised by a single mother in California

Brett and Jason Oppenheim.

Jason Oppenheim’s Instagram

Jason and Brett grew up in Northern California, raised primarily by their mother. In a 2021 TED Talk, Jason talked about how their parents divorced when they were young and said that he and his brother were “incorrigible kids.”

“We lacked respect for authority, we fought non-stop with our mom, her boyfriend when she had one and one with the other – a lot,” he said. “We were just frustrated, we kept getting into trouble at home, at school with our teachers.”

Jason continued, “We were two kids who felt they had nothing to lose and we didn’t care about anything.”

They were sent to a correctional camp at the age of 13

In an effort to help her sons, Jason and Brett’s mom enrolled them in remedial camp – but told them to go to basketball camp.

“We packed our gym clothes and were excited about the trip, only to land in Idaho and be handcuffed into the desert,” Jason said in his 2021 TED talk, later adding, “Thus began the worst month of my life. The camp was a real hell. We hiked through the desert for eight to ten hours a day.”

At the age of 16, they moved in with their father

Brett Oppenheim (left) and Jason Oppenheim at the USWNT Players Ball on December 6, 2023 in Dallas, Texas.

Richard Rodriguez/USSF/Getty

The twins were kicked out of several high schools before going to live with their father, a two-tour Vietnam veteran who forced them into a strict routine.

“Instead of a quick fix, my dad took a different approach,” Jason recalled in his TED talk. “He threw away all my baggy clothes, cut my hair, took my jewelry, took away my cigarettes, and would wake me up at 5 in the morning to practice with him in the garage.”

After early morning practice, Jason said his dad would get him dressed for school, drop him off and pick him up. The current realtor spent his afternoons completing homework at the community college where his father worked.

They attended UC Berkeley

Jason Oppenheim (left) and Brett Oppenheim pose for a photo before the F1 Grand Prix in Las Vegas on November 18, 2023.

Denise Truscello – Formula 1/Formula 1/Getty

Jason and Brett went to college and worked in local restaurants as dishwashers, busboys and waiters. After three years, they both transferred to UC Berkeley and were the top two students in their graduating class.

In 2023, Jason said he and Brett return to speak at UC Berkeley every year.

“My brother and I really enjoy the opportunity to go back to our alma mater, UC Berkeley, every year and speak to the business school class,” he said in an Instagram Reel. “It is exciting for us to see all the energetic students ready to engage in the business world. I just hope we can impart some wisdom from our experiences. It certainly feels like a full circle when we were in our favorite professor’s class years ago and now we’re back as guest speakers.”

At first, Jason wanted to be a mechanic

Jason shared in his TED talk that as a teenager, “At the time, I was just worried about working on my vintage Camaro and maybe becoming an auto mechanic.”

In his childhood, he had other wishes for work. In a 2020 Instagram post, Jason shared photos of an autobiography he wrote at age 11.

“Supposedly I wanted to be a pro-bono lawyer and an Olympic volleyball player in my spare time,” the post captioned. “Add an athletic and beautiful wife, a large family and a reliable, fast car for good measure!”

They went to law school and became lawyers

Jason Oppenheim (left) and Brett Oppenheim arrive at the 2022 MTV Movie And TV Awards: UNSCRIPTED on June 6, 2022.

Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

After graduating from UC Berkeley as an undergraduate, Jason went to law school there and Brett attended law school at UCLA.

After law school, Jason joined the Los Angeles office of international law firm O’Melveny & Myers, according to his biography on The Oppenheim Group website. While there, he represented the former CEO of Enron Corporation in the highly publicized Enron trial.

“I have always been an analyst and a career in law seemed like it [a] logical progression; that’s what law is all about — intellectual argument, advocating for your client, and critical thinking,” Jason said Swagger magazine in a 2020 interview.

Meanwhile, Brett worked as a securities litigation attorney at Skadden, Arps LLP (now Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP) and Latham & Watkins LLP, according to his bio on the Oppenheim Real Estate website.

They quit their jobs and traveled the world together

Jason and Brett Oppenheim during the trip.

Jason Oppenheim’s Instagram

Jason and Brett left their law careers to travel the world for three years. First Brett quit his job, then Jason followed, and they packed a 50 pound bag and traveled to 80 different countries.

“I was happy on paper, I wasn’t really happy like I was in the real world. Maybe a 6.5 on the happiness scale,” Jason told real estate agents Ben Belack and Zach Goldsmith on the podcast Living and shopping in Los Angeles.

In December 2023, the brothers shared a post on Instagram with 10 photos from their travels.

“Photos from the trip when Brett and I quit our law jobs to travel the world for three years, visiting 80 countries and over 200 cities!” Jason wrote in the title.

They launched The Oppenheim Group in 2013

Brett Oppenheim and Jason Oppenheim attend the world premiere of Netflix’s ‘The Gray Man’ on July 13, 2022 in Hollywood, California.

Amy Sussman/Getty

When they returned, both Brett and Jason decided to go into real estate – becoming the fifth generation in their family to do so. Their great-great-grandfather, Jacob Stern, was a prominent Los Angeles real estate mogul who founded The Stern Realty Co. in 1889, according to The Oppenheim Group’s website.

After several years of experience in real estate, the twins opened The Oppenheim Group together in 2013. At the time, they were working out of a two-bedroom house with one intern, as Jason told Jason Tartick on his podcast Trade secrets.

In March 2019, the first season of the series Selling Sunset premiered with eight episodes.

Their romantic relationships made headlines

From left: Mary Fitzgerald, Jason Oppenheim and Chrishell Stause arrive at the opening of the Maggi Hodge Overload exhibition at the MASH Gallery on March 20, 2021.

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty

Over the years, the brothers’ relationships have been noted Selling Sunset.

Jason dated three agents from The Oppenheim Group: Nicole Young, Mary Fitzgerald, and Chrishell Stause. During his relationship with Fitzgerald, the couple adopted dogs Zelda and Nika, and Fitzgerald called Jason “one of my longest and best friends”.

His 2021 relationship with Stause was a major storyline in the show’s fifth season Selling Sunsetbut the couple ended things after citing “different desires for a family.” Jason later dated Marie-Lou Nurk for less than a year.

Brett was previously in a relationship with model Tina Louise, but they broke up in 2021. In 2022, he dated girlfriend Samantha Abdul amid reports that they “want to take it slow at the moment and see where it takes them”.

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Source: HIS Education