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Russell Crowe

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Russell Crowe
Image:Russell Crowe cropped.JPG
Russell Crowe at O'Reilly's Pub in St. John's, Newfoundland
Born April 7 1964 (age 44)
Image:Flag of New Zealand.svgWellington, New Zealand
Height 5'10½" (179cm)
Notable roles Hando in Romper Stomper
James J. Braddock in Cinderella Man
Academy
 Awards 		Won: Academy Award for Best Actor (2001) for Gladiator
Nominated: Academy Award for Best Actor (2000) for The Insider, Academy Award for Best Actor (2002) for A Beautiful Mind

Russell Ira Crowe (born April 7, 1964) is an Oscar-winning New Zealand-born, Australian-raised film actor.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Crowe was born in Wellington, North Island, New Zealand to Jocelyn Yvonne Wemyss and John Alexander Crowe,<ref name="actors">http://www.kaspinet.com/Inside_The_Actors_Studio-Transcript.htm</ref> both of whom were caterers; he has a brother, Terry. His maternal grandfather, Stan Wemyss, was a cinematographer who, according to Crowe, produced the first film by New Zealander Geoff Murphy,<ref>http://franklovece.com/subpage2.html#croweNewsday</ref> and was also named an MBE for filming footage of World War II. Crowe's maternal grandfather's grandmother was a Māori,<ref name="actors" /><ref>http://achika.tripod.com/bio.htm</ref> and as a result Crowe is registered on the Māori voting poll in New Zealand; Crowe also has Norwegian, Scottish and Welsh ancestry.<ref name="actors" /><ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4070410.stm</ref><ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/iconsofwales/sites/content/pages/russell_crowe.shtml</ref>

When Crowe was four years old, his family moved to Australia, where his parents pursued a career in filmset catering. The producer of the Australian TV series Spyforce was his mother's godfather, and Crowe at age five or six was hired for a line of dialogue in one episode, opposite series star Jack Thompson, who years later played Crowe's father in The Sum of Us and who coincidentally had been educated at the same school which Crowe was to attend for two years: Sydney Boys High School.

When he was 14, however, Crowe's family moved back to New Zealand, where he attended Auckland Grammar School with his cousins Martin Crowe and Jeff Crowe. He did not complete secondary school, leaving early to help his family financially. In the mid-1980's Russell, under guidance from his good mate Tom Sharplin, performed as a rock 'n' roll revivalist, under the stage name Russ Le Roq, and had a New Zealand single with "I wanna be like Marlon Brando".

Crowe returned to Australia at age 21, intending to apply to the National Institute of Dramatic Art. "I was working in a theater show, and talked to a guy who was then the head of technical support at NIDA," Crowe recalled. "I asked him what he thought about me spending three years at NIDA. He told me it'd be a waste of time. He said, 'You already do the things you go there to learn, and you've been doing it for most of your life, so there's nothing to teach you but bad habits.'"<ref>http://franklovece.com/subpage2.html#croweNewsday</ref> In 1987 Crowe spent a six month stint as a busker when he couldn't find other work.<ref>http://russellcrowe.5u.com/Interviews/JuiceMagazine_5_93.html</ref>

After appearing in the TV series Neighbours and Living with the Law, Crowe was cast in his first film, The Crossing (1990), a small-town love triangle directed by George Ogilvie. Before production started, a film-student protege of Ogilvie's, Steve Wallace, hired Crowe for the film Blood Oath (1990) (a.k.a. Prisoners of the Sun) which was released a month earlier, although actually filmed later.

In 1992, Crowe starred in the first episode of the second Series of Police Rescue

[edit] Hollywood

After initial success in Australia, Crowe began acting in American films. He went on to become a three-time Oscar nominee, winning the Academy Award as Best Actor in 2001 for Gladiator. Crowe wore his grandfather Stan Wemyss's Member of the Order of the British Empire medal to the ceremony.

Crowe received three consecutive best actor Oscar nominations for The Insider, Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind. All three films were also nominated for best picture. Within the six year stretch from 1997-2003, he also starred in two other best picture nominees, LA Confidential and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, though he was nominated for neither. In 2006 he re-teamed with Gladiator director Ridley Scott for A Good Year, the first of two consecutive collaborations (the second being American Gangster, due for release in late 2007). While the film was not greatly received, Crowe seemed pleased with the film, telling stv in an interview that he thought it would be enjoyed by fans of his other films.

On March 9, 2005, Crowe revealed to GQ magazine that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents had approached him prior to the 73rd Academy Awards on March 25, 2001 and told him that the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda wanted to kidnap him. Crowe told the magazine that it was the first time he had ever heard of al-Qaeda (the September 11 attacks took place later that year) and was quoted as saying:

"You get this late-night call from the FBI when you arrive in Los Angeles, and they're, like, absolutely full-on. 'We’ve got to talk to you now before you do anything. We have to have a discussion with you, Mr. Crowe.'" Crowe recalled that "it was something to do with some recording picked up by a French policewoman, I think, in either Libya or Algiers...it was about taking iconographic Americans out of the picture as a sort of cultural-destabilization plan." <ref name="alqaida">http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,1433507,00.html</ref>

Crowe was guarded by Secret Service agents for the next few months, both while shooting films and at award ceremonies (Scotland Yard also guarded Crowe while he was promoting Proof of Life in London in February 2001). Crowe said that he "never fully understood what the fuck was going on."<ref name="alqaida" /> The FBI confirmed Crowe's statement (which is uncharacteristic of the agency in that it usually does not comment to the media).

[edit] Temperament

Crowe has been involved in a number of altercations in recent years which have given him a reputation for having a bad temper. When part of Crowe's appearance at the 2002 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards was cut out to fit into the BBC's tape-delayed broadcast, Crowe accosted producer Malcolm Gerrie. (The part cut was a poem in tribute to actor Richard Harris who was then terminally ill.) During the filming of A Beautiful Mind on the campus of Princeton University, Crowe made an obscene gesture to Princeton student Meredith Moroney whom he spotted photographing him, which raised a media stir.<ref>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2001/03/29/news/2730.shtml</ref> (The student was filming from a dormitory window. The students had been told not to interrupt the filming by college authorities.) In 1999, Crowe was involved in a scuffle at the Saloon Bar in Coffs Harbour, Australia, which was caught by a security video.

In June 2005, Crowe was arrested and charged with second degree assault by New York City police, in connection with an incident at the Mercer Hotel, SoHo, New York. Crowe threw a telephone at a hotel employee who refused to help him place a call when the system did not work from his room, and was charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon (the telephone). Crowe, who was sentenced to conditional release, paid about US$100,000 to settle the civil lawsuit to the concierge, who was treated for a facial laceration. Crowe's temperament was parodied in an episode of the cartoon South Park titled "The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer". In this episode, Crowe is the star of his own, fictional TV series: Russell Crowe: Fightin' Around The World, and he travels the globe in his tug boat to fight people of different nationalities. Crowe's temperament was also parodied on the Australian Seven Network skit show Big Bite in 2003. The Network Ten show The Secret Life of Us was parodied on the show as The Secret Life of Russ. The "phone incident" was parodied in Scary Movie 4 when Brenda is dreaming, one of her lines is "Look out, Russell Crowe's got a phone!"

On other occasions, however, he has been known to show compassion. Following the death of his friend, naturalist and television personality Steve Irwin, Russell remarked that Irwin was "the Australian we all aspire to be." He also recently slammed a report claiming he was hoping to portray Irwin in a biopic about his life, stating, "It's appalling to me and offends me very deeply. It's so awful that I have to deal with millions of people thinking I would dance on my friend's grave. Yes, I do think there should be a movie made about Steve but I'm not the sort of person who will be doing commerce on my friend's grave." <ref>http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2006-09-26/</ref>

[edit] Family and general interests

On April 7, 2003, his 39th birthday, Crowe married Australian singer and actress Danielle Spencer. Crowe met Spencer while filming The Crossing (1990). Crowe also dated American actress Meg Ryan after they had an admitted affair while filming Proof of Life (2000) and in the past, he has been linked to Erica Baxter, Peta Wilson and Courtney Love. Crowe and Spencer have two sons: Charles "Charlie" Spencer Crowe (born December 21, 2003) and Tennyson Spencer Crowe (born July 7, 2006).

Two of Russell Crowe's cousins, Martin and Jeff Crowe are former New Zealand national cricket captains.

Most of the year, Crowe resides in Australia at both his Sydney home in Woolloomooloo and his 320 hectare rural property in Nana Glen near Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, but he rented a house for Summer 2006 in Nyack, New York while he worked on a movie being shot in New York City.

[edit] South Sydney Rabbitohs

On 19 March, 2006, the voting members of the South Sydney Rabbitohs National Rugby League club voted (in a 75.8% majority) to allow Crowe and businessman Peter Holmes à Court to purchase 75% of the club, leaving 25% ownership with the members. It will cost them (AUD) $3 million, and they will receive four of eight seats on the board of directors.

Crowe has been a major supporter of the Rabbitohs rugby league team for many years, appearing at many home games, and supporting the club during its time when they were forced from the National Rugby League competition for two years. Crowe paid $40,000 for a brass bell used to open the first rugby league competition match in Australia in 1908, which he then returned to the club. In 2005, he made them the first club team in Australia to be sponsored by a film, when he negotiated a deal to advertise his movie Cinderella Man on their jerseys.

He is friends with many current and former players of the club, and currently employs former South Sydney forward Mark Caroll as a bodyguard and personal trainer. He has encouraged other actors to support the club, such as Tom Cruise and Burt Reynolds. Business and television personality Eddie McGuire has been offered a seat on the Rabbitohs board.

[edit] Musical Activities

Image:Russell crowe & alan doyle.jpg

Crowe's early stage name as a musician was "Rus Le Roq" and he was billed as such while performing with the New Zealand production of The Rocky Horror Show. Crowe also toured with Grease in the Australian company. Crowe performed lead vocals and guitar for an Australian pub rock band, 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts formed in 1992. The band had found neither critical nor popular success but had several releases including 1998's Gaslight, 2001's Bastard Life or Clarity and 2003's Other Ways of Speaking, plus various CD releases now out of print. The band's web site indicates that group has "dissolved/evolved" and states that Crowe's music would take a new direction.

He continued with a collaboration with Alan Doyle of the Canadian band Great Big Sea in early 2005, which also involved members of his previous band. A new single, Raewyn, was released in April 2005 and an album entitled My Hand, My Heart has been released for download on iTunes. The album includes a tribute song to the late actor, Richard Harris, who became Crowe's friend during the making of Gladiator. In 2002, he directed the music video clip (which starred former child actor Duy Nguyen) for his wife Danielle Spencer's single 'Tickle Me' from her 'White Monkey' album. On March 10, 2006, Russell Crowe performed with his new band The Ordinary Fear of God on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Academy Awards and Nominations

Awards
Preceded by:
Kevin Spacey
for American Beauty 		Academy Award for Best Actor
2000
for Gladiator 		Succeeded by:
Denzel Washington
for Training Day

[edit] Other Awards

[edit] References

<references/>

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Crowe, Russell
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Oscar-winning New Zealand film actor
DATE OF BIRTH 1964-04-07
PLACE OF BIRTH Wellington, New Zealand
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
bg:Ръсел Кроу

da:Russell Crowe de:Russell Crowe et:Russell Crowe es:Russell Crowe fr:Russell Crowe id:Russell Crowe it:Russell Crowe he:ראסל קרואו hu:Russell Crowe nl:Russell Crowe ja:ラッセル・クロウ no:Russell Crowe nn:Russell Crowe pl:Russell Crowe pt:Russell Crowe ru:Кроу, Рассел simple:Russell Crowe fi:Russell Crowe sv:Russell Crowe zh:羅素·高爾

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