Russell Crowe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Russell Crowe | |
 Russell Crowe at O'Reilly's Pub in St. John's, Newfoundland. |
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| Birth name | Russell Ira Crowe |
| Born | April 7, 1964 (age 42) Wellington, New Zealand |
| Notable roles | Hando in Romper Stomper (1992) Jeffrey Wigand in The Insider (1999) Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator (2000) John Forbes Nash in A Beautiful Mind (2001) Jack Aubrey in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) |
| Academy Awards | |
|---|---|
| Won: Best Actor 2000 Gladiator Nominated: Best Actor 1999 The Insider 2001 A Beautiful Mind |
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| Golden Globe Awards | |
| Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama 2002 A Beautiful Mind |
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| BAFTA Awards | |
| Best Actor in a Leading Role 2001 A Beautiful Mind |
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| AFI Awards | |
| Best Actor in a Leading Role 1992 Romper Stomper Best Actor in a Supporting Role 1991 Proof |
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Russell Ira Crowe (born April 7, 1964) is an Academy Award-winning New Zealand-Australian[1] film actor.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand to Jocelyn Yvonne Wemyss and John Alexander Crowe [2] 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,[3] and was also named an MBE for filming footage of World War II. Crowe's maternal great-great-great grandmother was a Māori,[2][4] and as a result Crowe is registered on the Māori electoral roll in New Zealand; Crowe also has Norwegian, Scottish, Irish and Welsh ancestry.[2][5][6]
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.
As a eleven-year-old, Crowe had an early taste of fame by having his photograph (in a ballroom-dancing costume) in the February 1988 edition of National Geographic magazine, the commemorative edition for Australia's Bicentennial.
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-1980s Russell, under guidance from his good friend 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 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.'"[7] In 1987 Crowe spent a six-month stint as a busker when he couldn't find other work.[8]
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, and both Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind won the award. 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 2005 he re-teamed with A Beautiful Mind director Ron Howard for Cinderella Man. 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 light romantic comedy of A Good Year 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." [9]
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".[9] 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.[10] (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, in which he travels the globe in his tug boat to instigate altercations with strangers 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." [11]
[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).
He supports the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League [1].
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 Carroll 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
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.
Apart from the Russell Crowe's celebrity status, the bands only claim to fame is the Frenzal Rhomb song "Russell Crowe's Band" which refers to the band as 'A fucking pile of shit'.
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] Selected filmography
- Neighbours (TV Show) (1987)
- The Crossing (1990)
- Prisoners of the Sun (1990)
- Hammers Over the Anvil (1991)
- Proof (1991)
- The Efficiency Expert (1992)
- Romper Stomper (1992)
- Police Rescue (1992) (Episode: The Right Stuff)
- For the Moment (1993)
- Love in Limbo (1993)
- The Silver Stallion: King of the Wild Brumbies (1993)
- The Sum of Us (1994)
- The Quick and the Dead (1995)
- No Way Back (1995)
- Virtuosity (1995)
- Rough Magic (1995)
- L.A. Confidential (1997)
- Heaven's Burning (1997)
- Breaking Up (1997)
- Mystery, Alaska (1999)
- The Insider (1999)
- Gladiator (2000)
- Proof of Life (2000)
- A Beautiful Mind (2001)
- Texas (2002) (documentary) (also director and producer)
- 60 Odd Hours in Italy (2002) (short subject) (also director)
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
- Cinderella Man (2005)
- A Good Year (2006)
- Discovery Atlas Australia Revealed (2006)
- Bra Boys (2007) (documentary) (narrator)
- American Gangster (2007)
[edit] Awards and Nominations
[edit] Academy Award
- Nominated: Best Actor, The Insider (1999)
- Won: Best Actor, Gladiator (2000)
- Nominated: Best Actor, A Beautiful Mind (2001)
[edit] Australian Film Institute
- Nominated: Best Actor, The Crossing (1990)
- Won: Best Supporting Actor, Proof (1991)
- Won: Best Actor, Romper Stomper (1992)
- Won: Global Achievement Award (2001)
- Won: Best Actor International, Cinderella Man (2005)
[edit] BAFTA Award
- Nominated: Best Actor, The Insider (2000)
- Nominated: Best Actor, Gladiator (2001)
- Won: Best Actor, A Beautiful Mind (2002)
[edit] Golden Globe Award
- Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, The Insider (2000)
- Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Gladiator (2001)
- Won: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, A Beautiful Mind (2002)
- Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2004)
- Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Cinderella Man (2006)
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Kevin Spacey for American Beauty |
Academy Award for Best Actor 2000 for Gladiator |
Succeeded by Denzel Washington for Training Day |
| Preceded by Jamie Bell for Billy Elliot |
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role 2001 for A Beautiful Mind |
Succeeded by Daniel Day-Lewis for Gangs of New York |
| Preceded by Tom Hanks for Cast Away |
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama 2002 for A Beautiful Mind |
Succeeded by Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt |
[edit] References
- ^ World Entertainment News Network. "Crowe's Aussie Ceremony Delayed", imdb, 2006-01-27. Retrieved on January 11, 2007.
- ^ a b c http://www.kaspinet.com/Inside_The_Actors_Studio-Transcript.htm
- ^ http://franklovece.com/subpage2.html#croweNewsday
- ^ http://achika.tripod.com/bio.htm
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4070410.stm
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/iconsofwales/sites/content/pages/russell_crowe.shtml
- ^ http://franklovece.com/subpage2.html#croweNewsday
- ^ http://russellcrowe.5u.com/Interviews/JuiceMagazine_5_93.html
- ^ a b http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,1433507,00.html
- ^ http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2001/03/29/news/2730.shtml
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2006-09-26/
[edit] External links
- Russell Crowe at the Internet Movie Database
- Official site for My Hand, My Heart
- Maximum Russell Crowe
- Video interview with stv
- Official Site of 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts
- Russell Crowe News Page
- Russell Crowe & The Ordinary Fear Of God MySpace Page
- Complete list of roles turned down by Russell Crowe
| 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 | |
Categories: 1964 births | Best Actor Academy Award winners | Living people | Neighbours cast members | New Zealand actors | Australian actors | New Zealand Australians | New Zealand pop singers | Australian pop singers | People from Sydney | People from Wellington | New Zealand Māori people | New Zealanders of Norwegian descent | New Zealanders of Scottish descent | New Zealanders of Welsh descent
