Russell Crowe
| Russell Crowe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Crowe at Piccadilly Circus, London while filming A Good Year, October 2005 |
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| Born | Russell Ira Crowe 7 April 1964 Wellington, New Zealand |
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| Years active | 1972-present | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Danielle Spencer (2003-) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an Academy Award-, BAFTA-, Golden Globe-, and Screen Actors Guild Award- winning New Zealand and Australian actor. His acting career began in the early 1990s with roles in Australian TV series such as Police Rescue and films such as Romper Stomper. In the late 1990s, he began appearing in US films such as the 1997 movie L.A. Confidential. In the 2000s, he has been nominated for three Oscars, and in 2000, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring role in the film Gladiator. Crowe is also co-owner of National Rugby League team the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
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Biography
Early life
Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand, the son of Jocelyn Yvonne (née Wemyss) and John Alexander Crowe,[1] both of whom were movie set caterers; his father also managed a hotel.[2] Crowe's 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 grandmother was Māori,[1] and as a result Crowe is registered on the Māori electoral roll in New Zealand; Crowe also has Welsh, Scottish, Norwegian, English and Irish ancestry.[1][4][5] Two of Russell Crowe's cousins, Martin and Jeff Crowe are former New Zealand national cricket captains.
When Crowe was four years old, his family moved to Australia, where his parents pursued a career in film set 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.
From his youth to the present, Crowe has had a special love of horses. "They're just like people," he told CraveOnline, "there are some horses that you have a deeper connection with immediately, and you can work on that over time."[6] He has also noted that he sometimes finds it difficult to part with his equine co-stars when a film wraps.
When he was 14, Crowe's family moved back to New Zealand, where he (along with his brother Terry) attended Auckland Grammar School with his cousins Martin Crowe and Jeff Crowe. He then continued his secondary education at Mount Roskill Grammar School, which he left at age 16 to chase his dreams of becoming a musician or actor.
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." In 1986 he was given his first professional role by director Daniel Abineri in a production of The Rocky Horror Show. He played the role of Eddie/Dr Scott. He repeated this performance in a further Australian production of the show. He was also cast again by Daniel Abineri in the role of Johnny in the stage musical of Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom in 1989.
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 protegé of Ogilvie's, Steve Wallace, hired Crowe for the film Blood Oath (1990) (aka 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. Also in 1992 Crowe starred in Romper Stomper, an Australian film which follows the exploits and downfall of a racist skinhead group in blue-collar suburban Melbourne, directed by Geoffrey Wright.
Hollywood
After initial success in Australia, Crowe began acting in American films. He first co-starred with Denzel Washington in Virtuosity in 1995. 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. Crowe won the best actor award for A Beautiful Mind at the 2002 BAFTA award ceremony. However he failed to win the Oscar that year, losing to Denzel Washington. It has been suggested that his attack on television producer Malcolm Gerrie for cutting short his acceptance speech[9] may have turned voters against him.[10]
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, L.A. 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 co-starring again with Denzel Washington, released 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.[11]
On 9 March 2005, Crowe revealed to GQ magazine that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents had approached him prior to the 73rd Academy Awards on 25 March 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-destabilisation plan".[12]
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".[12]
Charities
Crowe, who was in Toronto filming Cinderella Man with director Ron Howard, learned of a fire-bombing at a Jewish elementary school that took place in Montreal. Police said a note with anti-Semitic comments was found on the outside wall of the gutted library. He was so distraught that he offered (a reported $250,000 donation) to help rebuild its library to help the school get back on its feet. Montreal resident Shelley Paris says, "It was a huge morale boost for the school community. He said he was very upset about what had happened that a place of learning should be attacked that way. He wanted to make sure that our students knew that he was thinking about them and that he was very upset about the fire-bombing."
On another occasion, Crowe donated a large sum of money ($200,000) to a struggling primary school near his home in rural Australia. Crowe's sympathies were sparked when a pupil drowned at the nearby Coffs Harbour beach in 2001, and he believes the pool will help students become better swimmers and improve their knowledge of water safety. At the opening ceremony in characteristic Crowe style he dived into the pool fully clothed as soon as the venue was declared open. Nana Glen principal Laurie Renshall says, "The many things he does up here, people just don't know about. We've been trying to get a pool for 10 years."
Personal life
On 7 April 2003, his 39th birthday, Crowe married Australian singer and actress Danielle Spencer. Crowe met Spencer while filming The Crossing (1990). Crowe and Spencer have two sons: Charles "Charlie" Spencer (born 21 December 2003) and Tennyson Spencer (born 7 July 2006).
Prior to his marriage to Spencer, Crowe had a relationship with Meg Ryan during and after the filming of Proof of Life in 2000.
Most of the year, Crowe resides in Australia. He has a home in Sydney at the end of the Finger Wharf in Woolloomooloo and a 320-hectare rural property in Nana Glen near Coffs Harbour, New South Wales.
Crowe also owns a house in the North Queensland city of Townsville: he purchased the $450,000 home in the suburb of Douglas on the 3rd May 2008[13] It's believed the home is for his niece, who is studying at James Cook University.[14]
Crowe stated in November 2007 that he would like to be baptised, and feels that he has put it off for too long. "I do believe there are more important things than what is in the mind of a man," he says. "There is something much bigger that drives us all. I'm willing to take that leap of faith."[15]
South Sydney Rabbitohs
On 19 March 2006, the voting members of the South Sydney Rabbitohs National Rugby League rugby 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 has cost them A$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 club 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 inaugural rugby league 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.
South Side Story, a mini-series documenting the takeover of the club, revealed Crowe urging Souths players to profess their love for one another during training.[16]
Crowe helped organize a rugby league game that took place in Jacksonville, Florida between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the European Super League champions Leeds Rhinos on 26 January 2008 (Australia Day). The game was played at the University of North Florida.[17] Crowe told ITV Local Yorkshire the game wasn't a marketing exercise.[18]
Other sporting interests
Crowe is a big cricket fan. He played cricket in school and his cousins Martin Crowe and Jeff Crowe are former Black Caps Captains. Russell Crowe also captained the 'Australian' Team containing Steve Waugh against an English side in the 'Hollywood Ashes' Cricket Match.[19]
He is also a fan of the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League[20] and a supporter of the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League (Europe) and the English football team Leeds United.[21]
Crowe is a big supporter of the University of Michigan Wolverines football team, an interest that stems from his friendship with former Wolverines coach Lloyd Carr. Carr used Crowe's movie Cinderella Man to motivate his team in 2006 following a disappointing 7-5 season the previous year. Upon hearing of this, Crowe called Carr and invited him to Australia to address his Rugby league team the South Sydney Rabbitohs, an offer Carr took Crowe up on the following summer. In September 2007, after Carr came under fire following the Wolverines' 0-2 start, Crowe traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan for the Wolverines' 15 September game against Notre Dame to show his support for Carr. He addressed the team before the game and watched from the sidelines as the Wolverines defeated the Irish 38-0.
Crowe is also a fan of the National Football League, and on 22 October 2007, appeared in the booth of a Monday Night game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is also a devout fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs which stems from his shooting of Cinderella Man at Maple Leaf Gardens.
He is also considered to be a friend of Kostya Tszyu, a former boxing world champion and it is said he helped instruct Crowe while shooting "The Cinderella Man" movie.
Musical activities
Crowe, going under the name of "Rus le Roq", recorded a 1980s tune titled "I Want To Be Like Marlon Brando".
Crowe and a friend formed a band, "Roman Antix", which later evolved into the Australian pub rock band 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts (TOFOG). Crowe performed lead vocals and guitar for the band, which 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 10 March 2006, Russell Crowe performed with his new band The Ordinary Fear of God on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Crowe landed a role in a musical, "Grease", in 1983. From 1986-88, Crowe headlined in the touring production of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".
Crowe did about 458 performances of The Rocky Horror Show. He played Dr. Frank N. Furter 50 times, and 400 times as Eddie and Dr Scott.
Altercations
Crowe has been involved in a number of altercations in recent years which have given him a reputation for having a bad temper.[22]
In 1999, Crowe was involved in a scuffle at the Plantation Hotel in Coffs Harbour, Australia, which was caught on security video.[23] Two men were acquitted of using the video in an attempt to blackmail Crowe.[24]
When part of Crowe's appearance at the 2002 BAFTA awards was cut out to fit into the BBC's tape-delayed broadcast, Crowe used strong language during an argument with producer Malcolm Gerrie. The part cut was a poem in tribute to actor Richard Harris who was then terminally ill, and was cut for copyright reasons. Crowe later apologized, saying "What I said to him may have been a little bit more passionate than now, in the cold light of day, I would have liked it to have been."[25] Later that year, Crowe was alleged to have been involved in a "brawl"[26] inside a trendy Japanese restaurant in London.
In June 2005, Crowe was arrested and charged with second degree assault by New York City police, after he threw a telephone at an employee of the Mercer Hotel 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).[27] The employee, a concierge, was treated for a facial laceration.[28] Crowe described the incident as "possibly the most shameful situation that I've ever gotten myself in... and I've done some pretty dumb things in my life".[29] He was sentenced to conditional release, and paid US$100,000 to settle a civil lawsuit out of court.[30]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Blood Oath | Lt. Jack Corbett | |
| The Crossing | Johnny Ryan | Nominated - for Australian Film Institute Award - Best Actor in Lead Role | |
| 1991 | Proof | Andy | Australian Film Institute Award - Best Supporting Actor |
| 1992 | Spotswood | Kim Barrett | |
| Romper Stomper | Hando | Australian Film Institute Award - Best Actor in Lead Role | |
| 1993 | Hammers Over the Anvil | East Driscoll | |
| The Silver Brumby | The Man (Egan) | ||
| For The Moment | Lachlan Currie | ||
| 1994 | The Sum of Us | Jeff Mitchell | |
| 1995 | The Quick and the Dead | Cort | |
| No Way Back | FBI Agent Zack Grant | ||
| Virtuosity | SID 6.7 | ||
| Rough Magic | Alex Ross | ||
| 1997 | L.A. Confidential | Officer Wendell "Bud" White | Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award - Best Cast |
| Heaven's Burning | Colin O'Brien | ||
| Breaking Up | Steve | ||
| 1999 | Mystery, Alaska | Sheriff John Biebe | |
| The Insider | Jeffrey Wigand | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor, Nominated - BAFTA Award, Nominated - Golden Globe Award - Best Actor, Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award - Best Actor | |
| 2000 | Gladiator | Maximus Decimus Meridius | Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award, Nominated - Nominated - Golden Globe Award - Best Actor, Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award - Best Cast |
| Proof of Life | Terry Thorne | ||
| 2001 | A Beautiful Mind | John Nash | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor, Golden Globe Award - Best Actor, Nominated - Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor, Nominated - BAFTA Award, Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award - Best Cast, Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award - Best Actor |
| 2003 | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World | Capt. Jack Aubrey | Nominated - Golden Globe Award - Best Actor |
| 2005 | Cinderella Man | Jim Braddock | Australian Film Institute Award - Best International Actor, Nominated - Golden Globe Award - Best Actor, Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award - Best Actor |
| 2006 | A Good Year | Max Skinner | |
| 2007 | 3:10 to Yuma | Ben Wade | Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award - Best Cast |
| American Gangster | Det. Richie Roberts | Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award - Best Cast | |
| 2008 | Tenderness | Detective Cristofuoro | |
| Body of Lies | Ed Hoffman | ||
| 2009 | State of Play | Cal McCaffrey | post-production, replacing Brad Pitt |
| Nottingham | Sir Robert Tornham and Robin Hood | pre-production |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Inside The Actors Studio With Russell Crowe. 4 January 2004 - Transcript
- ↑ Russell Crowe Biography (1964-)
- ↑ JOURNALISM > NY Newsday 3
- ↑ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Film | Russell Crowe: Hollywood livewire
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/iconsofwales/sites/content/pages/russell_crowe.shtml
- ↑ 3:10 to Yuma: Christian Bale vs Russell Crowe
- ↑ Newsday (Aug. 6, 1995): "Russell Crowe Has Enough Ego to be a Bad Guy You'll Remember", by Frank Lovece
- ↑ Russell Crowe ~ Russell ... Somethng to Crowe About!
- ↑ Milmo, Dan. Crowe gets heavy after Bafta speech, The Guardian, 26 February 2002. Accessed 12 July 2008.
- ↑ Did Russell Crowe commit Oscar suicide, EW.Com, retrieved 2007-11-08
- ↑ "Russell Crowe video interview" (Video). STV. Retrieved on 2007-05-29.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 O'Riordan, Bernard. How Bin Laden put the word out: get Russell Crowe, The Guardian, 9 March 2005. Accessed 12 July 2008.
- ↑ Superstars buy up Townsville | Townsville Bulletin News
- ↑ Crowesville
- ↑ "Russell Crowe plans to be baptised", Yahoo! News, 6 November 2007
- ↑ Middleton, Amy (7 August 2007). "Going at it like bunnies", The Bulletin, pp. 12. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ↑ The Sun (2006-01-27). "Leeds Rhinos 26 S.Sydney 24".
- ↑ ITV Local (2006-01-28). "Stone the Crowes".
- ↑ Russell Crowe captains cricket side | Herald Sun
- ↑ Russell Crowe - Biography
- ↑ http://www.souths.com.au/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=737&PID=7866#7866
- ↑ CBS Interactive Inc., Explaining Russell Crowe, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/02/60minutes/main2144976.shtml, retrieved on 2007-07-01
- ↑ Sutton, Candace (7 April 2002). "Russell's brawl no Oscar winner". The Sun-Herald. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ↑ "Men acquitted over Crowe video". ABC (24 June 2002). Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ↑ "Crowe sorry over Bafta outburst". BBC News (2002-03-04). Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ↑ "Crowe in restaurant 'brawl'". BBC News (2002-11-14). Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ↑ Associated Press, Actor Russell Crowe charged with second-degree assault in phone incident, http://www.courttv.com/people/2005/0607/crowe_ap.html, retrieved on 2007-07-01
- ↑ Resnick, Rachel (November 2005), "Russell Crowe gets slap on the wrist for phone-throwing", The Justice
- ↑ "Crowe admits hotel phone assault". BBC News (2005-11-18). Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ↑ Price, Emma (20 November 2005). "Crowe let off with plea deal in concierge assault case". Earth Times. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
External links
- Russell Crowe at the Internet Movie Database
- Official site for My Hand, My Heart
- Russell Crowe: American Gangster video interview with stv.tv, November 2007
- Official Site of 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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