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Russell Ira Crowe (born
April 7, 1964) is a New
Zealand-Australian actor. Crowe
is a recipient of an Academy
Award for Best Actor for his
role in 2000's Gladiator.
 Early
life
Crowe was born in Wellington,
New Zealand to Jocelyn Yvonne
Wemyss and John Alexander
Crowe, both of whom were
caterers. His maternal
grandfather, Stan Wemyss, was a
cinematographer who, according
to Crowe, produced the first
film by New Zealander Geoff
Murphy, and was also named an
MBE for filming footage of
World War II. Crowe's maternal
great-great-great grandmother
was Māori, and as a result
Crowe is registered on the
Māori electoral roll in New
Zealand; Crowe also has
Norwegian, Scottish, Irish and
Welsh ancestry. 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 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 an 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.'" In 1987 Crowe
spent a six-month stint as a
busker when he couldn't find
other work.
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.
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 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, 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, 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."
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".
Temperament
Crowe has been involved in a
number of altercations in
recent years which have given
him a reputation for having a
bad temper.
In 1999, Crowe was involved in
a scuffle at the Plantation
Hotel in Coffs Harbour,
Australia, which was caught by
a security video. Two men were
acquitted of using the video in
an attempt to blackmail
Crowe.
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." Later that year, Crowe
was alleged to have been
involved in a "brawl" 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). The employee,
a concierge, was treated for a
facial laceration. 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".
He was sentenced to conditional
release, and paid US$100,000 to
settle a civil lawsuit out of
court.
In
popular
culture
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!"
Charities
Crowe, who was in Toronto
filming Cinderella Man with
director Ron Howard learned of
a firebombing at a Jewish
elementary school that took
place is 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 (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 firebombing."
On another occasion, Russell
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. 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."
Family
and home life
On April 7, 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 Crowe (born
December 21, 2003) and Tennyson
Spencer Crowe (born July 7,
2006).
Most of the year, Crowe resides
in Australia. He has a home in
Sydney at the end of the Finger
Wharf in Woolloomooloo and also
a 320 hectare rural property in
Nana Glen near Coffs Harbour,
New South Wales.
In May 2007, Crowe put in a bid
on a house in Riverside
Gardens, an estate in the
Townsville suburb of Douglas,
the home was listed for
$680,000 but his offer was
beaten by an unknown buyer and
he missed out. Crowe was in
Thuringowa to watch his
Rabbitohs rugby league team
take on the Cowboys at the
Dairy Farmers Stadium and it
was on the morning before the
game that Russell inspected the
home and made an offer on the
spot.
It is believed Russell is
looking for an upmarket home
for his niece to live in, so
she can study at James Cook
University.
Knitting is also among Crowe's
interests.
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.
Other
sporting
interests
He supports the Richmond
Football Club in the Australian
Football League. Russell has
also been quoted as being a
supporter of Leeds United.
Musical
activities
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.
Awards
and
nominations
Academy Award
Nominated: Best Actor, The
Insider (1999)
Won: Best Actor, Gladiator
(2000)
Nominated: Best Actor, A
Beautiful Mind (2001)
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)
BAFTA Award
Nominated: Best Actor, The
Insider (2000)
Nominated: Best Actor,
Gladiator (2001)
Won: Best Actor, A Beautiful
Mind (2002)
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)
Source : Some
of the information on this page
came from a Wikipedia
article and is
licensed under the GNU
Documentation License.
©2008
www.geneticmatrix.com
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Russell
Crowe - Generator
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