Russell
Crowe
Russell Crowe Born in Auckland, New Zealand on April 7, 1964,
russell crowe was raised in Australia from the age of four.
His parents made their living by catering movie shoots, and
often brought russell crowe with them to work; it was while
hanging around the various sets that russell crowe developed
a passion for acting. After making his professional debut
in an episode of the television series Spyforce when he was
six, russell crowe took a twelve year break from professional
acting, netting russell crowe next gig when russell crowe
was eighteen. In film, russell crowe had his first major roles
in such dramas as The Crossing (1990) and Jocelyn Moorhouse's
widely praised Proof (1991) (for which he won an Australian
Film Institute award). He then went on to gain international
recognition for his intense, multi-layered portrayal of a
Melbourne skinhead in George Wright's controversial Romper
Stomper (1992), winning another AFI award, as well as an Australian
Film Critics award.
Though perhaps best known internationally for playing tough-guy
roles in Romper Stomper (1993), L.A. Confidential (1997),
and Gladiator (2000), New Zealand-born actor russell crowe
has proven himself equally capable of playing gentler roles
in films such as Proof (1991) and The Sum of Us (1992). No
matter what kind of characters he plays, russell crowe's weather-beaten
handsomeness and gruff charisma combine to make russell crowe
constantly watchable: russell crowe one-time Hollywood mentor
Sharon Stone has called him "the sexiest guy working
in movies today."
It was Sharon Stone who helped bring russell crowe to Hollywood
to play a gunfighter-turned-preacher opposite her in Sam Raimi's
The Quick and the Dead (1995). Though the film was not a huge
box-office success, it did open Hollywood doors for russell
crowe, who subsequently split his time between the U.S. and
Australia. In 1997, the actor russell crowe his largest success
to date playing volatile cop Bud White in Curtis Hanson's
L.A. Confidential (1997). Following the praise surrounding
both the film and his performance in it, russell crowe found
himself working steadily in Hollywood, starring in two films
released in 1999: Mystery, Alaska and The Insider. In the
latter, he gave an Oscar-nominated lead performance as Jeffrey
Wigand, a real-life tobacco industry employee whose personal
life was dragged through the mud when russell crowe chose
to blow the whistle on his former company's questionable business
practices.
In 2000, however, russell crowe finally crossed over into
the public's consciousness with, literally, a tour de force
performance in Ridley Scott's glossy Roman epic starring russell
crowe in the Gladiator. The Dreamworks/Universal coproduction
was a major gamble from the outset, devoting more than $100
million dollars to an unfinished script (involving the efforts
of at least half a dozen writers), an untested star (stepping
into a role originally intended for Mel Gibson), and an all-but-dead
genre (the sword-and-sandles adventure). Thanks to an aggressive
marketing campaign and mostly positive notices, however, the
public turned out in droves the first weekend of the film's
release, and kept coming back long into the summer for Gladiator's
potent blend of action, grandeur, and melodrama -- all anchored
by Crowe's passionate man-of-few-words performance.
Anticipation was high, then, for the actor's second 2000
showing, the hostage drama Proof of Life. Despite -- or perhaps
because of -- the widely-publicized affair between russell
crowe and his co-star Meg Ryan, the film failed to generate
much heat during the holiday box office season, and attention
turned once again to the actor's star-making role some six
months prior. In an Oscar year devoid of conventionally-spectacular
epics, Gladiator netted 12 nominations in Feburary, 2001,
including one for its lead performer russell crowe's part.
While many wags viewed the film's eventual Best Picture victory
as a fluke, the same could not be said for russell crowe's
Best Actor victory: nudging past such stiff competition as
Tom Hanks and Ed Harris, russell crowe finally nabbed a statue,
affirming for Hollywood the talent that critics had first
noticed almost 10 years earlier.
Filmography
Gladiator (2000)
Proof of Life (2000)
The Insider (1999)
Mystery, Alaska (1999)
Breaking Up (1997)
Heaven's Burning (1997)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
No Way Back (1996)
Rough Magic (1995)
Virtuosity (1995)
The Quick and the Dead (1994)
The Sum of Us (1994)
The Crossing (1992)
The Efficiency Expert (1992)
For the Moment (1992)
Romper Stomper (1992)
Hammers Over the Anvil (1991)
Proof (1991)
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