'Russell Ira Crowe' (born
April 7,
1964) is a
New Zealand-
Australian
[1] actor. Crowe received an
Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in
2000's ''
Gladiator''.
Biography
Early life
Crowe was born in
Wellington,
New Zealand to Jocelyn Yvonne (Wemyss) and John Alexander Crowe,
[2] both of whom were movie set caterers; his father also managed a
hotel.
[3] Crowe's maternal grandfather, Stan Wemyss, was a
cinematographer who, according to Crowe, produced the first film by
New Zealander
Geoff Murphy,
[4] and was also named an
MBE for filming footage of
World War II. Crowe's maternal great-great-great grandmother was
Māori,
2[5] 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[6][7] Two of Russell Crowe's cousins,
Martin and
Jeff Crowe are former
New Zealand national cricket captains.
Russell Crowe as the man inside the costume of "Shirty the Slightly Aggressive Bear" in ''
The Late Show''. His character was inspired by Hando, a role Crowe played in 1992 film ''
Romper Stomper''.
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-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.'"
[8] In 1987 Crowe spent a six-month stint as a busker when he couldn't find other work.
[9]
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 '', 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.
[10]
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".
[11]
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".
11
In August 2007 it was announced that Crowe may be approached by the producers of the ''
new Star Trek film'' due for release in 2008, for the role of the villain.
[12]
Temperament
Crowe has been involved in a number of altercations in recent years which have given him a reputation for having a bad temper.
[13]
In 1999, Crowe was involved in a scuffle at the Plantation Hotel in
Coffs Harbour,
Australia, which was caught by a security video.
[14] Two men were acquitted of using the video in an attempt to blackmail Crowe.
[15]
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."
[16] Later that year, Crowe was alleged to have been involved in a "brawl"
[17] 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).
[13] The employee, a
concierge, was treated for a facial laceration.
[13]
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".
[20] He was sentenced to conditional release, and paid
US$100,000 to settle a civil lawsuit out of court.
[21]
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: '', 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.
It is believed Russell is looking for an upmarket home in the
Townsville or
Thuringowa area for his niece to live in, so she can study at
James Cook University.
[22]
South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby League Football Club
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 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 rugby 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.
Other sporting interests
Russell has also been quoted as being a supporter of
Leeds United.
[23]
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.
Filmography
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, '' (2004)
★ Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, ''
Cinderella Man'' (2006)
References
1. Crowe's Aussie Ceremony Delayed
2. http://www.kaspinet.com/Inside_The_Actors_Studio-Transcript.htm
3. http://www.filmreference.com/film/25/Russell-Crowe.html
4. http://franklovece.com/subpage2.html#croweNewsday
5. http://achika.tripod.com/bio.htm
6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4070410.stm
7. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/iconsofwales/sites/content/pages/russell_crowe.shtml
8. ''Newsday'' (Aug. 6, 1995): "Russell Crowe Has Enough Ego to be a Bad Guy You'll Remember", by Frank Lovece
9. http://russellcrowe.5u.com/Interviews/JuiceMagazine_5_93.html
10. Russell Crowe video interview
11. http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,1433507,00.html
12. Russell Crowe to play baddie in new Star Trek flick?
13.
14. Russell's brawl no Oscar winner
15. Men acquitted over Crowe video
16. Crowe sorry over Bafta outburst
17. Crowe in restaurant 'brawl'
18.
19.
20. Crowe admits hotel phone assault
21. Crowe let off with plea deal in concierge assault case
22. http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2007/05/05/2497_hpphoto.html
23. http://www.souths.com.au/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=737&PID=7866#7866
External links
★
★
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
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