Russell Crowe

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Russell Crowe
Image:RussellCroweOct05.jpg
Crowe at the Piccadilly Circus, London while filming A Good Year
Birth name Russell Ira Crowe
Born 7 April 1964 (1964-04-07) (age 45)
Wellington, New Zealand
Spouse(s) Danielle Spencer (2003- )

Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an Academy Award-winning New Zealand-Australian[1] 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 was nominated for three Oscars, and in 2001, he won the Academy Award as Best Actor for his starring role in the film Gladiator.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand, the son of Jocelyn Yvonne (née 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,[citation needed] and as a result Crowe is registered on the Māori electoral roll in New Zealand; Crowe also has Norwegian, Irish and British ancestry.[2][5][6] Two of Russell Crowe's cousins, Martin and Jeff Crowe are former New Zealand national cricket captains.

Image:The late show crowe as shirty.jpg
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 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.[7] 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, 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 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.

[edit] 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[10] may have turned voters against him.[11]

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.[12]

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".[13]

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".[13]

[edit] 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 (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."

[edit] 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 Crowe (born 21 December 2003) and Tennyson Spencer Crowe (born 7 July 2006).

Prior to his marriage to Spencer, Crowe had a relationship with Meg Ryan during and after the making 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 also a 320-hectare rural property in Nana Glen near Coffs Harbour, New South Wales.

It is believed Crowe 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.[14]

Crowe stated in November 2007 that he would like to be baptized, 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]

[edit] 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.

Crowe has helped organize the rugby league game that will take place in Jacksonville, Florida between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the European Super League champions Leeds Rhinos on 26 January (Australia Day). The game will be played at the University of North Florida.

[edit] Other sporting interests

He is also a fan of the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League.[1]

As with Leeds Rhinos, Crowe is well known to be a supporter of Leeds United.[16]

Crowe is a big supporter of the Michigan Wolverines football team, he watched the Michigan-Notre Dame college football game from the Michigan bench on 15 September 2007. Before the game, he appeared in the Michigan locker room, and players said he gave a rousing performance, urging them to play with honour and heart. Former Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr is a good friend of Crowe's and had previously gone to Australia to spend time with Crowe's South Sydney Rabbitohs. After the 7-5 2005 season, coach Carr used Crowe's film Cinderella Man to encourage his team, which went on to win 11 games in a row until The Ohio State University beat them in the 2006 season.

Crowe is also a fan of the NFL, and has appeared in the booth of Monday Night Football at an Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars game on 22 October 2007.

Crowe is also considered to be a friend of Kostya Tszyu who is a boxing world champion, and it is said that he instructed Crowe while shooting "The Cinderella Man" movie.

[edit] Musical activities

Image:Russell Crowe cropped.JPG
Crowe at O'Reilly's Pub in St John's, Newfoundland.

Crowe, going under the name of "Rus le Roq", recorded a 1980's 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. 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 March 10, 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.

[edit] Temperament

Image:Russell crowe nypd.jpg
Russell Crowe en route to his arraignment for the phone throwing incident

Crowe has been involved in a number of altercations in recent years which have given him a reputation for having a bad temper.[17]

In 1999, Crowe was involved in a scuffle at the Plantation Hotel in Coffs Harbour, Australia, which was caught by a security video.[18] Two men were acquitted of using the video in an attempt to blackmail Crowe.[19]

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."[20] Later that year, Crowe was alleged to have been involved in a "brawl"[21] 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).[22] The employee, a concierge, was treated for a facial laceration.[23] 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".[24] He was sentenced to conditional release, and paid US$100,000 to settle a civil lawsuit out of court.[25]

[edit] 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 named 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!"

[edit] Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1990 Blood Oath Lt. Jack Corbett
The Crossing Johnny
1991 Proof Andy
1992 Spotswood Kim Barry
Romper Stomper Hando
1993 Hammers Over the Anvil East Driscoll
Love in Limbo Arthur Baskin
The Silver Brumby The Man
For The Moment Lachlan
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
Heaven's Burning Colin
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
2000 Gladiator Maximus Academy Award for Best Actor, Nominated - BAFTA Award, Nominated - Golden Globe
Proof of Life Terry Thorne
2001 A Beautiful Mind John Nash BAFTA Award, Golden Globe, Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor
2003 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Capt. Jack Aubrey Nominated - Golden Globe
2005 Cinderella Man Jim Braddock Nominated - Golden Globe
2006 A Good Year Max Skinner
2007 3:10 to Yuma Ben Wade
American Gangster Detective Richie Roberts
Tenderness Detective Cristofuoro
2008 Body of Lies Ed Hoffman filming
State of Play Cal McCaffrey replacing Brad Pitt
2009 Nottingham Sir Robert Tornham pre-production

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] Academy Award

[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

[edit] Golden Globe Award


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

  1. ^ World Entertainment News Network. "Crowe's Aussie Ceremony Delayed", imdb, 2006-01-27. Retrieved on 2007-01-11. 
  2. ^ a b 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://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4070410.stm
  6. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/iconsofwales/sites/content/pages/russell_crowe.shtml
  7. ^ 3:10 to Yuma: Christian Bale vs Russell Crowe
  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. ^ Crowe gets heavy after Bafta speech, Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 8 November, 2007.
  11. ^ Did Russell Crowe commit Oscar suicide, EW.Com, retrieved 2007-11-08
  12. ^ Russell Crowe video interview (Video). STV. Retrieved on 2007-05-29.
  13. ^ a b http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,1433507,00.html
  14. ^ http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2007/05/05/2497_hpphoto.html
  15. ^ "Russell Crowe plans to be baptised", Yahoo! News, 6 November, 2007
  16. ^ http://www.souths.com.au/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=737&PID=7866#7866
  17. ^ CBS Interactive Inc., Explaining Russell Crowe, <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/02/60minutes/main2144976.shtml>. Retrieved on 2007-07-01
  18. ^ Sutton, Candace (April 7 2002). Russell's brawl no Oscar winner. The Sun-Herald. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  19. ^ Men acquitted over Crowe video. ABC (June 24, 2002). Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  20. ^ Crowe sorry over Bafta outburst. BBC News (2002-03-04). Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  21. ^ Crowe in restaurant 'brawl'. BBC News (2002-11-14). Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  22. ^ 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
  23. ^ Resnick, Rachel (November 2005), "Russell Crowe gets slap on the wrist for phone-throwing", The Justice
  24. ^ Crowe admits hotel phone assault. BBC News (2005-11-18). Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  25. ^ Price, Emma (20 November 2005). Crowe let off with plea deal in concierge assault case. Earth Times. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.

[edit] External links

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