Russell Crowe

Russell Crowe — Biography

Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964 in Wellington) is a New Zealand-born actor, director, producer and musician. A citizen of both New Zealand and Australia, Crowe built his career in Australia and in the United States. His work on screen has earned him an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award and two Golden Globes.

He was born in the Strathmore Park suburb of Wellington to a family that provided catering services to film and television sets. About ten years of his childhood were spent in Australia; after Vaucluse Public School and Sydney Boys High School he went on to Auckland Grammar School and Mount Roskill Grammar School in New Zealand. During the 1980s he made music under the stage name "Russ Le Roq". By the age of twenty-one he had settled permanently in Australia.

He began his career with roles in Australian television productions such as Neighbours and Police Rescue. International attention came with Romper Stomper (1992), in which he played the rage of a young skinhead and which brought him Australia's best actor award. He then moved to Hollywood, playing Cort in Hızlı ve Ölü (1995), drawing critical notice with Los Angeles Sırları (1997), and earning his first Academy Award nomination for Köstebek (1999) as Jeffrey Wigand, who exposed the inner workings of the tobacco industry.

Playing the Roman commander Maximus Decimus Meridius in Ridley Scott's Gladyatör (2000) turned him into a worldwide star and won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. A year later, portraying the real-life mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. in Akıl Oyunları (2001), he took the British Academy Film Award and a Golden Globe and was nominated for the Academy Award for a third consecutive time.

In the years that followed he appeared in Dünyanın Uzak Ucu (2003), Cinderella Man (2005) as the boxer Jim Braddock, 3:10 Treni (2007), Amerikan Gangsteri (2007) as the detective Richie Roberts, Yalanlar Üstüne (2008) and Robin Hood (2010), working with Ridley Scott again on several of them. His career continued with Sefiller (2012), Man of Steel (2013) as Jor-El, Nuh: Büyük Tufan (2014), İyi Adamlar (2016), Thor: Aşk ve Gök Gürültüsü (2022) as Zeus, and Şeytan Ayini (2023). In 2014 he made his directorial debut with Son Umut, in which he also starred, and in 2019 he won his second Golden Globe for his performance in the miniseries The Loudest Voice.

Keeping up his interest in music, Crowe released the album The Crowe/Doyle Songbook, Vol. III in 2011. Since 2006 he has been a co-owner of the National Rugby League club South Sydney Rabbitohs. He married Danielle Spencer, and the couple had a son named Tennyson. Crowe has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has also received Australia's Centenary Medal and the title of national living treasure.