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Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe (born April 7, 1964) is an Oscar-winning film actor born in Wellington, New Zealand of Welsh, Norwegian and 1/16th Maori extraction. Crowe currently resides in Australia at both his Sydney home and his rural New South Wales property.
Early life and career
When he was four years old, his family moved to Australia where his parents pursued a career in filmset catering. His maternal grandfather, Stan Wyemss, was a cinematographer whom Crowe says produced the first film by director Geoff Murphy. The producer of the Australian TV series Spyforce was his mother's godfather, and Crowe at age 5 or 6 got hired for a line of dialogue in one episode, opposite series star Jack Thompson, whom years later played Crowe's father in The Sum of Us.
Crowe attended Sydney Boys High School. When he was 14, his family moved back to New Zealand, where he then attended the Auckland Grammar School. He did not complete secondary school, leaving early to help his family financially. Crowe returned to Australia at 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' " .
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," a.k.a. "Prisoners of the Sun" (1990), which though filmed later was released a month ealier.
Hollywood
After initial success in Australia, Crowe began acting in American films. A three-time Oscar nominee, he won the Academy Award as Best Actor in 2001 for Gladiator, and he was also nominated for the Best Actor award for The Insider and A Beautiful Mind.
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." The FBI confirmed Crowe's statement (which is uncharacteristic of the agency in that it usually does not comment to the media).
Temperament
Russell Crowe, fighting 'round the worldCrowe has a reputation for bad temper and a predeliction for brawling. This was parodied in an episode of the cartoon South Park.
He won the Best Actor in the 2002 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards for his portrayal of John Nash in A Beautiful Mind. During the presentation for his award, he planned to read a piece of poetry called Sanctity by Patrick Kavanagh but was cut short to fit in the BBC's tape-delayed broadcast. At the awards after party, he accosted producer Malcolm Gerrie. Crowe later apologised for his actions, but many believe this incident was responsible for depriving Crowe of the Oscar for Best Actor that year. A Beautiful Mind won four of the eight awards for which it was nominated, with the lone and conspicuous exception being Crowe's nomination for Best Actor.
In March 2002, musician Moby alleged that Crowe had shoved him against the wall of a toilet in a Sydney night club and called him "American," but it was later revealed that Crowe was actually in Ecuador when the incident was alleged to have taken place.
The following month, a court heard charges against several men who were trying to sell a security tape featuring Crowe on the night of November 18, 1999 being involved in a melee, and later engaging in an argument with a couple.
In the early morning of June 6, 2005, Crowe was arrested and charged with second degree assault by New York Police, in connection with an incident at the Mercer Hotel, SoHo, New York, in which a broken telephone was thrown at the hotel front desk, striking a hotel employee. He was further charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon i.e. the telephone.
Crowe released a statement saying he was jet-lagged, missing his family in Australia and became frustrated after having repeated difficulties making a phone call to his wife in Australia . The concierge, Nestor "Josh" Estrada, was treated for a facial laceration on his upper right cheek. A Crowe spokesperson has said a phone was thrown at a wall but no person was assaulted. Crowe has publically apologized to Estrada, saying the incident was a "low point in his life."
His attorney is Gerald Lefcourt. In mid-August 2005, the Daily Mail reported that Crowe settled out of court with Estrada, agreeing to pay him $10.8 million in damages; the paper also reported that the NYPD will not pursue criminal charges against Crowe. Crowe's publicist later acknowledged that a deal had been reached, saying that "Both sides expressed satisfaction at the resolution." Australian tabloids claims that the true figure is about $100,000.
On November 18 2005, Crowe pleaded guilty to third-degree assault after throwing a telephone at a concierge at the Mercer Hotel. Crowe had said that the outburst was due to frequently being unable to get a telephone connection sp to contact his wife and child during his stay at the hotel. He was sentenced to conditional release on the basis that he not be arrested in the United States for a year and pay US$160 in court costs.
Family and general interests
On April 7, 2003, his 39th birthday, Crowe married the Australian singer and actress Danielle Spencer. Their son, Charles Spencer Crowe, was born on December 21 that year. Crowe previously dated the American filmstar Meg Ryan, after they met while filming Proof of Life (2000).
Two of Russell Crowe's cousins, Martin and Jeff Crowe are former New Zealand cricket captains. Crowe is a major supporter of the South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league team.
Music Career
Crowe is also a singer and composer. He was the lead singer and guitarist of an Australian pub rock band, 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts, 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. His early stage name was "Rus Le Roq" and he was billed as such while performing with the Australian production of Rocky Horror.
According to a message from Crowe on his band's web site, the group has "dissolved/evolved" and his music would take a new direction. He continued with a collabortion with Alan Doyle of the Canadian band, Great Big Sea, in early 2005. A new single, Raewyn, was released on April 19, 2005. Former members of his previous band have taken part in the new project. An album entitled My Hand, My Heart has been released for download on iTunes and includes a tribute song to the late actor, Richard Harris, who became a close friend when the two were making Gladiator.
According to Russell, there is no 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts without his longtime musical partner, Dean Cochran, who was absent for the recording of My Hand, My Heart. Though Dean was present for a mid-2000s show in Le Thor, France. and took part in the filming of a music video for the song Weight of a Man, the band was billed as Russell Crowe and Friends.
Filmography
Neighbours (TV Show) (1987)
The Crossing (1990)
Prisoners of the Sun (1990)
Hammers Over the Anvil (1991)
Proof (1991)
The Efficiency Expert (1992)
Romper Stomper (1992)
For the Moment (1993)
Love in Limbo (1993)
The Silver Stallion: King of the Wild Brumbies (1993)
The Sum of Us (1994)
The Quick and the Dead (1995)
No Way Back (1995)
Virtuosity (1995)
Rough Magic (1995)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Heaven's Burning (1997)
Breaking Up (1997)
Mystery, Alaska (1999)
The Insider (1999)
Gladiator (2000)
Proof of Life (2000)
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Texas (2002) (documentary) (also director and producer)
60 Odd Hours in Italy (2002) (short subject) (also director)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Cinderella Man (2005)
A Good Year (2006)
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