Russell Crowe facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Russell Crowe
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Crowe in 2017
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| Born |
Russell Ira Crowe
7 April 1964 Wellington, New Zealand
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| Years active | 1972–present |
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Works
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Full list |
| Spouse(s) |
Danielle Spencer
(m. 2003; div. 2018) |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives |
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| Awards | Full list |
Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is a famous actor and film director. He has won many awards for his acting, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a British Academy Film Award. His movies have earned over $5.3 billion worldwide.
Crowe was born in New Zealand. He spent ten years of his childhood in Australia and moved there permanently when he was 21. He started acting in Australia and became well-known for his role in Romper Stomper (1992). He became famous around the world in the late 1990s with lead roles in L.A. Confidential (1997) and The Insider (1999).
Crowe became a huge star when he played the main character in Gladiator (2000). This role won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. He also received praise for playing the real-life mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. in A Beautiful Mind (2001).
He has starred in many successful films, such as American Gangster (2007), The Next Three Days (2010), Les Misérables (2012), Man of Steel (2013), Noah (2014), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), and The Pope's Exorcist (2023). In 2014, he directed his first movie, The Water Diviner, where he also acted. Besides acting, Crowe has been a co-owner of the National Rugby League (NRL) team South Sydney Rabbitohs since 2006.
Contents
Early Life and Beginnings
Crowe was born in Strathmore Park, a part of Wellington, New Zealand, on 7 April 1964. His parents, Jocelyn Yvonne and John Alexander Crowe, worked as caterers for film sets. His mother's father, Stan Wemyss, was a cinematographer who filmed during World War II. Crowe has Māori heritage through his mother's family. His other family roots include Welsh, Scottish, English, German, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, and Swedish. He is also a cousin of famous New Zealand cricket players Martin and Jeff Crowe.
When he was four, Crowe moved to Sydney, Australia, with his family. His parents continued their film catering careers there. Crowe had a small role in the Australian TV series Spyforce at age five or six. He also appeared briefly in The Young Doctors. He went to school in Australia before moving back to New Zealand in 1978. He left school at 16 to focus on becoming an actor.
Starting a Career in New Zealand
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In the early 1980s, Crowe began his performing career as a musician. He used the stage name "Russ Le Roq." He released a few songs in New Zealand, but they did not become hits. He also managed a music venue in Auckland in 1984.
Acting in Australia
In 1985, Crowe returned to Australia when he was 21. He wanted to join the National Institute of Dramatic Art, but was advised that he already had the skills. From 1986 to 1988, he got his first professional acting job in a New Zealand production of The Rocky Horror Show. He also performed in an Australian tour of the show. In 1987, he spent six months performing music on the street when he couldn't find other work. He also acted in stage musicals like Blood Brothers and Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom.
After appearing in TV shows like Neighbours, Crowe got his first film role in The Crossing (1990). He also starred in Blood Oath (1990). In 1992, he starred in Romper Stomper, an Australian film. For this role, he won an Australian Film Institute (AFI) award for Best Actor. He had previously won a Best Supporting Actor award for Proof in 1991.
Becoming Famous in North America
1993–1999: Early Success
After his success in Australia, Crowe started working on American films. In 1995, he appeared in four Hollywood movies. These included the science fiction film Virtuosity with Denzel Washington, the western The Quick and the Dead with Sharon Stone, and the comedy Rough Magic.
He had a big breakthrough in 1997 with the crime film L.A. Confidential. He played a police officer in this movie, which was a big hit. He also starred in Breaking Up with Salma Hayek. In 1999, he played Jeffrey Wigand in The Insider. This film received great reviews and earned Crowe his first nomination for an Academy Award. He was considered for the role of Wolverine in the first X-Men film, but he suggested Hugh Jackman for the part instead.
2000–2005: Worldwide Stardom
In 2000, Crowe starred in Gladiator, a movie that changed his career. This epic historical film was a huge success and made Crowe a worldwide star. He won the Best Actor award at the 73rd Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Golden Globe Awards for his role. In 2001, he received the Centenary Medal for his contributions to Australian society and film. Crowe has said that Gladiator changed his life forever. Many of his lines from the film are still remembered today. Gladiator is considered one of the greatest films ever made.
The next year, he played the main role in another important film, A Beautiful Mind (2001). He gave an amazing performance as Nobel prize winner and mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr., who also had schizophrenia. Crowe won many more awards for this role. He received three Oscar nominations in a row for The Insider, Gladiator, and A Beautiful Mind. All three films were also nominated for Best Picture, and Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind both won.
Between 1997 and 2003, Crowe also starred in two other films nominated for Best Picture: L.A. Confidential and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. In Master and Commander (2003), Crowe played Jack Aubrey, a character from historical novels. The movie received ten Oscar nominations. In 2005, he worked again with A Beautiful Mind director Ron Howard on the boxing drama Cinderella Man (2005). This film tells the story of boxer James J. Braddock during the Great Depression. It received many awards, and Crowe won Australia's highest film award for the third time.
2006–2014: Continued Career
In 2006, Crowe worked again with Gladiator director Ridley Scott on A Good Year. They also worked together on American Gangster (2007) with Denzel Washington. In 2007, he appeared with Christian Bale in the Western film 3:10 to Yuma. He then starred in the action thriller Body of Lies (2008) with Leonardo DiCaprio. For this role, he gained a lot of weight.
He starred in the 2009 political thriller State of Play. Crowe also appeared in Robin Hood (2010), directed by Ridley Scott. During the filming of Robin Hood, Crowe broke both of his legs but kept working. He also starred in the 2010 film The Next Three Days.
After a break from acting, Crowe played Jackknife in The Man with the Iron Fists (2012). He took on the role of Javert in the musical film Les Misérables (2012). He also played Superman's biological father, Jor-El, in Man of Steel (2013). In 2014, he played a gangster in Winter's Tale and the main role in Darren Aronofsky's religious drama Noah, which was a financial success.
In June 2013, Crowe decided to direct his first film, The Water Diviner. He also starred in this historical drama, which is set in 1919.
2015–Present: New Roles
Crowe has said he is happy with his career and now chooses roles that he finds interesting.
In recent years, he has appeared in The Nice Guys (2016), The Mummy (2017), and the action thriller Unhinged (2020). He played the mythical Greek god Zeus in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Thor: Love and Thunder (2022). He also portrayed the famous exorcist Fr. Gabriele Amorth in The Pope's Exorcist (2023) and Nikolai Kravinoff in Kraven The Hunter (2024).
Music Career
In the 1980s, Crowe recorded a song called "I Just Wanna Be Like Marlon Brando" under the name "Russ le Roq."
In the 1980s, Crowe and his friend Billy Dean Cochran formed a band called Roman Antix. This band later became the Australian rock band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts (TOFOG). Crowe was the lead singer and played guitar for the band, which started in 1992. The band released several albums, including Gaslight (1998), Bastard Life or Clarity (2001), and Other Ways of Speaking (2003). TOFOG performed shows in London, Los Angeles, and other U.S. cities.
In 2005, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts changed, and Crowe started a new band called the Ordinary Fear of God. This band included some members from TOFOG. They released a new song, "Raewyn," and an album called My Hand, My Heart. The album includes a song honoring actor Richard Harris, who became Crowe's friend during the making of Gladiator.
Crowe and the Ordinary Fear of God toured Australia and the U.S. in 2005 and 2006. In 2010, their version of the song "Winter Green" was included on a compilation album celebrating Australian singer-songwriter John Williamson.
On 2 August 2011, Crowe and Alan Doyle released The Crowe/Doyle Songbook Vol III, which featured nine original songs. Crowe's former wife, Danielle Spencer, sang on many of the tracks. The album was released digitally and charted in Canada.
In 2017, Crowe and Doyle formed a new group called Indoor Garden Party. They appeared on The One Show to promote their album, The Musical. On 27 June 2023, Indoor Garden Party performed a sold-out concert in Bologna, Italy. All the money from the concert was donated to help victims of floods in the Emilia-Romagna region.
Helping Others
During the filming of Cinderella Man, Crowe made a donation to a Jewish elementary school whose library was damaged by fire. He called the school to show his support. The amount of his donation was not shared.
On another occasion, Crowe donated A$200,000 to a small school near his home in rural Australia. This money helped build a swimming pool at the school. Crowe was inspired to help after a student drowned at a nearby beach in 2001. He believed the pool would help students learn to swim better and be safer in the water. At the opening, he jumped into the pool fully clothed. The school principal said that people don't know about many of the good things Crowe does.
In August 2020, Crowe donated US$5,000 to a fundraiser to help rebuild Le Chef, a restaurant destroyed in the 2020 Beirut explosion. Crowe tweeted that he made the donation on behalf of Anthony Bourdain, a chef who had visited the restaurant.
In June 2023, Crowe agreed that all money from his band's concert in Bologna would go to the victims of the Emilia-Romagna floods.
Sports Interests
Rugby League
Crowe has been a co-owner of the National Rugby League (NRL) team South Sydney Rabbitohs since 2006. He has supported the team since he was a child. After becoming famous, he continued to attend games and help the club when it had financial problems. In 1999, Crowe paid A$42,000 for a brass bell used in the first rugby league match in Australia in 1908. This money helped the Rabbitohs in their legal fight to rejoin the league. In 2005, he arranged for his film Cinderella Man to sponsor the team, making them the first Australian club sponsored by a movie.
On 19 March 2006, the South Sydney club members voted to allow Crowe and businessman Peter Holmes à Court to buy 75% of the team. This cost them A$3 million. A TV series called South Side Story was made about this takeover.
Crowe helped arrange a rugby league game in Jacksonville, Florida, between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Leeds Rhinos in 2008. In 2009, Crowe convinced young English player Sam Burgess to sign with the Rabbitohs. He invited Burgess and his mother to the set of his film Robin Hood. Crowe also helped persuade player Greg Inglis to join the Rabbitohs in 2011.
In 2011, Crowe helped arrange for the 2011 State of Origin series to be broadcast live in the United States for the first time. In 2014, Crowe was present when the Rabbitohs won the NRL premiership for the first time in 43 years.
Other Sports
Crowe's cousins, Martin Crowe and Jeff Crowe, were captains of the New Zealand national cricket team.
Crowe enjoys watching and playing cricket. He has even provided commentary for cricket matches. He is also a fan of the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team.
He is friends with Lloyd Carr, the former coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines American football team. Carr used Crowe's movie Cinderella Man to inspire his team. Crowe visited the team in 2007 to show his support. Crowe is also a fan of the National Football League. He has appeared in the commentary booth for NFL games. He is also a fan of Leeds United and narrated their documentary Take Us Home: Leeds United.
Personal Life
In 1989, Crowe met Australian singer Danielle Spencer while working on the film The Crossing. They had an on-again, off-again relationship. In 2000, he was in a relationship with American actress Meg Ryan. In 2001, Crowe and Spencer got back together and married in April 2003. The wedding took place at Crowe's farm in Nana Glen, New South Wales, on his 39th birthday. They have two sons: Charles Spencer Crowe (born 2003) and Tennyson Spencer Crowe (born 2006). They separated in October 2012 and divorced in April 2018.
Crowe has lived in Nana Glen for a long time and is well-known in the community. He often attends local rugby games. During the Australian bushfires in 2019 and 2020, he raised over A$400,000 for the NSW RFS (fire service) by selling his South Sydney Rabbitohs hat in an online auction.
In March 2005, Crowe shared that FBI agents had told him that a terrorist group wanted to kidnap him before he attended the 73rd Academy Awards.
In early 2009, Crowe appeared on a series of Australian special-edition postage stamps called "Legends of the Screen," featuring Australian actors.
In June 2010, Crowe, who started smoking at age 10, announced he had quit for his sons.
Ambassador of Rome
On 20 December 2022, the mayor of Rome appointed Crowe as an ambassador for Rome around the world. Crowe said it would be important for Italy to host the next FIFA World Cup.
In July 2023, while visiting the ancient site of Ostia Antica in Italy, Crowe joked with fans of Gladiator about a possible sequel. He pretended to have a phone call with a character from the movie, saying his character Maximus was "dead" and that's why he couldn't be in a sequel.
Community Involvement
Crowe has supported the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He endorsed former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard in June 2013. He has also spoken out about helping people in need, describing some situations as "a nation's shame." In November 2017, Crowe offered to help resettle refugees.
Filmography and Awards
Some of Crowe's most famous and highest-earning films include L.A. Confidential (1997), The Insider (1999), Gladiator (2000), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), 3:10 to Yuma (2007), State of Play (2009), Robin Hood (2010), Les Misérables (2012), Man of Steel (2013), Noah (2014), The Nice Guys (2016), The Mummy (2017), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), and Land of Bad (2024).
Crowe won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Gladiator. He was also nominated two more times for Best Actor for The Insider and A Beautiful Mind. This makes him one of only a few actors to receive three Oscar nominations in a row. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for A Beautiful Mind and Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film for The Loudest Voice (2019). He has been nominated four more times for Golden Globes.
See also
In Spanish: Russell Crowe para niños
- List of NRL club owners
