Russell Crowe

He was involved in a brief romantic affair with the American actress Meg Ryan in 2000.

Russell Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand, to Jocelyn Yvonne and John Alexander Crowe on 7 April 1964. His father was a hotel manager and movie set caterer and his mother was also in the catering business.

At the age of 4, Crowe moved to Australia with his family. He attended Sydney Boys High School and was involved in acting from a very young age. He appeared in TV series like, ‘Spyforce’, ‘The Young Doctors’, etc.

He and his family again moved back to New Zealand when Crowe was 14. He continued his secondary education at the Mount Roskill Grammar School in New Zealand, but he soon dropped out to pursue acting professionally.

In the early 1980s, Crowe aspired to become a musician and made stage performances as ‘Russ Le Roq’. He released many singles like, ‘I Just Want to Be Like Marlon Brando’ and in 1984 performed at ‘The Venue’, Auckland.

At 21, Crowe returned to Australia to study at National Institute of Dramatic Art but later dropped the idea. In 1986, he was hired for the role of ‘Eddie/ Dr Scott’ in the ‘The Rocky Horror Show’.

In 1988, Crowe secured the role of ‘Mickey’ in the Australian production of ‘Blood Brothers’. In the same year, he was also cast as ‘Johnny’ in the stage musical ‘Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom’.

After this, he did Australian television for some time and briefly appeared in series like, ‘Neighbors’, ‘Living with the Law’, etc. and in 1990, he was cast in his first feature film, ‘The Crossing’ by Faith Martin.

Around the same time, he also started shooting for another film titled ‘Blood Oath’ (aka Prisoners of the Sun) and the film released a month earlier than ‘The Crossing’.

Movies that are considered to have escalated Crowe’s career in Hollywood are ‘Gladiator (2000)’ and ‘A Beautiful Mind (2001)’. Both the movies earned him accolades like Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award, back to back.