Russell Crowe

, 2001 (printed 2004)

Russell Crowe (b. 1964), actor and musician, was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He moved at the age of 4 to Australia, where his parents worked as caterers on TV and movie sets. His big-screen debut came in The Crossing (1990), in which he co-starred with future wife Danielle Spencer. He won AFI awards for his acting in Proof (1991) and Romper Stomper (1992), and in 1994 played Jack Thompson's gay son in The Sum of Us (1994). He moved to Hollywood to make The Quick and the Dead (1995) with Sharon Stone, but it was as the brooding Bud White in L.A. Confidential (1997) that he drew his first rave reviews. The Insider (1999), Gladiator (2000), and A Beautiful Mind (2001) earned him 3 consecutive best actor Oscar nominations: he won for Gladiator (taking out the Golden Globe for A Beautiful Mind). Most recently, he has appeared in scintillating form in the Peter Weir film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.