Russell Crowe

Overview

Born
April 7, 1964 · Wellington, New Zealand
Birth name
Russell Ira Crowe
Nicknames
- Rusty
- Russ
Height
5′ 11½″ (1.82 m)

Biography

Family

Spouse
Children
Parents
Relatives

Trademarks

Gravelly smoke-burnished voice
Frequently plays exceptionally talented individuals
Often works with directors Ron Howard and Ridley Scott.
Often plays characters based on real individuals
Frequently plays fathers or family men who have usually suffered a loss

Trivia

Turned down the role of Aragorn in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy since filming on The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) would coincide with Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind (2001). However, Crowe really loved the idea of filming a movie in his home country, New Zealand, for an extended amount of time.
He turned down the role of Logan/Wolverine in X-Men (2000) because he did not want to play another similar role to the Maximus from Gladiator (2000), which he just completed. Crowe felt the characters were too similar by having the same animal totem - the wolf, and thought the movie was a cartoon, which it is not his cup of tea.
When his wife was pregnant with his first child Charles, he gave up drinking alcohol with her.
The role of James J. Braddock (Cinderella Man (2005)) is his personal favorite.
After filming Gladiator (2000), he and some friends took a 4,000 mile motorcycle trip around Australia.

Quotes

One of the most painful things of the L.A. Confidential (1997) character I played was that the author, James Ellroy, kept telling me that Bud White wasn't a drinker. I said, "Come on, this is 1953. He's a blue-collar bloke, a cop. You're telling me he doesn't sit around with the boys after his shift and have a beer?". And Ellroy says, "Absolutely not." So for five months and seven days, I didn't have a drink. It's probably the most painful period of my life.
[on winning the Best Actor Oscar] If you grow up in the suburbs of anywhere, a dream like this seems kind of vaguely ludicrous and completely unattainable. But this moment is directly connected to those imaginings. And for anybody who's on the downside of advantage, and relying purely on courage, it's possible.
It's not really what I'd call a movie. I was stunned that Miramax wanted to buy it. I mean it's really rude. It showed me in a really bad light. It's also shoddily made. It's cobbled together. [expressing surprise that a low-budget documentary of his band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, has been picked up for worldwide distribution]
[on meeting Robert De Niro] I felt this tap on my shoulder and I turned around and, you know that De Niro fellow? Well, he didn't say a word. He didn't say "Hello", "Good evening" or anything or "Hi, I'm Robert". He just looked at me and he nodded his head and he smiled. And he walked off.
You don't have to like an actor to do a scene with him. You don't have to like a director. But it's just better if you do. And I think, you know, you've got to begin that with respect.