Born on April 7th, 1964, in Wellington, New Zealand his family moved to Sydney, Australia, when Russell was four years old. His parents worked as caterers. At age six, Crowe was cast as an orphan in the TV series 'Spyforce'. His family returned to New Zealand in 1978, and Crowe began performing as a rock singer, billing himself as Rus le Roc, and then formed Roman Antix, which later evolved into 30 Odd Foot of Grunts. After returnung to Australia in the early 1980s he won a role in a production of the musical 'Grease' in 1983. From 1986 to 1988, Crowe starred in a touring production of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'. A role in the stage musical 'Blood Brothers' in 1989 led to his first feature film, 'Blood Oath' (1990, released in the USA as 'Prisoners of the Sun'). In 'Proof' (1992) he played a gentle, gullible dishwasher, and earned an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Supporting Actor. He won the Best Actor statue the next year, for his turn as a brutal Nazi skinhead in the controversial film 'Romper Stomper'. Crowe made his American film debut in 1995, appearing with Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, and Leonardo DiCaprio in the offbeat Western 'The Quick and the Dead'. In 2000, Crowe vaulted to A-list Hollywood stardom with his charismatic performance as a Roman general-turned-vengeful slave in 'Gladiator'. The film garnered 12 Academy Award nominations, including a second straight Best Actor nod for Crowe. He took home the Oscar. In 2001, Crowe starred in 'A Beautiful Mind', an acclaimed biopic about the Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash. For the third year in a row, Crowe's bravura performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. When not on location, Crowe lives on a 600-acre cattle farm in New South Wales. from www.allperson.com
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