Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Croweis an actor, film producer and musician. Although a New Zealand citizen, he has lived most of his life in Australia and identifies himself as an Australian. He came to international attention for his role as the Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which Crowe won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor, an Empire Award for Best Actor...
NationalityAustralian
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth7 April 1964
CityWellingotn, New Zealand
CountryAustralia
These are questions that every wife has the right to have answered every night, and that's my duty.
F--- me, I'm sorry. I just wanted to get the f------ phones to work.
Every time I read the script I would get goose bumps, ... It was the idea that this life, this change of fortune, had actually happened. It was real.
Every time I apply for a visa, it's like you need to take a suitcase to the embassy,
You give me a script, and I'll be ready in the morning. I've been doing it all my life. My first job was at six. I fully believe in the fact that I carry enough information, life knowledge and skill to turn my hand to whatever it is. However, it's a privilege to do the research.
I suppose 'Gladiator' could be a Western - if you were writing your review in Athens, that is! To be honest, we didn't really think that way at the time. But there is common ground. And they both have horses - I liked that, obviously.
I lost my front tooth in rugby league when a fat guy from Bellevue Hill kicked me in the face as I got up from a tackle to mark him. I made this decision not to cap the tooth because I thought it was false. But I didn't make any movies as a teenager, and I had a very hard time with girls and stuff.
I have a passion for music, and I enjoy the process of expressing myself within the parameters of a pop song, and I don't do it to seek anybody's approval, necessarily. Obviously, you go on stage, and you enjoy it when people respond to a particular song, but the overall concept of playing music I do for myself.
I don't really take vacations because when I'm working, it's usually in a far-flung, exotic place somewhere. But I have a farm in Australia I like to go back to when I'm at home and not working.
For filmmakers who've made multiple movies, they have experience, but they only have experience of themselves as a filmmaker. Whereas I'm bouncing around from different skill sets: the organizational ability of Ridley Scott to the precision of a Ron Howard to the artistic sensibilities of a Peter Weir... to the scope of a Tom Hooper.
Directing is like looking at the stars on a cloudless night. You get away from all light sources, and you look up, and you see 50 points of light. And a minute later 100 and another minute later 1,000 and then 10,000. And then this swirling gigantic carpet above you, and somehow it all seems to connect.
At 49, I find it a little bit difficult to run these days. I've got grade four tears in both Achilles, shin splints, I got no cartilage the toes in my right foot, I've got bone marrow edemas under both knees, I've got one degenerating hip - that's the problem you get.
People say, 'Surely there's the right reasons for going to war?' And my perspective is, 'Surely there's a better way of asking that question?'
Music's always been a huge part of my life, and my first record came out in 1981.