Russell Crowe
1964-

One time rumored Superman candidate Russell Crowe was born April 7, 1964 in New Zealand to Jocelyn and Alex Crowe. Little Russell called Sydney, Australia, home after the age of 4. His parents were roving types who made their living as innkeepers and set caterers. So mobile was the family unit, in fact, that Crowe was 14 years old by the time he came to live in his first house. From the age of 6 on, Russell started accompanying his parents to their catering jobs on film and television sets, which eventually led to his casting in a number of child extra roles, the first of which was playing an orphan on the Australian TV series Spyforce.

Despite this auspicious and early start in show business, Crowe first learned what performance was all about by playing in rock bands. Styling himself as Russ Le Roc at the age of 16, he took to the stage to earn extra money in between his other paying-the-bills jobs as a waiter, bartender, and bingo-number caller. The closest Crowe came to acting during this era of musical ferment was a rather prophetic single he recorded in 1980 called "I Want To Be Like Marlon Brando." He formed a band called Roman Antix with a fellow native New Zealander; the group eventually evolved into 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, a rock-and-roll outfit for which Crowe still sings, plays guitar, and writes lyrics. After Mr. Le Roc finally got around to replacing a tooth that had been knocked out during a football match when he was 10, his acting career got liftoff with roles in the 1990 features Blood Oath and Prisoners of the Sun. He was 25 years old.

Crowe credits Sharon Stone's benefaction as the reason why his acting career finally turned on a dime, both in Australia and in the States. Stone had been galvanized by his riveting, daring performance in Romper Stomper and knew that he could hold his ground against her as a leading man:

" . . . I thought Russell was not only charismatic, attractive, and talented but also fearless. And I find fearlessness very attractive. I was convinced I wouldn't scare him."

And she was right: Crowe ended up investing the lifeless Western with its only truly mesmerizing moments, despite the fact that his part was eventually scaled down to a mere thumbnail of its original size. Crowe now jokes that the reception of the film might have been markedly better in the States had director Sam Raimi left in a particular sex scene he did with Stone — apparently, the Australian version of the film, which contains the sizzling footage, has done a very brisk video-rental trade. Not that his career hasn't delivered up a fair share of spicy love matchups with some of Hollywood's most entrancing leading ladies: for the New Age romance Rough Magic, Crowe and Bridget Fonda filmed a levitating sex scene; L.A. Confidential offered plenty of carnal knowledge about Kim Basinger; and the indie venture Breaking Up matched him in rocky romance with the lyrically lovely Salma Hayek.

In 1999, Crowe co-starred with Burt Reynolds in David E. Kelley's Mystery Alaska, a comedy about a sheriff of a small Alaskan town who leads a local hockey team against the NHL's New York Rangers. Later in the year, he co-starred opposite Al Pacino in Michael Mann's The Insider, a film about a 60 Minutes producer (Pacino) who coaxes the scoop out of a reluctant tobacco-industry whistle-blower (a nearly unrecognizable Crowe). The portrayal garnered Crowe an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Crowe next ushered in the summer 2000 moviegoing season with Ridley Scott's blockbuster epic Gladiator, in which he portrayed a wronged Roman general.

Though Crowe would have no problem gaining entrée into Hollywood high society — after all, he counts among his closest friends Tinseltown royals, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, whom Crowe knows from his stage-acting days in Australia — he prefers to retreat to his farm in the Australian bush between projects, and makes no bones about shunning life in Lotus Land:

"I'd move to Los Angeles if Australia and New Zealand were swallowed up by a huge tidal wave, if there was a bubonic plague in Europe, and if the continent of Africa disappeared from some Martian attack."

The down-to-earth, straight-shooting actor prefers the honest interactions he has back home to those he has with Hollywood glitterati:

"In Australia, they treat you like a piece of furniture. Your mates are your mates and the folks who hate your dark and bloody guts, they don't change their minds. That's why I love it, I s'pose."