Russell Crowe - the Man and his Movies

Russell Ira Crowe was born on April 7th, 1964, in Strathmore Park, a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand (he has Maori blood from his mother's side of the family and claims Norwegian ancestry too). If the surname rings a bell, that's because he's the cousin of famous cricketing brothers Martin and Jeff Crowe. The cinema was in Russell's blood. His mother's father, Stan Wemyss, was an award-winning cinematographer during World War 2, while Russell's parents - mother Jocelyn and father Alex - were set caterers (they also ran the occasional inn, one earning such a reputation for boisterousness it became known as The Flying Jug).

Due to his parents' profession and world-view, Russell's life has been fairly nomadic. His family moved to Australia when he was just four, and he didn't live in a house proper till he was fourteen. Precociously confident and fascinated by the film-sets his parents frequented, he began acting at the tender age of six. He played an orphan in the Australian TV series Spyforce, and had a part in The Young Doctors, the hit soap-opera which ran from 1976 to 1981 (he'd later also appear in Neighbours). At age fourteen, he returned with his family to New Zealand (he says his father is "very much a New Zealander") to finish High School, and it was here that he met Dean Cochran, with whom he formed the band Roman Antix - an oddly prophetic moniker, given that Crowe would later achieve worldwide recognition in a film called Gladiator. In his spare time, he still plays rock'n'roll with Cochran, in their band 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts. For their first gig (in Austin, Texas) after Gladiator took off, tickets were changing hands at $500 a pop. They'd also produce a best-selling documentary of their 2000 tour, heavily covering their gigs in London and Austin, and called Texas.

Crowe's first real assault on the Big Time was, in fact, musical. At the age of 16, he was recast as Russ Le Roc, and released a couple of novelty singles, one having the similarly prophetic title I Want To Be Like Marlon Brando. When this burst of fame died out, he took on all manner of jobs to pay his way. He was Entertainments Manager on a resort island off Auckland, as well as a waiter, a bartender, a fruit picker, a DJ, a horse wrangler, an insurance salesman and a bingo-number caller - in anyone's books an all-round education. But he had both the acting and the musical bugs, and worked hard to forge a career on the stage. He performed in Grease, Blood Brothers, Simpson J. 202, and an Official Tribute to the Blues Brothers, and between 1986 and 1988, acted in the Rocky Horror Show no fewer than 415 times.

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