Russell Ira Crowe (born April 7, 1964) is a New Zealand actor and film director. His work on screen has earned him various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a British Academy Film Award. Crowe was born in New Zealand, spending ten years of his childhood in Australia and residing there permanently by age 21. He began acting in Australia and had his break-out role in Romper Stomper (1992). He gained international recognition in the late 1990s for his starring roles in L.A. Confidential (1997) and The Insider (1999). Crowe gained wider stardom for playing the title role of Gladiator (2000), which earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Further acclaim came for portraying real-life mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. in A Beautiful Mind (2001). Crowe then starred in several films in the 2000s, including Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Cinderella Man (2005), 3:10 to Yuma (2007), American Gangster (2007), State of Play (2009), and Robin Hood (2010). Crowe has since appeared in the films Les Misérables (2012), Man of Steel (2013), Noah (2014), and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022). In 2014, he made his directorial debut with the drama The Water Diviner, in which he also starred. Aside from acting, Crowe has co-own the National Rugby League (NRL) team South Sydney Rabbitohs since 2006.