Russell Crowe

A hunky New Zealand native who initially dreamed of rock and roll stardom, Crowe played in a band as an adolescent and toured in the musicals Grease, The Rocky Horror Show and Blood Brothers before switching to TV and film projects in Australia. After a succession of diverse, critically acclaimed turns (a Nazi skinhead in Romper Stomper, a gay man looking for a mate in The Sum of Us), Crowe was imported to Hollywood in the mid-'90s, but his first few films flopped (Virtuosity, The Quick and the Dead). In 1996 he landed the plum part of a brooding detective in the stylist noir L.A. Confidential, which allowed him to exude both sex appeal and a scary intensity. His compelling portrayal of a tobacco-industry whistle-blower in The Insider in 1999 earned him his first Oscar nomination. He won the prize for Gladiator in a role that showed off his acting and athleticism (and meaty thighs) and earned another Academy Award nod as a schizophrenic Nobel Prize-winning mathematician in 2001's A Beautiful Mind. Although Crowe purported to dislike being a celebrity, he was now on the A-list and also in the tabloids due to his red-hot if brief affair with Meg Ryan, his costar in the lackluster Proof of Life. He was also gaining a reputation for being petulant, moody and, at times, violent. The actor slowed down the pace a bit in the early '00s, appearing in one high-profile movie every few years (Master and Commander, Cinderella Man). He also wed his long-term on-again, off-again love Danielle Spencer, had a son, and spent time recording and touring with his band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts.