Inside the Actors Studio
Guests 
Russell Crowe
Season 10, Episode 1007
Original Airdate: January 4, 2004
Russell Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand. The son of movie set caterers, Crowe grew up around actors and fell in love with the profession after performing in elementary school theater productions.
When Crowe sits down with James Lipton on “Inside the Actors Studio,” he recalls this foray into acting, as well as his first experience on the professional stage in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Crowe also shares a lesser-known detail about his early years: his first attempt at performance was in music, not acting. He spun records at local night-clubs under the name 'Rus Le Roc,' and started several bands in which he played guitar and sang vocals.
Although Crowe's music career never really left the ground, his acting career took off after his first film, “Romper Stomper.” Crowe describes his experience filming this movie as well as his second, “The Sum of Us,” in which he plays a gay working-class man. He delights the audience with a story about his response when a co-star in the film asked him if they should rehearse the kissing scene, as neither one of them had ever kissed another man before.
Crowe's early work caught the eyes of audiences world-wide, and he went on to star in such acclaimed films as “L.A. Confidential,” “Mystery, Alaska,” “The Insider,” “Gladiator,” and “A Beautiful Mind.” Crowe discusses his experiences filming these movies candidly, as he tells the audience about the battle scars he incurred while filming stunt scenes for “Gladiator,” how he made the risky decision to play 'John Nash' in “A Beautiful Mind,” why he never went to acting school, and which character portrayal he believes ruined his metabolism for life.
