[Photo: Russell Ira Crowe ] Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an Academy Award-, BAFTA-, Golden Globe-, and Screen Actors Guild Award -winning New Zealand-Australian actor. His acting career began in the early 1990s with roles in Australian TV series such as Police Rescue and films such as Romper Stomper. In the late 1990s, he began appearing in US films such as the 1997 movie L.A. Confidential. In the 2000s, he was nominated for three Oscars, and in 2001, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring role in the film Gladiator. Crowe is also co-owner of National Rugby League team the South Sydney Rabbitohs.