The son of folk-singer Gil Robbins, actor-writer-director Tim Robbins came of age on the LSD-drenched streets of NYC’s Greenwich Village, caught between 60s psychedelia and the Pope. “My parents were by no stretch of the imagination bohemians or hippies or anything like that. We were Catholics, and I grew up in a very structured, rigid environment. I mean, they were open-minded, yes–but I went to Catholic school.” Robbins longed to play first base for the New York Mets, relishing their surprising 1969 World Championship, but at the age of 12 he followed his older sister on a less conventional path, catching the acting bug with the Theater for the New City, an avant-garde company that performed on city streets. Following his graduation (with honors) from UCLA, he co-founded The Actors’ Gang (serving as artistic director until 1997) and was soon co-writing (with Adam Simon) original pieces for the Gang, culminating in a satire of Christian fundamentalism, “Carnage”, which played Off-Broadway at the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1989.

The lanky Robbins made his TV debut opposite Helen Hunt in the movie “Quarterback Princess” (CBS, 1983) and landed a small role in a Martin Scorsese-directed episode of Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories” entitled “Mirror, Mirror” (NBC, 1986). Following his feature debut in “No Small Affair” (1984), he delivered a memorable turn as the show tune-singing driver in Rob Reiner’s “The Sure Thing” (1985), cultivating a lasting association with that film’s star John Cusack, before showing up on the periphery of the blockbuster “Top Guns” (1986). His first lead, ominously, was in the notorious flop “Howard the Duck” (also 1986), but the lucky actor survived it to work again, playing Jodie Foster’s former boyfriend who protects her from a twisted John Turturro in the unheralded, eccentric, early-60s civil rights drama “Five Corners” (1987), scripted by John Patrick Shanley. He also reteamed with Cusack as a reluctant video director for “Tapeheads” (1988), a picture which marked his first songwriting credit.

The turning point in his career–and life–was also the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. His role as the goofy, garter-wearing ‘Nuke’ LaLoosh, the baseball innocent coached by Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon in Ron Shelton’s “Bull Durham” (also 1988), allowed him to show off his pitching prowess, throwing a fastball clocked at the very respectable major-league speed of 85 miles per hour (”But I had absolutely no control″). Robbins met Sarandon at the audition in Los Angeles, and the pair began a relationship during filming that has endured to date, If the film had one downside, it was in creating a misconception of him as a sort of male bimbo, an image he would eventually dispel after marking time with “Miss Firecracker” and Terry Jones’ comedy “Eric the Viking” (both 1989) and stealing the show from the manic Robin Williams in “Cadillac Man” (1990). He broke through once again as a tormented Vietnam veteran in the spooky “Jacob’s Ladder” (1990) and then played the first of his self-styled “trilogy of assholes”, the racist boss in Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever” (1991).

With his soft, unthreatening looks and easy manner, Robbins can make a killer seem sympathetic, which he managed to do in Robert Altman’s “The Player” (1992), As insecure studio executive Griffin Mill, a modern-day Faust, he smiled calmly while his colleagues dropped like flies and he climbed over their Armani-clad corpses to the top of the back-lot heap. His deceptively wicked performance earned best actor awards form both Cannes and the Golden Globes. Starring in his feature directorial/screenwriting debut, the “mockumentary” “Bob Roberts” (1992), he portrayed a right-wing, folk-singing senatorial candidate, spouting sound-bite local yokelisms and creating a frighteningly real portrait of a perfectly respectable, profoundly crooked politician (”That was probably the work I’m most proud of”). Reteaming with Altman for “Short Cuts” (1993), a resetting of Raymond Carver’s collection of short stories, Robbins provided much of the humor with his somewhat caricatured portrayal of an egocentric Los Angeles cop. However, his third film with Altman, the fashion industry comedy “Ready to Wear (Pret-a-Porter)” (1994), earned the director some of the most scathing reviews of his career.

In 1994, Robbins let his gawky charm work overtime as an idealistic bumpkin who unwittingly becomes a corporate stooge in the Coen brothers’ stab at mainstream accessibility, “The Hudsucker Proxy”, and also tried his hand at a romantic lead (to mixed reviews) opposite Meg Ryan in “I.Q.”, but in “The Shawshank Redemption” he gave a low key and exquisitely modulated performance that was easily his best of the year. His tour de force portrayal of the mild-mannered, unjustly imprisoned banker, coupled with that of Morgan Freeman playing the seasoned lifer who befriends him, significantly elevated the well-crafted but overly-long and somewhat predictable jailhouse drama adapted from a novella by Stephen King.

Chaos, the production company Robbins formed in 1993 bore its first fruit with the death penalty drama “Dead Man Walking” (1995). For this true story, the sophomore director used the same director of photography (Roger Deakins) who had so effectively captured prison life for “The Shawshank Redemption”. Sarandon played a nun acting as spiritual counselor to a death row murderer (Sean Penn) and took home the Best Actress Oscar. Though the film was ostensibly a plea against the death penalty, Robbins’ treatment of the subject matter was so even-handed that many capital punishment advocates believed the director was in their camp. For his efforts, he garnered a well-deserved Best Director Academy Award nomination and proved that his relationship with Sarandon could easily survive “six horrible days” incurred during filming.

Just as people were thinking he was too serious, Robbins crossed them up with his next acting project, starring opposite Martin Lawrence in the buddy-pic “Nothing to Lose” (1997). As a hotshot advertising executive gone ’round the bend, he turned the tables on Lawrence’s carjacker by taking him hostage. Unfortunately, audiences found “Nothing to Lose” nothing to laugh at, and the Steve Oedekerk film fizzled at the box office. After an 18-month hiatus to concentrate on fatherhood, Robbins was back on the screen in 1999, contributing a cameo as the President in “Austin Powers II: The Spy Who Shagged Me” and once again exploring his dark side in “Arlington Road”, a thriller echoing the Oklahoma City bombing and raising hard questions about domestic terrorism.

Robbins came by his political conscience honestly enough, inheriting it from his peace and civil-rights activist father. He remembered his sister getting arrested for protesting the Vietnam War and his parents telling him, “It took courage for your sister to do this.” In keeping with his sense of social responsibility, his third time in the director’s chair, “Cradle Will Rock” (1999), resulted in his most ambitious film to date, a deeply felt homage to a time when passionate commitment, not dreams of profit or celebrity, drove artistic activity. Taking the Federal Theater’s polemical 1936 musical drama “The Cradle Will Rock” as a starting point, Robbins evoked the dynamic cultural landscape during a tumultuous and exciting period. Though it may have erred in its tendency toward caricature when portraying certain famous individuals, “Cradle Will Rock” was that rare Hollywood-backed venture, a $32 million picture about committed people and a testament to Robbins’ will to make movies that ran counter to the mainstream. After the triumph-artistically if not commercially-of “Cradle,” Robbins eased into a succession of character roles in mid-level movies, playing an astronaut in Brian de Palma’s “Mission to Mars” (2000), a Bill Gates-esque software manufacturer in the thriller “Antitrust″ (2001) and a scientist who discovers a feral man in the off-kilter comedy “Human Nature” (2002). He also reassumed the reigns at the Actors’ Gang, returning as artistic director in 2001 and spearheading a renewed, ambitious production schedule that frequently employed his many talents: he directed a new production of “Mephisto,” starred with Helen Hunt in the Los Angeles production of the 9/11-themed play “The Guys” and saw a revival of “Alagazam,” a play he co-wrote with Adam Simon. When he returned to acting on the big screen in a mainstream project-Jonathan Demme’s “Charade” remake “The Truth About Charlie” (2002)-it was also as a supporting player, stepping into the calculating role of Mr. Bartholomew, in which he freely and gleefully borrowed from Walter Matthau’s original characterization, defying Demme’s edict not to reference the original film.

Although boyishly-handsome dark-haired player Tobey Maguire got his big break with the Fox sitcom “Great Scott!” (1994), the critically acclaimed series’ short run failed to attract a sizable audience, and Maguire would wait until his 1997 starring turn in Ang Lee’s “The Ice Storm″ for his career to really take off. A product of a turbulent background, Maguire moved house frequently as a child, living with various familial permutations of his parents, grandparents and aunts. This unsettled childhood may have contributed to the young actor’s drive and unique presence, evincing at once mature clarity and childlike vulnerability in his performances. After his mother offered him $100 to take drama instead of home economics as a school elective, Maguire, encouraged by a neighbor who was an entertainment manager, studied acting and soon landed TV commercial work. He lensed his first television acting role in 1988, with a small part in the HBO comedy special, “On Location: Rodney Dangerfield ‘Opening Night at Rodney’s Place’” (aired in 1989). Maguire could next be seen as the title star of the 1990 Nickelodeon special “Tales from the Whoop: Hot Rod Brown, Class Clown” and that same year took on a guest role in the NBC series “Parenthood”, marking his first collaboration with fellow acting pal Leonardo DiCaprio. More TV guest work followed, including performances in the series “Roseanne” (ABC), “Jake and the Fatman” (CBS), “Eerie, Indiana″ and “Blossom″ (both NBC).
In 1992, Maguire landed the starring role on the Fox series “Great Scott!” playing Scott Melrod, an adolescent with an active fantasy life played out in interesting episodic asides. While the show was refreshingly original and critically lauded, it failed to grasp an audience, and Maguire’s engaging portrayal went virtually unseen with the series’ cancellation after only six episodes. While he took on other television roles, including his impressive work in the 1994 TV dramas “Spoils of War” (ABC) and “A Child’s Cry for Help” (NBC) and 1996’s fact-based “Seduced By Madness: The Diana Borchardt Story” (also NBC), Maguire would really shine on the big screen.

He made his film debut in “This Boy’s Life”, the 1993 adaptation of Tobias Wolff’s seminal coming-of-age memoir, in the supporting role of Chuck Bolger, a schoolboy friend of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Toby. His next feature outing was in the forgettable killer toy horror vehicle “The Adventures of the Red Baron” (1994), co-starring Mickey Rooney. Neither his small role in “S.F.W.” nor his cameo as a drunken teenager in “Healer” (both 1994) offered much to make audiences take particular notice. More impressive was the actor’s turn in Griffin Dunne’s 1995 Oscar-nominated short “The Duke of Groove”. Maguire deftly played a self-conscious teenage boy attending a pop icon populated party with his mother (Kate Capshaw) during which the two learn about themselves and each other. Also in 1995, he lensed the low-budget “Don’s Plum″, a film later the subject of a lawsuit brought by both Maguire and co-star DiCaprio. The outcome of the lawsuit insured that the film, initially set to be a short and later lengthened and set for 1998 release, seemingly to capitalize on the popularity of the young stars, would not enjoy showings in the USA or Canada.

Maguire hit a rough patch in 1995, which culminated in the loss of a primary role in the cult hit “Empire Records” after a botched audition dissuaded director Allan Moyle, one of his greatest supporters. After a soul-searching break, he returned triumphantly to acting, now more centered and focused on his craft and his goals. Maguire starred in the 1997 independent feature “Joyride”, before being drafted by director Ang Lee to play the conflicted but comparably clear-headed narrator of Lee’s remarkable adaptation of the unsettling 1970s affluent suburb-set drama “The Ice Storm″. Maguire more than held his own in an ensemble that featured excellent performances by the likes of Joan Allen, Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver and Elijah Wood. The role, superbly handled by the young actor with a affecting mixture of knowing cynicism and unspoiled innocence, would prove his mettle, and make him a sought after property. After a small part as a fictional alter ego of Woody Allen’s Harry Block in “Deconstructing Harry” (1997), he landed a starring role in “Pleasantville” (1998), playing a thoughtful modern-day teen obsessed with a 50s sitcom world who is transported there along with his sexually liberated sister (Reese Witherspoon). The subtly moving film was a perfect match for Maguire, who turned in a characteristically understated but powerful performance alongside veterans William H Macy, Joan Allen and Jeff Daniels.

In 1999, the actor reteamed with Ang Lee for the director’s epic Civil War drama “Ride With the Devil”. Maguire starred alongside Skeet Ulrich and Jeffrey Wright as Jake Roedel, a Missouri-bred son of German immigrants who joined up with the Confederate-sympathizing Bushwackers in the unorganized neighbor versus neighbor battles that made up much of the war. Again, his talent for drawing out the vulnerability in a hard character added to the film, and lent a palpable humanity to those historically considered villains. A notable year for the actor, 1999 would also mark the release of “The Cider House Rules”, Lasse Hallstrom’s film of John Irving’s adaptation of his novel about a young orphan raised by an idealistic abortionist. Maguire’s nuanced turn as the sensitive but upstanding Homer Wells was applauded by critics and served as the anchor for the feature. The demand for his talents, despite his stated wishes to only work on one film a year, kept him busy. He next played a college student to Michael Douglas’ blocked writer who joins the older man on journey to self-awareness in “Wonder Boys” (2000), directed by Curtis Hanson. With a full slate of work in production, and a level-headed attitude towards stardom, the talented Maguire emerged as an actor with a particularly promising career, which he solidified by landing the lead role in the Sam Raimi-directed “Spider-Man” (2002), based on the popular Marvel comic.

Better known as Sly, sylvester stallone has taken many punches before becoming associated with two of Hollywood’s legendary characters, Rocky Balboa and Rambo. Not only an A-list actor, there is a lot more to know about sylvester stallone than his acting abilities. sylvester stallone was born July 6, 1946, in New York, NY. Because his parents’ marriage was on the rocks, sylvester stallone lived in foster homes until the age of 5. To add to the separation from his parents, his childhood in Hell’s Kitchen was only tainted with loneliness and ridicule.

Children teased sylvester stallone because of his Looney Tunes associated name, and his crooked eye, drooping lower lip and slurred speech (all caused by a forceps accident that severed a facial nerve during birth) added to the young boy being teased. At the age of five, sylvester stallone returned to live with his parents and younger brother Frank, this time in Maryland. After the sylvester stallone’ divorce, the young Sly moved with his mother and her new husband, a pizza manufacturer, in Philadelphia. While sylvester stallone’s childhood was marked by loneliness and mockery, his adolescence was marked by delinquency. sylvester stallone finally ended up studying at a private school for troubled youths like himself, after having been kicked out of more than 10 schools because of behavioral problems. He was even named “Most Likely to End Up in the Electric Chair” by his classmates in his yearbook. In order to deal with his loneliness, emotions and aggression while growing up, sylvester stallone delved in sports while in high school, and always pretended to be a hero or underdog in his fantasies; a role which eventually made him a star.

With lousy grades and not much direction, sylvester stallone headed for none other than beauty school. While studying at the American College in Switzerland on scholarship, he partook in drama studies at the college. Finally realizing what he was born to do, sylvester stallone decided to pursue an acting career after receiving a standing ovation in his performance in Death of a Salesman. The aspiring actor began pursuing his dream by studying drama at the University of Miami, but headed to New York in 1969, 3-credits short of graduating. The beginning of sylvester stallone’s career can probably be known as the “nude years”; he landed parts in off-Broadway shows, such as the all-nude Score and two soft-porn films, Party at Kitty’s and Studs.

Although he landed a role in Woody Allen’s Bananas in 1971, he was rejected for The Godfather. Not allowing himself to be discouraged rejection after rejection (mostly due to his facial features and voice), Stallone began to write many of his own scripts, which ultimately led to the legendary classic, Rocky. His first screenplay to be produced was the 1974 film The Lords of Flatbush, in which Stallone also had a part. Of course, it did not do for Stallone what his next screenplay would. Inspired by a fight between Muhammed Ali and Chuck Wepner, Rocky was finally produced on a meager budget, with sylvester stallone as star after he insisted that he play the underdog lead. The story that took him three days to write became an instant hit, won the Best Picture Oscar and made sylvester stallone an Oscar nominated writer and actor. Rocky went on to become a 5-part series, and sylvester stallone penned another hit screenplay which became the 1985 film Rambo. Famous for his roles as action heroes Rocky and Rambo, sylvester stallone decided to turn to comedy in the early 90’s. Discovering after the fact that he was not cut out for comedy with disappointing films such as Oscar and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, sylvester stallone was back in full form in hits like Cliffhanger, Demolition Man, The Specialist, Judge Dredd, and Assassins.

Although he is now a $20 million per film actor, sylvester stallone accepted a meager $60,000 to star in Cop Land, with Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, in order to be regarded as a serious actor as opposed to his normally typecast roles. His role in the 1998 animated feature Antz, as the voice of a soldier ant, was a new genre for sylvester stallone, one that he ventured into successfully. sylvester stallone’s next projects include the films Get Carter, also starring Rachael Leigh Cook, Eye See You and Driven, which he also wrote and produced. As for the Italian sylvester stallone’s personal life, he seems to have taken after his parents’ turbulent married life. He was married to his first wife Sasha Czack, the mother of his two sons (Sage Moonblood and Seth a.k.a Seargeoh) for 11 years. He then had a 3-year marriage with actress Brigitte Nielsen, before settling down with model Jennifer Flavin, now the mother of his two daughters, Sophia Rose and Sistine Rose. sylvester stallone can add painter, art collector, polo player, and novelist, to his titles of Oscar-winning actor, acclaimed screenwriter, director, producer, partner in Planet Hollywood, father of four, husband, and legendary action hero.

Filmography
Shade (2003) …. The Dean
Afganistan: Land in Crisis (2002) (V) …. Himself
Avenging Angelo (2002) …. Frankie Delano
Guts & Glory (2002) (V) …. Himself
Shirtless: Hollywood’s Sexiest Men (2002) (TV) (uncredited) (archive footage) …. Himself
Drawing First Blood (2002) (V) …. Himself
We Get to Win This Time (2002) (V) …. Himself
D-Tox (2002) …. Malloy
… aka D-Tox (2002) (Australia)
… aka Im Auge der Angst (2002) (Germany)
My Little Hollywood (2001)
America: A Tribute to Heroes (2001) (TV) …. Himself
Driven (2001) …. Joe Tanto
Celebrity Profile: Janine Turner (2000) (TV) (archive footage) …. Himself
In the Shadow of Hollywood (2000) (uncredited) (archive footage) …. Himself (receives French decoration)
… aka À l’ombre d′Hollywood (2000) (Canada: French title)
BBC and the BAFTA Tribute to Michael Caine, The (2000) (TV) …. Himself
My Vˑ Music Awards (2000) (TV) …. Himself
CyberWorld (2000) (voice) (archive footage) …. Weaver
Get Carter (2000) …. Jack Carter
Brigitte Nielsen: The E! True Hollywood Story (2000) (TV) …. Himself
AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies: In Search of (1998) (TV) …. Himself
Jackie Chan: My Story (1998) (V) …. Himself
Junket Whore (1998) …. Himself
Antz (1998) (voice) …. Weaver
AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies (1998) (TV) …. Himself
“Celebrity Profile” (1997) TV Series …. Himself
Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, An (1997) …. Himself
Cop Land (1997) …. Sheriff Freddy Heflin
Sports on the Silver Screen (1997) (TV) (uncredited) …. Himself
Daylight (1996) …. Kit Latura
Your Studio and You (1995) …. Himself
Assassins (1995) …. Robert Rath (Joseph)
… aka Assassins (1995) (France)
… aka Day of Reckoning (1995)
Judge Dredd (1995) …. Judge Dredd
67th Annual Academy Awards, The (1995) (TV) (uncredited) …. Himself
Century of Cinema, A (1994) …. Himself
Specialist, The (1994) …. Ray Quick
… aka Especialista, El (1994) (Peru)
Demolition Man (1993) …. John Spartan
Cliffhanger (1993) …. Gabe Walker
… aka Cliffhanger - l’ultima sfida (1993) (Italy)
… aka Cliffhanger, traqué au sommet (1993) (France)
“Fame in the Twentieth Century” (1993) TV Series (uncredited) (archive footage) …. Himself
64th Annual Academy Awards, The (1992) (TV) (uncredited) …. Himself
Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) …. Sgt. Joe Bomowski
American Film Institute Salute to Kirk Douglas, The (1991) (TV) …. Himself
Oscar (1991) …. Angelo Provolone
Man Called… Rainbo, A (1990)
Rocky V (1990) …. Rocky Balboa
Flames 88-89 (1989) (V) (uncredited) …. Himself
… aka Calgary Flames Video Yearbook 1988-89, The (1989) (V) (Canada: English title)
Tango & Cash (1989) …. Raymond ‘Ray’ Tango
Lock Up (1989) …. Frank Leone
Rambo III (1988) …. John J. Rambo
Ultimate Stuntman: A Tribute to Dar Robinson, The (1987) (TV) …. Himself
Over the Top (1987) …. Lincoln Hawk
… aka Meet Me Half Way (1987) (USA)
Cobra (1986) …. Lieutenant Marion Cobretti
Rocky IV (1985) …. Rocky Balboa
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) …. John J. Rambo
Terror in the Aisles (1984) (archive footage) …. Detective Deke DaSilva (segment “Nighthawks”)
… aka Time for Terror (1984) (Europe: English title: video title)
Rhinestone (1984) …. Nick Martinelli
Staying Alive (1983) (uncredited) …. Man on Street (cameo)
First Blood (1982) …. John J. Rambo
… aka Rambo: First Blood (1982)
Rocky III (1982) …. Rocky Balboa
Making of ‘First Blood′, The (1982) (TV) …. Himself
Victory (1981/I) …. Robert Hatch
… aka Escape to Victory (1981)
Nighthawks (1981) …. Detective Sergeant Deke DaSilva
… aka Hawks (1981)
Rocky II (1979) …. Rocky Balboa
Paradise Alley (1978) …. Cosmo Carboni
F.I.S.T. (1978) …. Johnny D. Kovak, Chief Organizer/Intl. Pres. F.I.S.T.
Rocky (1976) …. Rocky Balboa
Cannonball (1976)
… aka Carquake (1976) (UK)
Death Race 2000 (1975) …. Machine-Gun Joe Viterbo
Capone (1975) …. Frank Nitti
Farewell, My Lovely (1975) …. Kelly/Jonnie
Lord’s of Flatbush, The (1974) …. Stanley Rosiello
… aka Lords of Flatbush, The (1974) (USA: correct spelling)
Prisoner of Second Avenue, The (1974) …. Youth in Park
Klute (1971) (uncredited) …. Extra/Man dancing in club
Bananas (1971) (uncredited) …. Subway Thug #1
No Place to Hide (1970) …. Jerry Savage
Party at Kitty and Stud’s, The (1970) …. Stud
… aka Italian Stallion (1976) (reissue title)
Lovers and Other Strangers (1970) (uncredited)

Russell Ira Crowe (born April 7, 1964) is a 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 as Best Actor for his starring role in the film Gladiator.

After initial success in Australia, Crowe began acting in American films. He first co-starred with Denzel Washington in Virtuosity in 1995. He went on to become a three-time Oscar nominee, winning the Academy Award as Best Actor in 2001 for Gladiator. Crowe wore his grandfather Stan Wemyss’s Member of the Order of the British Empire medal to the ceremony. Crowe received three consecutive best actor Oscar nominations for The Insider, Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind. Crowe won the best actor award for A Beautiful Mind at the 2002 BAFTA award ceremony. However he failed to win the Oscar that year, losing to Denzel Washington. It has been suggested that his attack on television producer Malcolm Gerrie for cutting short his acceptance speech may have turned voters against him. All three films were also nominated for best picture, and both Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind won the award. Within the six year stretch from 1997-2003, he also starred in two other best picture nominees, L.A. Confidential and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, though he was nominated for neither. In 2005 he re-teamed with A Beautiful Mind director Ron Howard for Cinderella Man. In 2006 he re-teamed with Gladiator director Ridley Scott for A Good Year, the first of two consecutive collaborations (the second being American Gangster co-starring again with Denzel Washington, released in late 2007). While the light romantic comedy of A Good Year was not greatly received, Crowe seemed pleased with the film, telling STV in an interview that he thought it would be enjoyed by fans of his other films. On March 9, 2005, Crowe revealed to GQ magazine that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents had approached him prior to the 73rd Academy Awards on March 25, 2001 and told him that the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda wanted to kidnap him. Crowe told the magazine that it was the first time he had ever heard of al-Qaeda (the September 11 attacks took place later that year) and was quoted as saying:

“You get this late-night call from the FBI when you arrive in Los Angeles, and they’re, like, absolutely full-on. ‘We’ve got to talk to you now before you do anything. We have to have a discussion with you, Mr. Crowe.’” Crowe recalled that “it was something to do with some recording picked up by a French policewoman, I think, in either Libya or Algiers…it was about taking iconographic Americans out of the picture as a sort of cultural-destabilization plan″.

Crowe was guarded by Secret Service agents for the next few months, both while shooting films and at award ceremonies (Scotland Yard also guarded Crowe while he was promoting Proof of Life in London in February 2001). Crowe said that he “…never fully understood what was going on″.

Russell Crowe Filmography
1990 Blood Oath Lt. Jack Corbeth
The Crossing Johnny
1991 Proof Andy
1992 Spotswood Kim Barry
Romper Stomper Hando
1993 Hammers Over the Anvil East Driscoll
Love in Limbo Arthur Baskin
The Silver Brumby The Man
For The Moment Lachlan
1994 The Sum of Us Jeff Mitchell
1995 The Quick and the Dead Cort
No Way Back FBI Agent Zack Grant
Virtuosity SID 6.7
Rough Magic Alex Ross
1997 L.A. Confidential Officer Wendell “Bud” White
Heaven’s Burning Colin
Breaking Up Steve
1999 Mystery, Alaska Sheriff John Biebe
The Insider Jeffrey Wigand
2000 Gladiator Maximus
Proof of Life Terry Thorne
2001 A Beautiful Mind John Nash
2003 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Capt. Jack Aubrey
2005 Cinderella Man Jim Braddock
2006 A Good Year Max Skinner
2007 3:10 to Yuma Ben Wade
American Gangster Detective Richie Roberts
Tenderness Detective Cristofuoro completed
2008 Body of Lies Ed Hoffman pre-production
2009 Nottingham The Sheriff of Nottingham announced

Off-hand charm and self-deprecating comic timing were two of the qualities this dashing Irish-born leading man brought to his winning portrayal of the sophisticated, often inept, con man/private investigator Remington Steele on the long-running TV series (NBC, 1982-87) of the same name. Brosnan, a former commercial illustrator who has garnered frequent comparisons to Cary Grant, became so popular in this role that he was selected by readers polled by a national magazine as the favored actor to replace the departing Roger Moore in the highly profitable James Bond series. However, contractual obligations to “Remington Steele” made him unavailable and the baton was passed to Timothy Dalton.
Brosnan entered show business as a teen runaway, working with the circus as a fire eater. He gained somewhat more conventional experience as a member of an experimental London theater workshop before making his stage debut in a 1976 production of “Wait Until Dark”. Brosnan’s theatrical breakthrough came from playwright Tennessee Williams who chose the handsome young actor to create the role of McCabe in the British premiere of his “Red Devil Battery Sign″. Additional stage work followed before his film debut in a character turn in the well-received Brit gangster film, “The Long Good Friday” (1980).

America first discovered the slender, dark-haired performer on TV in the miniseries “The Manions of America” (ABC, 1981) as Rory O’Manion, an Irish immigrant who makes it big in 19th century America. This successful exposure lead to his being cast as Steele. Brosnan turned up on a number of specials during the series’ run and one failed feature, “Nomads” (1985), in which he played a bedeviled French anthropologist. The transition to film actor proved difficult, but TV offered regular work in telefilms and miniseries. Brosnan was well cast as urbane eccentric Phineas Fogg in a miniseries adaptation of Jules Verne’s novel “Around the World in 80 Days” (NBC, 1989). He became a familiar face in made-for-cable thrillers, notably playing special agent Mike Graham in “Alistair MacLean’s Death Train″ (USA, 1993) and “Alistair MacLean’s Night Watch” (USA, 1995).

Brosnan initially found little success in features. He starred in the poorly received Ismail Merchant-produced adventure “The Deceivers” (1988) but received some positive notices for his portrayal of a Russian agent opposite Michael Caine in “The Fourth Protocol” (1987). He enjoyed a measure of popular success playing a scientist in the derivative special F/X fest, “The Lawnmower Man″ (1992). Brosnan also played the supporting role of Stu, the other man, in the immensely successful if mild comedy “Mrs. Doubtfire” (1993).

It was until 1995 that Brosnan finally got his license to kill and landed the role that would be associated with him for the rest of his life, James Bond, in the film “Goldeneye.” The 007 franchise was rebounding from some underperforming years during which action-heavy film series like “Lethal Weapon,” “Die Hard” and “Batman″ were out-Bonding the grandaddy of the genre, but Brosnan’s long-awaited casting created a renewed buzz and his solid performance as an elegant-but-hard-edge 007 (combining the best elements of Sean Connery and Roger Moore’s diverse appeals) revived the franchise. The actor returned for several more outings: “Tomorrow Never Dies” (1997) in which he displayed abundant charisma opposite Bond girl Michelle Yeoh; “The World is Not Enough” (2000) in which his command as an action hero and sparks with Sophie Marceau balanced his chemistry-impaired relationship with Bond girl Denise Richards; and the 20th Bond outing “Die Another Day,” in which he and Bond girl Halle Berry delivered the most attractive pairing since the early days of the franchise. Shortly before the release of “Die Another Day,” Brosnan announced his intention to star in a fifth outing as the suave secret agent.

His success as Bond also led to a renewed career in feature films as well, first in typically debonair supporting roles in films such as “The Mirror Has Two Faces” (1996) and “Mars Attacks” (1996), and then as a leading man in summer action fare like the volcano thriller “Dante’s Peak” (1997). He also demonstrated a fondness for smaller films with an Anglo-Saxon bent such the Irish-themed “The Nephew” (1998) and the Scot-centric soccer comedy “The Match” (1999) - Brosnan also executive produced both films. He also received kudos for his performance as Archie Grey Owl, a 1930s Canadian fur trapper who adopts the ways of the Iroquois tribe in Sir Richard Attenborough’s little-seen “Grey Owl” (1999). His most successful and delightful non-Bond outing came in 1999, when he played the title role of the millionaire art thief in director John McTiernan’s classy remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair,” a role in which he displayed considerable elegance, panache and palpable sex appeal opposite his age-appropriate leading lady Rene Russo-as he neared the age of 50 he was a bigger sex symbol than when he was in his 30s, and in 2001 People magazine named him the Sexiest Man Alive.

Other strong roles followed, included a well-received turn in the John Le Carre spy thriller “The Tailor of Panama” (2001) from director John Boorman and a robust performance in Bruce Bereford’s “Evelyn″ (2002), the true story of a working-class, pub-going, newly single Dublin dad who fights to regain custody of his children after his daughter and two sons are placed in Church-run orphanages by the Irish courts in the 1950s. Brosnan also produced the latter film under his Irish DreamTime production company.