Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an Academy Award-winning actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age 21. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the epic historical film Gladiator (2000), for which he won an Academy Award, Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, Empire Award, and London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Leading Actor, along with 10 other nominations in the same category.

His other award-winning performances include tobacco firm whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand in the drama film The Insider (1999) and mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. in the biopic A Beautiful Mind (2001). He has also starred in films such as the drama Romper Stomper (1992), the mystery-detective thriller L.A. Confidential (1997), the epic war film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), the biographical boxing drama Cinderella Man (2005), the western 3:10 to Yuma (2007), the crime drama American Gangster (2007), the thriller-drama State of Play (2009), and Robin Hood (2010).

He later starred as Javert in the musical drama Les Misérables (2012), Jor-El in the superhero epic Man of Steel (2013), Noah in the biblical fantasy drama Noah (2014), Jackson Healy in the action comedy The Nice Guys (2016), Jekyll / Hyde in The Mummy (2017), Marshall Eamons in Boy Erased (2018), the psychotic Man in Unhinged (2018), Jake Foley in Poker Face (2022), Zeus Panhellenios in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), and Nikolai Kravinoff in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) film Kraven the Hunter (2023).

In 2014, he made his directorial debut with the drama The Water Diviner, in which he also starred. He has earned various accolades, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, two Golden Globe Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and an Academy Award out of three consecutive nominations (1999, 2000, and 2001). He has been the co-owner of the National Rugby League (NRL) team South Sydney Rabbitohs since 2006.