Published: May 05, 2023| 10:43 AM

Oscar and Golden Globe winner Russell Crowe will receive the coveted Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The award-winning actor will also show off his musical talents with his band Indoor Garden Party, which will perform at the festival’s opening night concert.

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, but living in Australia since childhood, Russell Crowe is one of the most respected actors in contemporary world cinema. He began his acting career at the age of 6, working in tv and theatre. Then in 1989 started working in Australian films; The Crossing (1990, dir. George Ogilvie) Proof (1991, dir. Jocelyn Moorhouse) Romper Stomper (1992, dir. Geoffrey Wright). Winning 2 Australian Academy Awards, supporting actor for Proof and Best Actor for Romper Stomper. 

His first appearance in an American film was alongside Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, and Leonardo DiCaprio in Sam Raimi’s 1995 western The Quick and the Dead. Shortly thereafter, he earned critical acclaim and the respect of general audiences for his extraordinary performance as Bud White in L. A. Confidential (1997, dir. Curtis Hanson). The Insider (1999, dir. Michael Mann) brought his first nomination for an Academy Award and Golden Globes. In early 2001, Crowe won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the Roman general Maximus in Ridley Scott’s international hit, the historical drama Gladiator (2000). The following year, he earned his third Oscar nomination, won his first Golden Globe, and the Best Actor BAFTA award for his role as the mentally ill mathematical genius John Nash in Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind (2001).

Gladiator, which took home five Oscars in total, marked the beginning of Crowe’s long-running collaboration with the renowned director Ridley Scott, with whom he went on to shoot A Good Year (2006), American Gangster (2007), Body of Lies (2008), and Robin Hood (2010). He again worked with Ron Howard on the sports biopic Cinderella Man (2005), where he played the boxer James J. Braddock.

Russell Crowe’s diverse filmography reflects his multifaceted acting talent. He has appeared in films spanning a variety of genres, from the Musical Les Misérables (2012, dir. Tom Hooper) to the war drama The Water Diviner (2014), which he also directed, the psychological Fathers and Daughters (2015, dir. Gabriele Muccino), the comedy The Nice Guys ( 2016, dir Shane Black)  the comic-book adaptation Man of Steel (2012, dir. Zack Snyder), the psycho thriller Unhinged (2020, dir. Derrick Borte).

He earned another Golden Globe for playing the lead role in The Loudest Voice (2019), a seven-part miniseries about the founder of Fox News, Roger Ailes. His directorial debut, The Water Diviner (2014) won the Australian Academy award for best film.

In 2022, he directed and starred in the thriller Poker Face. He can currently be seen worldwide in the horror thriller The Pope’s Exorcist (2023, dir. Julius Avery).

Russell Crowe has been performing music since the 1980s, when he recorded his first solo single “I Want To Be Like Marlon Brando.” From 1992, he appeared with the rock band Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, with which he released three albums. In 2005, he began working with the Canadian musician Alan Doyle, recording their first single together, followed later by an album My Hand, My Heart in 2006, under the band name, The Ordinary Fear of God. In 2009 Crowe and Doyle started holding Indoor Garden Party concerts. In 2011, they released their third joint album, The Crowe / Doyle Songbook Vol III on iTunes, and in 2017 as Indoor Garden Party, they released the album The Musical which went to #1 briefly, on iTunes and Amazon, twice in the UK. The album is on Spotify. 

Russell Crowe is a generous supporter of various charitable projects, individuals and organizations and also owns the oldest Rugby League club in Australia, The South Sydney Rabbitohs, formed in 1908. He took over in 2006 and has lifted the club out of decades of no success, winning the NRL premiership Trophy in 2014, breaking a 43-year drought. The club continues to be a force in the sport. 

In a special screening celebrating Crowe’s achievements, Karlovy Vary will present a twenty year anniversary screening of Peter Weir’s adventure film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), which won two Oscars from 10 nominations and earned Crowe a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of Captain Aubrey.