Academy Award-winning actor Russell Crowe seemingly starred in every other film in the early 2000s. He has become more selective in recent years, so that when he does appear onscreen in a film, it feels like more of an event. Most recently, he strikingly transformed into disgraced former Fox News head Roger Ailes in the Showtime limited series “The Loudest Voice,” for which he won a Golden Globe and earned a SAG nomination.
Crowe is one of only a handful of actors to have been Oscar-nominated for a leading role in three consecutive years — 1999’s “The Insider,” 2000’s “Gladiator” (win) and 2001’s “A Beautiful Mind,” all of which were also nominated for Best Picture (with “Gladiator” and “A Beautiful Mind” winning). In addition to his latest bids for “The Loudest Voice,” he has also been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards and 10 Screen Actors Guild Awards (winning in both cases for “A Beautiful Mind”). The SAG nominations in particular demonstrate the range of Crowe’s work, with nominations for his performances in a heavy drama (“The Insider”), a Western (“3:10 to Yuma”) and a musical (“Les Miserables”).
Take a photo gallery tour of his 12 greatest film performances, ranked from worst to best.
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12. THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (1995)
Image Credit: Tri Star/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Sam Raimi. Writer: Simon Moore. Starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio.
Crowe’s first big Hollywood breakthrough was this Sam Raimi Western starring Sharon Stone, who fought for the little-known Crowe’s casting over Sony’s objections. Gene Hackman co-stars as the movie’s bad guy Herod, a town boss who organizes a quick-draw elimination contest in which gunfighters kill each other off until only one remains. Crowe portrays Cort, one of Herod’s former henchmen who left to became a preacher. Herod captures Cort and drags him back to force him to participate in the contest. What’s special about Crowe here is that he’s convincing both as a preacher and a gunfighter, no easy feat.
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11. THE NICE GUYS (2016)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures Director: Shane Black. Writers: Shane Black, Anthony Bagarozzi. Starring Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Lois Smith, Margaret Qualley.
Crowe is not exactly known for his comedic stylings, but in Shane Black’s action/buddy comedy, he is delightful playing straight man to Ryan Gosling’s goofball of a private detective as Jackson Healy, an enforcer hired to keep Gosling’s Holland March from tracking down a missing woman. But when circumstances change, the one-time rivals are forced to work together side-by-side, and, seemingly against all odds, Crowe and Gosling display a sharp comic chemistry together.
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10. ROMPER STOMPER (1992)
Image Credit: Romper Stomper/Seon/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Writer/Director: Geoffrey Wright. Starring Russell Crowe, Daniel Pollock, Jacqueline McKenzie, Tony Lee.
Crowe first came to international attention in Geoffrey Wright’s violent Australian film which focuses on a neo-Nazi group in Victoria led by the brutal skinhead Hando (Crowe), who has a particular gripe with the growing immigrant Vietnamese population. Despite his violent disposition, Hando finds himself falling in love with Gabrielle (Jacqueline McKenzie), a woman who becomes so determined to save Hando from a further live of crime that she just may betray him. Crowe creates a searing impression as Hando, and it’s little wonder that stardom was to come.
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9. AMERICAN GANGSTER (2007)
Image Credit: David Lee/Universal/Scott Free/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Ridley Scott. Writer: Steven Zaillian. Starring Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cuba Gooding Jr., Josh Brolin.
In Ridley Scott’s gangster epic, Crowe plays straight-arrow NYPD cop Richie Roberts, who is ostracized by many of his crooked colleagues for handing over $1 million found in a gangster’s car. Richie is given the unenviable job of tracking down suave drug smuggler Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), and the two begin a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. As part of the “American Gangster” ensemble, Crowe earned his ninth Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.
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8. 3:10 TO YUMA (2007)
Image Credit: REX/Shutterstock Director: James Mangold. Writers: Halsted Welles, Michael Brandt, Derek Haas. Starring Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Peter Fonda, Ben Foster.
Crowe once again has a six-gun at his side in James Mangold’s remake of the 1957 “3:10 To Yuma,” one of the few instances so far this century of a remake being better received critically than the original. Crowe plays ruthless outlaw Ben Wade who is captured and convicted for a murder during a stagecoach robbery. Destitute rancher Dan Evans agrees to escort Wade to a nearby town and get him on the 3:10 train for Yuma Territorial Prison. As part of the “3:10 to Yuma” ensemble, Crowe was nominated for his eighth Screen Actors Guild Award.
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7. LES MISERABLES (2012)
Image Credit: Working Title Films/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Tom Hooper. Writers: William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer. Starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway.
Although Crowe was singled out by some critics for his less-than-melodic live singing, he made a powerful impression as Inspector Javert, a police detective who becomes obsessed with recapturing escaped convict Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman). Objectively, Javert’s obsession comes close to madness, but Crowe plays him as a man determined to see that justice is done. As part of the ensemble of “Les Miserables,” Crowe earned his 10th Screen Actors Award nomination.
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6. MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD (2003)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: Peter Weir. Writers: Peter Weir, John Collee. Starring Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, David Threlfall.
Crowe is squarely back in hero mode in Peter Weir’s film based on the seafaring adventures of Royal Navy Captain Jack Aubrey (Crowe) and the battles he fought during the Napoleonic Wars. Aubrey’s ship, the overmatched HMS Surprise, is ordered to fire on the powerhouse French privateer Acheron, and Aubrey, aided by his friend Dr. Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), a physician and a spy, soon realizes that he is in for the fight of his life. For his performance as Capt. Aubrey, Crowe was nominated for his fourth Golden Globe Award.
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5. CINDERELLA MAN (2005)
Image Credit: George Kraychyk/Miramax/Imagine/Parkway Prods./Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Ron Howard. Writers: Chris Hollingsworth, Akiva Goldsman. Starring Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko.
Crowe reunited with his “A Beautiful Mind” director Ron Howard for this biopic of heavyweight boxer James J. Braddock, who inspired a nation with his rags-to-riches story of an underdog boxer who kept winning his way to the top and who used a portion of his winning to repay the government for the money paid to him in unemployment benefits. Crowe’s performance was a complex combination of the actor’s physicality balanced with his sensitive character work. For his performance as Braddock, Crowe earned his fifth Golden Globe nomination and nabbed his seventh nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award.
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4. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997)
Image Credit: Monarchy/Regency/REX/Shutterstock Director: Curtis Hanson. Writers: Brian Helgeland, Curtis Hanson. Starring Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito.
Crowe first got on Hollywood’s awards radar in his breakout role as LAPD Officer Bud White, a tough cop who is not averse to using violence, particularly against men who beat women. White takes an instant dislike to by-the-book cop Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) who volunteers to testify against fellow cops, including White’s partner, in a case that exposed rampant police corruption. It’s only a matter of time when White and Exley manage to go head-to-head against each other. As part of the ensemble of “L.A. Confidential,” Crowe received his first nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award.
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3. GLADIATOR (2000)
Image Credit: Jaap Buitendijk/Dreamworks/Universal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Ridley Scott. Writers: David Franzoni, John Logan, William Nicholson. Starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed.
Are you not entertained? Crowe won his first Academy Award as Maximus, a once-powerful general who is reduced to slavery and must fight his way back to freedom via the gladiatorial arena in Rome AD 180. In 2000’s Best Picture Oscar winner, Maximus’ quest is to avenge the deaths of his family and the rightful emperor who was slain by his power-hungry son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). For his performance as Maximus, Crowe also earned his second Golden Globe nomination and his third and fourth Screen Actors Guild Award nods.
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2. THE INSIDER (1999)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: Michael Mann. Writers: Eric Roth, Michael Mann. Starring Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora.
Based on real events, Michael Mann’s hard-hitting investigative film stars Crowe as Jeffrey Wigand, a former executive at the Brown & Williamson tobacco company, who comes to the attention of “60 Minutes” producer Lowell Bergman, who senses that Wigand knows more about the tobacco industry than he’s telling. Bergman and Wigand find that they have to team up as CBS and Brown & Williamson seek to suppress and discredit any potential whistleblowing on Wigand’s part. For his performance as Wigand, Crowe was nominated for his first Academy Award, his first Golden Globe Award and his second nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award.
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1. A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001)
Image Credit: Eli Reed/Dreamworks/Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Ron Howard. Writer: Akiva Goldsman. Starring Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany.
Truth be told, I’m not a huge fan of Ron Howard’s Best Picture Oscar winner — I still have problems with writer Akiva Goldsman’s distortions of John Nash’s life that throw off the narrative. However, Crowe’s performance as Nash is arguably his best work on film, subtly revealing the depth of the famed mathematician’s paranoid schizophrenia and the delusional episodes that come from them. For his performance as Nash, Crowe won his first Golden Globe Award and his first Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as receiving his third nomination for an Academy Award.
