Russell Crowe plays the iconic antagonist Javert in Les Miserables

Russell Crowe, an Academy winner for his brilliant performance in Gladiator, is known for his total commitment to a role, whether it’s playing a boxer (Cinderella Man), a Roman general/ slave (Gladiator) or a tortured mathematics genius (A Beautiful Mind). Les Misérables was no different. He threw himself into the project with typical gusto.

Crowe was born in New Zealand and raised, mostly, in Australia. He first acted as a child, appearing in an episode of the Australian TV show Spyforce when he was 6 years old. His first musical was Grease at the Independent theatre in Auckland and he won various acting awards in Australia before making his first Hollywood film, The Quick and the Dead, with Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman and Leonardo DiCaprio in 1995.

In 2000 he received the first of three consecutive Oscar nominations for playing tobacco industry whistle blower Jeffrey Wigand in Michael Mann’s The Insider, his second came for Gladiator and the following year he was nominated again for his portrayal of troubled mathematics genius John Nash in A Beautiful Mind.

His forthcoming films include Man of Steel, Broken City and Noah.