Russell Crowe

It really isn't outrageous to say that so far, he's delivered no less than three performances that surpass his Oscar-winning Gladiator (00, Ridley Scott). Not that I mean to minimize the skill, the deter­mination, and the smarts that could play a Roman of honor at a time when that model is scorned, or who could insist on presence in a film so full of special effects.

Still, there's even more to be said for his brutish but brutalized cop, the working-class Bud, in L.A. Confidential (97, Curtis Hanson); for his bulky, insecure whistle-blower in The Insider (99, Michael Mann); and for the troubled genius in A Beautiful Mind (01, Ron Howard).

Just as remarkable as those four roles in four years is the way in which, until a moment before his breakthrough, Crowe was treated like a rugged action hero, another Mel Gibson (though without the cheek or charm). Today his advantages in any comparison with Gibson are painfully apparent. The question arises as to whether there are things he can’t do.

He was raised in Australia and he was acting on TV as a child. Later he worked in theatre and film, but then came to America with a run of little-known pictures: The Crossing (90, George Ogilvie); as a POW in Prisoners of the Sun (91, Stephen Wallace); The Efficiency Expert (92, Mark Joffe); Proof (92, Jocelyn Moorhouse); win­ning awards as the skinhead thug in Romper Stomper (92, Geoffrey Wright); Hammers Over the Anvil (93, Ann Turner); Love in Limbo (93, David Elfick); The Silver Stallion (93, John Tatoulis); For the Moment (94, Aaron Kim John­ston); as the gay son in The Sum of Us (94, Kevin Dowling).

Settling in America, he did The Quick and the Dead (95, Sam Raimi); Virtuosity (95, Brett Leonard); Rough Magic (95, Clare Peploe); No Way Back (97, Frank A. Cappello); Breaking Up (97, Robert Greenwald); Heaven's Burning (97, Craig Lahiff); Mystery, Alaska (99, Jay Roach).

He also made Proof of Life (00, Taylor Hackford), where his man of honor turned subtly into a romantic figure. The effect this had on costar Meg Ryan was one more sign that Russell Crowe is a serious proposition. A Beautiful Mind was further evidence that Crowe was established as an actor of nearly infinite reach. Equally, it raised some doubts as to where his creative character could settle. Or would he have to be different with every film?