Rene Russo

At 70 years old, Rene Russo has this physical status:

Rene Marie Russo (born February 17, 1954) is an American actress, producer, and model.

Russo began her career as a fashion model in the 1970s, appearing on magazine covers such as Vogue and Cosmopolitan.

She made her film debut in the 1989 comedy Major League and soared to international prominence in a number of thrillers and action films, including Lethal Weapon 3 (1993), Outbreak (1995), Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), and The Thomas Crown Affair (1999). Russo took a five-year break from acting after leading the family comedy Yours, Mine, and Ours (2005).

In the superhero film Thor (2011), she appeared as Frigga, the mother of the titular hero, a role she reprised in Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Russo appeared in the critically acclaimed crime drama Nightcrawler in 2014, where she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Supporting Role.

She has also appeared in The Intern (2015), Just Getting Started (2017), and Velvet Buzzsaw (2019).

Early life and education

Russo was born in 1954 Burbank, California, to Shirley (née Balocca), a factory worker and barmaid, and Nino Russo, a sculptor and car mechanic who left the family when Russo was two. Her father was of Italian descent, while her mother had Italian, German, and English roots. Russo grew up with her mother and her sister, Toni (who was married to lyricist Bernie Taupin between 1979 and 1991), and attended Burroughs High School, where her classmates included director Ron Howard. She was plagued with scoliosis and had to wear a full-torso brace. Her tall height earned her the nickname "Jolly Green Giant" from her peers. She actually described herself as a "geek" in a Financial Times interview in 2019 and admitted that the bullying she suffered in high school led to her expulsion in the tenth grade. Russo did not have any "ambitions," remarking that she, my sister and my mother were "too occupied" to survive, when my mother worked two jobs. She began working in an eyeglass factory and as a movie theater cashier, among other things. She eventually got scouted for modelling and moved to New York City, which she described as a "scary place" in comparison to where she grew up.

Personal life

On March 14, 1992, Russo married screenwriter Dan Gilroy. They first met when they were on the film Freejack (1992). Rose, one daughter who has ventured into modelling, and they live in Brentwood, California.

Russo revealed she has bipolar disorder on a taping of The Queen Latifah Exhibition in 2014. Although the disease has plagued her since childhood, an emotionally tumultuous period prompted her to start taking medications, despite initial apprehension.

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Career

Russo began as a model after being seen at a 1972 Rolling Stones concert by John Crosby, an International Creative Management agent. Russo applied to, and was invited by Crosby's support, and was signed by Ford Modeling Agency. She appeared on magazine covers for Vogue, Mademoiselle, and Cosmopolitan, as well as perfume and cosmetic advertisements. "Russo stood for a sexiness in the 1970s that was both accessible and aspirational: she could smoke it up with the best of them, as she posed for Francesco Scavullo in decadent furs, or swaths in Versace for Richard Avedon, but Russo wasn't your average pinup. The poise she carried to her photographs made her the first choice for editorial shoots that demanded models with tenacity, whether she was going for the boardroom in a power suit or posing on a beach with Tony Spinelli.

As she entered her 30s, demand for her as a model began to wane. She did a few more commercials but then returned to modeling for a short period of time. She studied theater and acting before stepping in small theaters in Los Angeles and elsewhere in California. At one point, she took acting lessons from veteran actor Allan Rich, who she credits with introducing her to acting. Russo made her debut in a television series in 1987, as a supporting cast member of ABC's short-lived ABC series Sable, based on the comic book Jon Sable: Freelance by Mike Grell. She made her big league debut as the girlfriend of a former baseball star, a David S. Ward-directed comedy. The film was a critical hit.

Russo appeared in the fantasy comedy Mr. Destiny, with Jim Belushi, portraying an alternate reality of an ordinary guy's life in 1990. She appeared in One Good Cop in 1991 as the wife of a New York City Police Department detective (played by Michael Keaton). Russo's 1992 debut as an internal affairs detective Lorna Cole, opposite Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in the action film Lethal Weapon 3. The film grossed $320 million worldwide, making it the fifth highest-grossing film of 1992 and the second highest-grossing film in Lethal Weapon's film collection. Russo's other 1992 film release, Freejack, received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress, despite a general lack of interest.

Russo appeared in a number of commercially and critically influential films during the 1990s. She appeared in In the Line of Fire, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, in 1993, as a federal agent with the sole active-duty Secret Service agent still working with John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, at the time of his assassination in 1963. The film earned three Academy Awards nominations and grossed $176.9 million worldwide. In the medical disaster film Outbreak, Petersen portrayed her as a medical doctor who finds a newly isolated Ebola-like virus in Africa in an infected monkey. Around the world, the film earned over US$189 million. In the crime drama Get Shorty, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, she appeared as a B movie actress opposite John Travolta. Get Shorty debuted at the top of the North American box office and remained number one for three weeks after being announced.

Russo, a former golf prodigy with no interest in the romantic comedy Tin Cup, met his wife in the crime thriller Ransom, directed by Ron Howard in 1996. Though Tin Cup was a modest commercial success, Ransom was the sixth highest-grossing film of 1996, with a worldwide gross of US$309.5 million. Russo portrayed exotic animal owner Gertrude Lintz in the little-seen comedy Buddy in 1997, and she reprised her role in Lethal Weapon 4, the last film in the series, which earned US$285.4 million. In the heist film The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan, she starred as an insurance investigator and the lover of a billionaire. "Her] intelligent, gritty performance is the best thing about this remake of the fashionable caper movie Thomas Crown," critic Kenneth Turan wrote in his review of the film. The company's revenue reached $1124.3 million around the world.

In the adventure comedy The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, directed by Des McAnuff and based on Jay Ward's television cartoon of the same name, Russo obtained the role of villain Natasha Fatale, opposite Robert De Niro and Piper Perabo. Critical and critical evaluations were mixed on the film, but it went unnoticed at the box office. She was nominated for her role as a Best Supporting Actress by Saturn Award and, in turn, a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress. In 2004, she rejoined De Niro to act as the producer of a reality police show in the comedy Showtime franchise, which also stars Eddie Murphy. The film, which costed US$85 million, grossed US$77.7 million.

The comedy Big Trouble, which was based on Dave Barry's book and portrayed her as a devoted mother, was originally scheduled for release on September 21, 2001, and it received a strong advertising push. The events of September 11 of that year brought a pall over the movie's comedic smuggling of a nuclear device onto an airplane. As a result, the film was delayed until 2002, and the promotion campaign was toned down almost to the point of abandonment. The film quickly after being rushed to theaters and then left without leaving much of a buzz.

Russo appeared in and produced the film Two for the Money (2005), starring Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey, as the wife of a sports gambling agent. Russo appeared in Mine & Ours, 2005, as a widowed handbag designer with ten children. Although Film Journal International's concern that "the bare bones of the film's modest success can be summed up" in Russo and Quaid's performances, Daily Radar wrote that "the able-bodied actors fulfill the slapstick demands of this run-of-the-mill family comedies based on Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball's 1968 film "enternationalist" can be summarized, "the slapstick demands of this run-of-the film's Despite receiving largely critical feedback from critics, the film earned over US$72 million worldwide, marking her first commercial success in the decade. Russo took a five-year absence from acting after deciding to concentrate on her health and personal life after its debut.

Russo returned to the screen in 2010 in the superhero film Thor, after being persuaded by director Kenneth Branagh in December 2009, who asked her to play Frigga, the mother of the titular hero. However, the bulk of her scenes were cut out of editing, although the bulk of her scenes were not altered in editing. In Thor: The Dark World (2013), she got more screen time. She credited those films, which earned more than US$1 billion combined, with introducing her to a new generation of filmgoers. "Now I have kids coming up to me, and I'm wondering, 'how do you know your movies?" "That's Thor's mummy," the kids say.

Russo appeared in the crime drama Nightcrawler, written and directed by her husband Dan Gilroy, in 2014. Many commentators rated it as one of the best films of 2014. "Russo is an integral piece of the story, and she gives as good as she gets," Indiewire stated. The role is easily her best in many years, and the rich content lends the actor a wealth of ingenuity. There aren't many creatively drawn roles for aging women in the media, but Russo sinks her teeth into the role of a coldblooded vampires guarding her own insecurity." The film, which was budgeted at US$8.5 million, grossed US$50.3 million.

Russo portrayed a groupie and the mother of director G.J. Echternkamp's independent comedy Frank and Cindy (2015), based on the same 2007 film. In the comedy The Intern, directed by Nancy Meyers, she reunited with Robert De Niro once more, playing an in-house massage therapist and his love interest. The New York Post and The Washington Post all found her to be a hero in her role, and the film earned US$194.6 million worldwide. In another comedy, Just Getting Started (2017), Russo appeared alongside Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones as the regional director of the luxurious resort Villa Capri in Palm Springs, California. As part of a general hostile reaction, Variety found that the three actors "doe less than embarrass themselves here."

Russo appeared in Velvet Buzzsaw (2019), portraying a tyrannical art gallery owner haunted by the mysteriousness of a collection of paintings by an unknown artist. The film was released by Netflix to rave reviews. In Avengers: Endgame, she briefly reprised her role as Frigga.

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