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Renee Marie Russo (born February 17, 1954) is an American film actress and former fashion model. With sparkling blue eyes, exquisite cheekbones and a sassy, down-to-earth attitude, Rene Russo has parlayed a successful modeling career into an equally prosperous acting one. While still a high school student, she caught the attention of agent John Crosby who arranged a contract with modeling diva Nina Blanchard. Russo was an immediate success and became one of the top models of the 1970s and early 80s, appearing on the covers of many fashion magazines including Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Russo moved to the Eileen Ford Agency where she worked with top photographers like Richard Avedon and Francesco Scavullo and went on to be featured prominently in a series of print ads and commercials for Revlon. Russo, a Sicilian/Italian American, was born in Burbank, California, the daughter of Shirley (née Balocca), a factory worker and barmaid, and Nino Russo, a sculptor and car mechanic who left the family when Renee was two. Russo grew up with her sister, Toni, and their single mother. She attended Burroughs High School (where her classmates included director Ron Howard), but eventually dropped out in the tenth grade. Due to financial constraints within the family, she began taking a variety of part-time jobs including working in an eyeglass factory, and as a movie cashier. Segueing to acting in the mid-80s, Russo landed the role of Eden, literary agent and romantic interest of the title character, on the short-lived adventure series "Sable" (ABC, 1987-88). It marked the first of many seemingly thankless wife of "girlfriend" roles that she went on to play, like her feature debut in David S Ward's baseball comedy "Major League" (1989) as a librarian reluctant to rekindle a romance with Tom Berenger. In 1972, Russo was spotted at a Rolling Stones concert by a scout and manager John Crosby from International Creative Management. She was signed to the Ford Modeling Agency and began modeling shortly after, appearing on the cover of several magazines, including Vogue. Russo spent the majority of the 1970s and early 1980s as a successful model, but later began to study acting, and appeared in roles at regional theaters in Los Angeles. She played spouse to James Belushi in "Mr. Destiny" (1990) and Michael Keaton in "One Good Cop" (1991) before landing the career-making role of Detective Lorna Cole in Richard Donner's "Lethal Weapon 3" (1992). As the no-nonsense Internal Affairs officer who blossoms when she interacts with Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Murtaugh (Danny Glover), Russo displayed not only her acting ability but her facility as an action heroine. Her romantic scenes with Gibson were both humorous (they compare battle scars) and sensual. Their onscreen chemistry led to a reunion as the concerned parents of a kidnapped child in "Ransom" (1996) and the unnecessary but inevitable "Lethal Weapon 4" (1998). Russo made her television series debut in 1987, with a supporting role in the TV series Sable. Two years later, she made her debut in film as the girlfriend of the Tom Berenger character in Major League. Her breakthrough role is generally considered to be her part as martial arts-practicing internal affairs detective Lorna Cole in Lethal Weapon 3 (and again in Lethal Weapon 4). While she was clearly capable of more, Russo seemed content to rest in the niche of playing strong women who took a back seat to men like her competent Secret Service agent (and romantic interest for Clint Eastwood) in Wolfgang Petersen's "In the Line of Fire" (1993) and her ex-wife and fellow scientist opposite Dustin Hoffman in the thriller "Outbreak" (1995). Barry Sonnenfeld gave her a slight change-of-pace, casting her as a B-movie actress with a penchant for blonde wigs and tight skirts in "Get Shorty" (also 1995). That Russo managed to hold her own against such powerful screen presences as John Travolta, Danny DeVito and Gene Hackman, as well as displayed impeccable comic timing brought her critical praise. Continuing on a similar theme, she lent her sexy presence to the role of a small-town shrink caught between a golf pro (Don Johnson) and his buddy (Kevin Costner) in Ron Shelton's breezy but lightweight "Tin Cup" (1996). Throughout the 1990s, Russo appeared in a number of high-profile thrillers that were hugely successful at the box office, including In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Ransom and The Thomas Crown Affair. Still sexy and vital in her mid-40s, Russo confounded Hollywood stereotypes by delivering her most accomplished performance as an insurance investigator who romances the prime suspect in an art theft in the remake of "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1999). At first concerned over the required nudity and the frank sexuality of the character, the devoutly Christian actress reportedly prayed before accepting the role ("I don't know where in the Bible it says 'Don't be nude in motion pictures.'"). At the director's insistence, Russo also adopted a more sophisticated look, cropping her hair and dyeing it red as well as wearing a sleek wardrobe. Her onscreen chemistry with co-star Pierce Brosnan (abetted by several steamy love scenes) helped to impress reviewers and audiences, winning her new fans. Russo followed with another sultry female, Natasha Fatale, in the mixed live action-animated feature "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" (2000). She tried her hand at comedy in Tin Cup, Get Shorty and as the cartoonish Russian spy Natasha in the live-action film version of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. She starred in at least one major studio film per year from 1992 to 2002. She more recently co-starred with Al Pacino in Two for the Money and with Dennis Quaid in Yours, Mine and Ours. She then starred opposite Dennis Quaid in the romantic comedy, “Yours, Mine and Ours” (2005), a remake of the 1968 Lucille Ball-Henry Fonda comedy about two high school sweethearts who reunite after the deaths of their spouses and rush to get married only to discover their children hate the new arrangement. Russo has been married to screenwriter Dan Gilroy since 1992. They have one daughter, Rose (born August 31, 1993), and the family currently lives in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. Her sister Toni was married to lyricist Bernie Taupin in the 1980s, and Renee appeared alongside her sister in the 1987 video for Taupin's solo song, "Citizen Jane." |
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