Rene Russo Biography

Rene Marie Russo (born February 17, 1954) is an American actress and former model. She is known for starring in a series of popular, big budget thrillers and action movies throughout the 1990s. She has been nominated for several awards, including two nominations for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Early life

Russo 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 Rene was two. Her father and maternal grandfather were of Italian descent. 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. To help her family, she began taking a variety of part-time jobs including working in an eyeglass factory, and as a movie cashier.

Career

Modeling

Russo started a modeling career after allegedly being spotted at a 1972 Rolling Stones concert by John Crosby, an agent from International Creative Management. With his encouragement, Russo applied to, and was signed by, Ford Modeling Agency, and went on to appear in magazine covers for Vogue, Mademoiselle, and Cosmopolitan, as well as advertisements for perfume and cosmetics.

Acting

By her 30th birthday, demand for her as a model began to dwindle. She did a few more commercials and then turned her back on modeling and show business for a while. She began to study theater and acting, and began appearing in theater roles at small regional theaters in Los Angeles and elsewhere in California. At one point, she took acting lessons from veteran actor Allan Rich. They were interviewed on CNN in 1980.

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 internal affairs detective Lorna Cole in Lethal Weapon 3 (and again in Lethal Weapon 4) opposite Mel Gibson.

Throughout the 1990s, Russo appeared in a number of thrillers including In the Line of Fire with Clint Eastwood, Outbreak with Dustin Hoffman, Ransom (directed by high school classmate Howard and worked again with her Lethal Weapon co-star Gibson) and the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair with Pierce Brosnan. She attained a certain degree of cult status from her performance in Freejack, alongside of Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, and Anthony Hopkins.

She also tried her hand at comedy in Tin Cup with Kevin Costner, Get Shorty with John Travolta and as Natasha Fatale 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.

In 2005 Russo co-starred with Al Pacino in Two for the Money and with Dennis Quaid in Yours, Mine and Ours. In 2011, six years after resting from acting, she appeared in the superhero film, Thor, as Frigga, the mother of the titular hero.

Personal life

Russo has been married to screenwriter Dan Gilroy since March 14, 1992. They have one daughter, Rose (born 1993), and the family currently lives in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. Her sister Toni was married to lyricist Bernie Taupin in the 1980s, and Rene appeared alongside her sister in the 1987 video for Taupin's solo song, "Citizen Jane."

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987-1988	Sable	Eden Kendell	TV series, 7 episodes
1989	Major League	Lynn Wells
1990	Mr. Destiny	Cindy Jo Bumpers/Burrows
1991	One Good Cop	Rita Lewis
1992	Freejack	Julie Redlund	Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1992	Lethal Weapon 3	LAPD Sgt. Lorna Cole	Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Mel Gibson)
1993	In the Line of Fire	Secret Service Agent Lilly Raines
1994	Major League II	Lynn Wells	Cameo
1995	Outbreak	Robby Keough
1995	Get Shorty	Karen Flores	Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1996	Tin Cup	Dr. Molly Griswold
1996	Ransom	Kate Mullen
1997	Buddy	Mrs. Gertrude 'Trudy' Lintz
1998	Lethal Weapon 4	Lorna Cole-Riggs	Broadcast Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress - Action/Adventure
1999	The Thomas Crown Affair	Catherine Olds Banning	Nominated - Broadcast Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress - Drama/Romance
2000	The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle	Natasha Fatale	Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2002	Big Trouble	Anna Herk
2002	Showtime	Chase Renzi
2005	Two for the Money	Toni Morrow	Also executive producer
2005	Yours, Mine and Ours	Helen North
2011	Thor	Frigga
2013	Thor: The Dark World	Frigga
2014	Frank and Cindy	Cindy
2014	Nightcrawler		Pre-production