A tall and sexy actress in the
Geena Davis mold, Rene Russo has made a career out of playing brainy-but-nutty love interests in Hollywood action films and comedies. She began as a model, appearing in ads for Revlon cosmetics and in magazines such as
Vogue in the 1970s and 1980s. Russo shifted to acting in the late 1980s and made a strong debut as the catcher's ex-girlfriend in the cult baseball comedy
Major League (1989, starring
Charlie Sheen). Her heyday was the early 1990s, when she co-starred with a glamour lineup of leading men in quick succession :
Mel Gibson (
Lethal Weapon III, 1992),
Clint Eastwood (
In the Line of Fire, 1993),
John Travolta (
Get Shorty, 1995) and
Kevin Costner (
Tin Cup, 1996). She had the leading role in the strange zoological biopic
Buddy (1997), then matched chiseled forty-something physiques with
Pierce Brosnan in the 1999 remake of
The Thomas Crown Affair (with Russo in the role created by
Faye Dunaway). She rang in the new century by playing nefarious Natasha Fatale in
The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000). In 2005 she co-starred with
Al Pacino in the sports gambling drama
Two For the Money, written by her husband, the screenwriter Dan Gilroy.
Extra credit: Russo and Dan Gilroy met on the set of the 1992 film
Freejack... She suffered from the spinal disease scoliosis as a young girl... According to legend, Russo began modelling after being spotted by a talent agent at a
Rolling Stones concert... According to the Internet Movie Database, Russo attended high school with director
Ron Howard.
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