Eric Bana's chiseled face and sculpted physique have been put to good use in action flicks, but the Australian actor started out in stand-up. He both wrote and performed on the Down Under sketch-comedy series
Full Frontal and briefly had his own eponymous show in 1997. Yet Bana's first taste of international fame came when he put on 30 pounds and transformed his body into a tattoo shrine to play real-life Aussie killer Mark "Chopper" Read in the 2000 indie hit
Chopper. His award-winning performance grabbed Hollywood's attention and landed him in Ridley Scott's brutal
Black Hawk Down the following year. He was then cast in back-to-back one-word mega-movies: comic-book epic
Hulk and Homer's Greek epic
Troy, playing the title role in the former and opposite Brad Pitt in the latter. While both films showed off Bana's assets as an actor and as a hunk, they were box-office disappointments. But that didn't stop Steven Spielberg from casting Bana in the controversial drama
Munich as a conflicted Israeli agent. Strong reviews and challenging roles soon followed, from a professional poker player in
Lucky You to King Henry VIII in
The Other Boleyn Girl. In 2009 Bana enjoyed a banner year with a trio of diverse films (
Star Trek,
Funny People,
The Time Traveler's Wife) that continued to display his ever-widening range. Bana, a devoted husband and father, lives in his native Australia when not working.
Eric Bana Fast Facts:
- At age 14, wanted to become a mechanic.
- Began his career as a stand-up comic in Australia and starred in the sketch-comedy show Full Frontal.
- Met his future wife Rebecca in 1997 while shooting a short-lived Aussie comedy series, The Eric Bana Show.
- Father-in-law is Murray Gleeson, Australia's High Court Chief Justice.
- Won the Australian Film Institute's Best Actor award for 1990's Chopper, about a real-life murderer-turned-memoirist.
- Eric Bana Relationships:
- Anthony Banadinovich - Brother
- Eleanor Banadinovich - Mother
- Ivan Banadinovich - Father
- Klaus - Son
- Rebecca Gleeson - Wife
- Sophia - Daughter