Russell Crowe 2006. Crowe was born on 7 April 1964 in the Wellington suburb of Strathmore Park, the son of Jocelyn Yvonne (née Wemyss) and John Alexander Crowe, both of whom were film set caterers; his father also managed a hotel. Crowe's maternal grandfather, Stan Wemyss, was a cinematographer who was named an MBE for filming footage of World War II. Crowe's paternal grandfather, John Doubleday Crowe, was from Wrexham, Wales, while one of Crowe's maternal great-great-grandmothers was Māori. Crowe also has English, German, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Scottish, Swedish, and Welsh ancestry. He is a cousin of former New Zealand cricket captains
Colin Crowe 1956, knighted KCMG in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1963 on his appointment to Saudi Arabia, and promoted GCMG in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1973. Colin Crowe Sir Colin Tradescant Crowe (7 September 1913 – 19 July 1989) was a British diplomat who was stationed in Egypt at a critical period, and afterwards was ambassador to Saudi Arabia, high commissioner to Canada and permanent representative at the United Nations. Colin Tradescant Crowe was born in Yokohama, Japan, where his father, Edward Crowe (later Sir Edward), also a diplomat, was commercial attaché at the British Embassy. Crowe was educated at