Summary
Eric Bana was born Eric Banadinovich on August 9, 1968, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He began his career as a comedian based in Melbourne and had his TV debut in 1993 on Steve Vizard’sAustralian late night talk show. He then joined the sketch comedy cast of the TV showFull Frontal as a writer and performer. Bana went on to create his own sketch comedy series in 1996 titled The Eric Bana Show which was cancelled after only 8 episodes due to low ratings. Nonetheless, Bana received a Logie award for “Most Popular Comedian” in 1997 for his work on the show.
Bana’s first film role was in the 2000 biopic Chopper. This was his first dramatic role which lead to a role in Ridley Scott’s 2001 soldier-based film Black Hawk Down. Scott was so impressed by Bana’s performance in Chopper that he did not require him to audition for his role in Black Hawk.
In 2002 he starred in the low budget Australian film The Nugget. While on this set, Bana was offered the lead role in the film adaptation of the popular comic The Incredible Hulk. The film did not do well at the box office, but Bana’s performance gained critical praise and earned him an Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror nomination.
In 2004 Bana co-starred with Brad Pitt in the big-budget film Troywhich was an international success, grossing $364 million. Since then most of his work has been in other dramatic films such as Munich(2005) and his most recent film, The Other Bolyn Girl (2008).
Bana is married to Rebecca Gleeson, daughter of the Chief Justice of Australia Murray Gleeson. They married in 1997 and have two children, son Klaus and daughter Sophia.