Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia,
Eric Bana's career as a comedian began while working
as a bartender at Castle Hotel in 1991. Television
offers began flowing in a few short years later,
and in 1993, Bana took roles of both writer and
performer on Australia's top comedy programs, Full
Frontal. His star on the rise and made audiences
laugh even harder when he co-produced and starred
in his own comedy special Eric (1996)
and kicked off The Eric Bana Show Live in 1997.
Bana also made his film debut in The Castle that
year. When he took a feature role on Australian
television's Something in the Air in 2000, he was
voted Australia's Most Popular Comedy Performer
at the Logies.
Though Bana had taken his native land by storm up
to this point, his international star had yet to
shine. All of this would change as Bana took on
his most demanding role of notorious Australian
author/murderer Mark "Chopper"
Read in Chopper (2000).
He gained almost 30 pounds and had his body covered
in tattoos to resemble Read in order to provide
an accurate and colorful portrayal of the charismatic
criminal.
Aside from years of research into Read's life, Bana
lived with the man himself for two days in order
to understand his uniquely skewed perspective on
life. Winning almost unanimous international acclaim
for his sometimes shocking, sometimes humorous and
fascinating portrayal of Read, Hollywood was soon
calling for Bana, and later on he took a role in
the tense true story of the battle in Mogadishu,
Black Hawk Down (2001).
Winning the popular title role in The Hulk (2003)
and lending his voice in Finding Nemo (2003),
Bana's talent seemed to finally be getting the international
attention. And while The Hulk failed to be the blockbuster,
Bana's star continued to rise with a role opposite
Brad Pitt in the epic Troy (2004).
