Eric Bana (b. 1968), actor, was born Eric Banadinovich to a Croatian father and German mother and grew up in Melbourne. In 1991, while working as a barman, he made his debut as a stand-up comedian. In 1993, having appeared on Tonight Live with Steve Vizard, he joined the cast of the comedy skit series Full Frontal. After an unsuccessful try at a one-man show (for which, however he received a Logie for Most Popular Comedian in 1997) he played a small comic role in The Castle. His first film role, the lead in Chopper (2000) was a complete contrast, for which he gained fourteen kilograms and familiarised himself with prison life; his efforts were rewarded with a Best Actor award at the 2000 Stockholm film festival and the AFI Best Actor award. Leading roles in the Hollywood hits Black Hawk Down (2001) and Hulk (2003) led to his being recommended, by Brad Pitt, for Troy (2004), after which he played a Mossad agent in the political drama Munich (2005), directed by Steven Spielberg. He made his debut as director with Love the Beast (2009), a film about his own car, and won his second AFI Best Actor award for the gentle Australian film Romulus My Father before playing the villain in the big-budget Star Trek (2009). On the heels of Hanna (2011) with Cate Blanchett, he will play Elvis Presley in the forthcoming Elvis and Nixon.
