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Prominent
Alumni
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BILLY
CRUDUP '92
Beta
/ North Carolina
 Known as much for his rigorous career choices as
for his talent and chiseled good looks, Billy Crudup has been straddling
the line between serious actor and "it" leading man for several
years. Crudup was born in Manhasset, New York (a Long Island suburb) in
1968, the middle child in a family of three boys. As a youngster he lived
in Texas and Florida, finding roles in school pageants and developing
funny impersonations to entertain family and friends.
He received his undergraduate degree from the
University of North Carolina, where he joined Delta Kappa Epsilon and
confirmed his interest in acting, then went on to earn a Master of Fine
Arts from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in 1994. A
year later he'd already made a name for himself on Broadway, earning the
Outer Critics Circle Outstanding Newcomer Award for his performance in Tom
Stoppard's Arcadia.
Crudup's first big-screen acting gig was in the indie film Grind
(1997), which was shot in 1994, but ended up on the shelf for three years.
In 1996 he landed another, more lucrative role opposite Hollywood hotshots
Brad Pitt and Jason Patric in the Barry Levinson drama Sleepers
(1996). He followed that up with a brief appearance in Woody Allen's Everyone
Says I Love You (1996) and a higher-profile turn as the rakish older
brother in Inventing the
Abbotts (1997).
A self- described student of human nature, Crudup has said that he looks
for characters wrestling with their mistakes. Rumor has it that he
declined an audition for the lead in Titanic
(1997) in order to seek out more challenging projects--like the Steve
Prefontaine biopic Without
Limits (1998). _Limits_ showcased Crudup's ability to completely
transform himself for a role (a quality that would help him skirt stardom
while continuing to land substantive parts). In 2000, with three major
films in release, Crudup's already bustling movie career reached a fever
pitch. He first hit the festival circuit in Keith Gordon's Waking
the Dead (2000/I), the tale of an up- and-coming politician who is
haunted by the death of his young wife. Next came the art-house favorite
_Jesus' Son (2000)_ , in which Crudup played a nomadic soul named F**khead.
Finally, he starred as the semi-fictional '70s rocker Russell Hammond in
Cameron Crowe's much-lauded Almost
Famous (2000).
Crudup lives in New York and returns regularly to the stage - in fact, it
was during the 1996 Broadway run of Bus Stop that he began his romance
with longtime girlfriend Mary-Louise
Parker. That romance ended in 2004, when Crudup left the then-pregnant
Parker for his Stage Beauty
(2004) co-star, Claire Danes.
He seems to prefer quiet anonymity to the pomp and circumstance of the
movie star lifestyle, but his ever-growing popularity guarantees that he
won't be able to avoid the spotlight altogether.
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