Russell Crowe Says He Still Can't Get Australian Citizenship

Russell Crowe in 2014

By Alex Ritman

Despite having first moved from New Zealand to Australia at the age of four, starred in its most famous TV export Neighbours and married an Australian singing star, Russell Crowe is still unable to officially call himself Australian.

Currently promoting his directorial debut, The Water Diviner (about an Australian), the actor has bemoaned a change in law for New Zealanders seeking a passport from their antipodean neighbors, something he tried for — and failed to get — in 2006 and 2013.

"No matter how long you’d been in the country, if you weren’t in Australia for the majority of 2000 to 2002 — when I was particularly busy filming overseas — you can’t become a citizen," he told Radio Times.

"I’ve been voted one of Australia’s 50 national treasures. I’ve even had my face on an Australian stamp, the only non-Australian to do so, apart from the Queen, of course. It’s so, so…unreasonable."

The Oscar winner was included in a set of Australian stamps in 2009 

Photo credit: AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File, Getty