Early Life and Family
Eric Bana was born Eric Banadinović in Melbourne, Victoria, the younger of two children; he has a brother, Anthony. He is of Croatian ancestry on his father's side. Bana's paternal grandfather, Mate Banadinović, moved to Argentina after the Second World War, and Bana's paternal grandmother emigrated to Germany and then to Australia in the 1950s with her son, Ivan (Bana's father). Bana's father was a logistics manager for Caterpillar, Inc., and Bana's German-born mother, Eleanor, was a hairdresser. Bana grew up in Melbourne's Tullamarine, a suburban area on the western edge of the city, near the main airport. In a cover story for The Mail on Sunday, he told author Antonella Gambotto-Burke that his family had suffered from racist taunts, and that it had distressed him. "Wog is such a terrible word," he said. He has stated: "I have always been proud of my origin, which had a big influence on my upbringing. I have always been in the company of people of European origin".
Showing acting skill early in life, Bana began doing impressions of family members at the age of six or seven, first mimicking his grandfather's walk, voice and mannerisms. In school, he mimicked his teachers as a means to get out of trouble. As a teen, he watched the Mel Gibson film Mad Max (1979), and decided he wanted to become an actor. However, he did not seriously consider a career in the performing arts until 1991 when he was persuaded to try stand-up comedy while working as a barman at Melbourne's Castle Hotel. His stand-up gigs in inner-city pubs did not provide him with enough income to support himself, so he continued his work as a barman and waiting tables.
Read more about this topic: Eric Bana
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or family:
“No two men see the world exactly alike, and different temperaments will apply in different ways a principle that they both acknowledge. The same man will, indeed, often see and judge the same things differently on different occasions: early convictions must give way to more mature ones. Nevertheless, may not the opinions that a man holds and expresses withstand all trials, if he only remains true to himself and others?”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“One of the important things to learn about parenting is that the more you worry about a child, the less the child will worry about him- or herself....instead of worrying, watch with fascination and wonder as your child’s life unfolds, and help the child take responsibility for his or her own life.”
—Charlotte Davis Kasl (20th century)
“Our society is not a community, but merely a collection of isolated family units.”
—Valerie Solanas (b. 1940)