Rene Russo
Overview
Russo was born in Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....

, California, the daughter of Shirley (née Balocca), a factory worker and barmaid, and Nino Russo, a sculptor and car mechanic who left the family when Rene was two. Her father and maternal grandfather were of Italian
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...

 descent. Russo grew up with her sister, Toni, and their single mother. She attended Burroughs High School
John Burroughs High School
John Burroughs High School is a public high school located in Burbank, California. Emilio Urioste, Jr. is the current principal. The school was built in the 1920s, but wasn't established as a high school until 1948. The school was named after naturalist John Burroughs...

 (where her classmates included director Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...

), but eventually dropped out in the tenth grade
Tenth grade
In majority of the world,Tenth grade is the tenth year of school post-kindergarten. The variants of "10th grade" in various nations is described below.-Australia:...

.
Quotations

It never really dawned on me that, gee, I'm 45 and I'm taking off my clothes. For me it was a matter of living inside the character.

On her nude scenes in The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

All of us are broken - some of use more than others. It might be a nurturing, mother thing. I do think there is that, "Oh my God, you're hurting. I know what that feels like and I'd like to be there and support you in that."

 
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