Meet 90s star Rene Russo's husband of 34 years and their actress daughter

Rene Russo married Oscar-nominated writer Dan Gilroy in March 1992. According to IMBd, the pair met while working on Freejack (1992) after a series of strange coincidences. Both had turned down offers on the project: Dan to rewrite it and Rene to star in it. Fortunately, they changed their minds, met and married the same year. 

The writer has an impressive list of credits, writing and directing Nightcrawler, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2015, co-wrote The Bourne Legacy, cult classic The Fall starring Lee Pace and six episodes of Star Wars spin-off Andor.

Rene Russo and Dan Gilroy’s only child, daughter Rose Gilroy was born on 31 August 1993 in Los Angeles. She has followed in the footsteps of both of her parents, working as an actor and screenwriter. Her first acting role was in the 2019 short film, Bella as Rinny, followed by a role in a short the same year State of the State in which she plays co-lead Cassie, one half of a couple struggling with an opioid addiction. She’s previously taken on a voice-acting role in 2 episodes of podcast drama The Edge of Sleep. 

She’s also followed her father into screenwriting with a co-writing credit on Fly Me to the Moon (2024) which starred Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum and Woody Harrelson. She’s further credited as a writer on upcoming feature The Pack with Florence Pugh set to star. 

Rene Russo didn’t set out to make it in the world of acting, although it seems she was destined to be in front of the camera. John Crosby scouted the model-turned-actress while Rene was still in high school and she quickly became one of the 1970s and 1980s favourite models, featuring on the cover of magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. 

Her first role was in the short-running 1980s superhero series, Sable, about a children’s book writer who transforms into a vigilante at night. In 1988, she starred as Elena in Meanwhile in Santa Monica, a short film about a family of Russian emigrants who run a small restaurant in Santa Monica.

Rene’s big break came a year later with 1989’s Major League though this was one of many romantic-interest roles that would follow in the next decade. Her first major role came in Lethal Weapon 3 where she played Mel Gibson’s love interest, LAPD Internal Affairs agent Lorna Cole, offering a more assertive character role and pushing her onto the A-list. She returned in the next Lethal Weapon instalment and then took on romantic heist remake The Thomas Crown Affair, starring opposite Pierce Brosnan. 

Rene took a break after a string of star performances in the 1990s  were followed by less successful roles in 2000s features like Big Trouble and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. The actress explained on The Queen Latifah Show in 2014 that she’d been spending time focussing on her mental health, starting medication after a bipolar diagnosis. During her hiatus, she partnered with California’s Department of Water and Power to design a sustainable garden that could adapt to droughts. 

She returned to acting in 2011’s Thor as the goddess Frigga, reprising the role in the film’s 2013 sequel and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. She also starred in husband Dan Gilroy’s written and directorial project Nightcrawler (2014), for which she received a BAFTA Film Award nomination.