To compensate for his lack of social contacts, Crowe began writing for the school newspaper, and by age 13 was contributing music reviews for an underground publication called the San Diego Door. Regular high school activities included the Debate team and working on the underground campus newspaper Common Sense. He then began corresponding with legendary rock & roll critic, Lester Bangs, who had left the Door to become editor at the national rock magazine Creem, and soon Crowe was also submitting articles to Creem, Penthouse, Playboy, Crawdaddy, Music World, Circus and the Los Angeles Times.
After graduating from high school in 1972 at age
15, Crowe met the editor of Rolling Stone, Ben Fong-Torres, on a
trip to Los Angeles. He joined the staff of Rolling Stone as a
Contributing Editor and later went on to become an Associate Editor for
the magazine. During that time, Crowe profiled such influential
music-world figures as Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Neil Young, Eric Clapton
and the members of Led Zeppelin.About the time he began to notice his excitement for the work was waning, Rolling Stone moved its offices from the West Coast to New York, and Crowe decided to try his hand in other artistic endeavors. He appeared briefly in the 1978 film American Hot Wax, but then returned to his writing. Though he would continue to freelance for Rolling Stone on and off over the years, he turned the focus of his attention to a book about teens growing up in the late 70s.
In 1979, Crowe (then 22) went undercover as a southern California high schooler to research his book on teen life. Fast Times at Ridgemont High became a bestseller and Universal Pictures, which had optioned the book while it was still in galley form, signed Crowe to write the screenplay.
Released in the
spring of '82 and directed by Amy Heckerling, Fast Times at
Ridgemont High became one of the year's biggest hits and launched
the careers of such stars as Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge
Reinhold, Forest Whitaker, Nicolas Cage and Eric Stoltz. The Writers
Guild of America awarded Crowe with a nomination for Best Screen
Adaptation, and the film became an instant cult classic.Cameron still occasionally returned to his rock & roll roots, penning liner notes for Led Zeppelin, Peter Frampton, Lynyrd Skynyrd and even winning a Grammy nomination for his work on Bob Dylan's Biograph three-disc set.
In 1982, Cameron began dating Nancy Wilson of the legendary band Heart, and they were married on July 27, 1986. On January 23, 2000, Nancy and Cameron welcomed home their twin boys, William James Crowe (named after Billy Wilder and Crowe's late father, James) and Curtis Wilson Crowe (in honor of his wife and Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis, who introduced Crowe to Wilson).
In 1989, Crowe made his feature
film directorial debut with his original screenplay Say
Anything... The story of an off-beat loner (John Cusack) who goes
after the beautiful class valedictorian (Ione Skye), the film was well
received by audiences and critics alike and has since become a huge hit
on video and cable TV. Cameron's second movie set in Seattle was 1992's
romantic comedy Singles. The film featured strong performances
by an ensemble cast including Matt Dillon, Kyra Sedgwick, Campbell
Scott and Bridget Fonda, as well as a cameo appearance by Pearl
Jam.Crowe's next project, Jerry Maguire, starring Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger and Cuba Gooding Jr., was released in 1996 to enormous box office success and critical acclaim. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture, and Cuba Gooding Jr. took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Cameron also received a well-deserved nomination from the Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film, and in 1997 signed a three-year first-look deal with DreamWorks.
Published in November of 1999 by Knopf, Conversations with Wilder, a collection of interviews with legendary director Billy Wilder, kept Crowe busy as he put the finishing touches on his next screenplay. As a huge admirer of Wilder's work, Crowe felt it was important to document Wilder's thoughts as he was in his early nineties. "I learned a lot," said Crowe. "He is an international treasure and not a man who likes to be interviewed about his work."
Almost Famous, released in
September 2000, was the culmination of a ten-year journey to put
Cameron's experiences working for Rolling Stone on film. It was
cited on over 150 critic's Top 10 List's for 2000 and received six
Golden Globe and four Academy Award nominations. Almost Famous
received two Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical and
Best Supporting Actress (Kate Hudson), and Cameron received his first
Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.Vanilla Sky, a retelling of the Spanish film Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes), starred Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz and was released on December 14, 2001. Cameron Diaz received a Golden Globe nomination and Paul McCartney's title song was nominated for an Academy Award. The film mesmerized audiences (resulting in repeated viewings) and grossed over $200 million in worldwide box office sales.
Other Cameron Crowe projects include: a 1982 Tom Petty special for MTV (Heartbreaker's Beach Party); numerous music videos including Tom Petty's "Change of Heart", Paul Westerberg's "Dyslexic Heart" for Singles and Stillwater's "Fever Dog" for Almost Famous. In addition, he oversaw the Alice in Chains video "Would" (directed by Josh Taft) for Singles. In 2000, he conducted all the band interviews and produced Pearl Jam's home video ”Single Video Theory.” Making his foray into television in 2002, Cameron directed a commercial for the Gap entitled “Denim Invasion” starring Kate Beckinsale and Orlando Bloom.
Cameron’s latest film, Elizabethtown, which he described as "an ensemble comedy/drama" starred Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, and Susan Sarandon. Longtime Crowe collaborator Tom Petty received his sixteenth Grammy nomination for his song “Square One” that was featured in the film.
Cameron is currently writing his next screenplay.