Rene Russo Parents: Meet Nino Russo, Shirley Balocca Russo

Rene Russo is an accomplished actress who has been active in the entertainment industry for several decades.

Rene Russo was born in 1954 in Burbank, California, to Shirley a factory worker and barmaid, and Nino Russo, a sculptor and car mechanic who left the family when Russo was two.

Rene Russo’s father was of Italian descent, and her mother was of Italian, German, and English ancestry. Russo grew up with her mother and sister, Toni and attended Burroughs High School, where director Ron Howard was a student. She had scoliosis and had to wear a full-body brace.

Growing up, Russo stated that she “was too busy just trying to survive, along with my sister and my mom — money was tight, and my mom worked two jobs.”

She began working part-time jobs to support her family, such as in an eyeglass factory and as a movie theatre cashier. After being scouted for modelling, she moved to New York City, which she described as a “scary place compared to where I grew up.”

Russo originally began her career as a model. With Crosby’s encouragement, Russo applied to, and was signed by, Ford Modeling Agency. She became one of the top models of the 1970s and early 1980s