Danielle Spencer (born 16 May 1969) is an Australian actress, singer and songwriter.

Early life

Spencer is the daughter of Australian songwriter, singer and television entertainer

Don Spencer Donald Richard Spencer (born 22 March 1941),is an Australian children's television presenter, singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He had a long-running role on ''Play School'' on both the Australian version (1968–99) and the United Kingdom ...

and his wife Julie (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Horsfall), a

caterer Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major services b ...

from

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. She has an older brother, Dean. At age four, she began piano lessons. During her teens she began acting and composing her own tunes. Until the age of twelve, she spent her childhood and youth alternately in Australia and in

and

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, England, as her father worked in both countries for the BBC ''Play School''.

Career

Spencer grew up in close contact with the world of showbusiness. Occasionally she accompanied her father on his performances on stage. She took singing and acting lessons and dance classes in classical ballet and modern dance and jazz. From 1989 to 2000 she worked as an actress, especially for Australian television, primarily as an actress in TV series. Subsequently, the focus of her artistic activity shifted to the area of singer / songwriter. In 2001 she released her debut musical album, ''White Monkey''. After a family break, in February 2010 she released her second album, ''Calling All Magicians''. Under the direction of her husband, the music videos were made to the title songs and "Tickle Me" and "Wish I'd Been Here". In August 2011 Spencer for the first time gave two live concerts alongside her husband. The pair joined the musicians and actors

Alan Doyle Alan Thomas Doyle (born May 17, 1969) is a Canadian musician and actor, best known as the lead singer of the Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea. Life and career Alan Doyle was born and raised in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, in a Roman Cath ...

Kevin Durand Kevin Serge Durand (born January 14, 1974) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for portraying Vasiliy Fet in ''The Strain'', Joshua in '' Dark Angel'', Martin Keamy in ''Lost'', Fred J. Dukes / The Blob in '' X-Men Origins: Wolverine'', Barry ...

Scott Grimes Scott Christopher Grimes (born July 9, 1971) is an American actor and singer. Some of his most prominent roles include appearances in the 1984 cult classic ''The Night They Saved Christmas'', '' ER'' as Dr. Archie Morris, ''Party of Five'' as Wil ...

and the group Size2Shoes to present the Crowe / Doyle Songbook Vol III at St John´s, Newfoundland, Canada. Songs from this album relate, among others, to the novel ''

Dirt Music ''Dirt Music'' is a 2001 novel by Tim Winton. A 2002 Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel and winner of the 2002 Miles Franklin Award, it has been translated into Russian language, Russian, French language, French, German language, German, Dutch lan ...

'' by the Australian novelist

Tim Winton Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the Miles Fr ...

. Spencer gives live concerts on a regular basis. For her live concert tour in October 2011, titled "Alone and Together", she joined Australian bass player Steve Balbi. In March 2012, Spencer was announced as a contestant for season 12 of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

'' on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

in which she placed second. Her professional partner was

Damian Whitewood Damian Whitewood is an Australian dancer and former dancesport competitor. Background Born and raised in Perth, Western Australia Damian was first introduced to ballroom dancing at the age of 10 through his older brother. His mother was also a ...

. Spencer is a supporter of the Australian Children’s Music Foundation (ACMF), an educational program for underprivileged and indigenous children in Australia. She´s supporter of women’s cancer programs as the ''Pink Ribbon Breakfast'' for breast cancer and ''The Girls Night''. In 1987 Danielle Spencer starred in ''Rasputin'' as one of the Tsar's daughters and dated Terry Serio who also starred in the same musical as Prince Felix.

Personal life

Spencer began an

on-again, off-again relationship An on-again, off-again relationship (also known as an on–off or off–on relationship) is a form of personal relationship between two persons who keep breaking up only to reconcile afterwards, thus repeating a cycle. Researcher Kale Monk, an a ...

with actor

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...

in 1989, when they co-starred in the movie '' The Crossing''. The film appeared in Australian cinemas in 1990. Crowe and Spencer married on 7 April 2003 at Crowe's farm in

Nana Glen, New South Wales Nana Glen is a small village in New South Wales, Australia, located 25 km inland north-west of Coffs Harbour in the City of Coffs Harbour. It is located on the Orara Way and at the juncture of two main roads, one leading to Lower Bucca. ...

. They have two sons: one born in 2003 and another in 2006. In October 2012, it was reported that Crowe and Spencer had separated. The divorce was finalized in April 2018.

Discography

Albums

* ''White Monkey'' (EMI, 1 May 2002) * ''Calling All Magicians'' (15 February 2010)

Singles

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* *
Collection of video clips showing interviews and Spencer performing songs on thoroughlyrussellcrowe.com
Retrieved 26 December 2011
Photo portrait Danielle Spencer dated October 2011 on dailytelegraph.com.au
Retrieved 6 November 2011
Official Myspace

Danielle Spencer - Wish I'd Been Here on www.dailymusicguide.com
November 2009
Interview with Spencer on her work as a musician, December 2011, undercover interviews, retrievable on youtube.com
retrieved 15 December 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Danielle Living people Australian television actresses Australian women singers Australian film actresses People educated at Davidson High School Australian people of English descent Place of birth missing (living people) 1969 births Chatswood, New South Wales