Eric Bana was born on 9 August 1968, to mother Eleanor, a hairdresser, and father Ivan Bana, a logistics manager for Caterpillar Inc. He was born in Victoria, Melbourne and raised in Tullamarine. He attended Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School. He is of white ethnicity and of Australian nationality. He has a height of 6 feet and 2 inches. Eric Bana, who enjoyed entertaining his family members by doing mimicry, thought about pursuing acting as his future career when he watched Mel Gibson in Mad Max (1979).
But it was when he was working as a barman at Melbourne's Castle Hotel he started thinking seriously about performing arts and comedy as his career. Working as a barman and waiting tables was what kept him sustainable and stand-up comedy was his passion. Two years later, in 1993, he made his first television debut on Steve Vizard's late night talk show Tonight Live.
His performance at the talk show attracted the producers of Full Frontal and he was invited to join the crew of cast and writers. His original material based on his family members and popular impressions of Columbo, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Tom Cruise made him popular among fans. He later went on to record a comedy album Out of Bounds in 1994. Additionally, he won the Logie Awards for Most Popular Comedy personality for Full Frontal in 1997.
In 1996, he had his show named The Eric Bana Show Live that aired for 17 episodes. In 2000, he played the character of Joe Sabatini in the television series Something in the Air. He appeared as the character for 202 episodes.
In 1997, he debuted in the silver screen as Con Petropoulous in the movie The Castle. His role in the Chopper as Mark Read in 2000 became famous among fans and among critics. He also won Australian Film Institute Award for the Best Actor in a Leading Role for his role in Chopper. He won the same award in 2007 for his role in the movie Romulus, My Father as well.
His role as Nero, a villainous character in Star Trek (2009) put him in nominations for Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Villian and Scream Award for Best Villian later, the same year. He has also been the part of the commercially successful movies Black Hawk Down (2001), starring Josh Hartnett, Hulk (2003) and Troy (2004) starring Brad Pitt. Hulk also gave him an appearance in a video game in the same name in 2003.
He has voiced an animation character named Anchor in Finding Nemo (2003) and also the role of Damien Popodopolous in Mary and Max (2009). He has produced and directed a documentary named Love the Beast (2009).
He was last seen in 2017 in the movie King Arthur: Legend of the Sword as Uther Pendragon.
Bana is married to wife Rebecca Gleeson, a publicist with Seven Network. Bana and Gleeson married in 1997, after 2 years of dating each other. They have two children, a son named Klaus and a daughter Sophia. They reside in Melbourne.
Though his salary per movie is not known, Eric Bana has an estimated net worth of $40 million. He is fond of motor racing and has many luxury cars in his garage including Porche 994, just to compete in Australia's Porche Challenge.
