A Beautiful Mind

The true story of prominent mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. is the subject of this biographical drama from director Ron Howard . Russell Crowe stars as the brilliant but arrogant professor Nash, who seems guaranteed a rosy future in the early '50s after he marries beautiful student Alicia ( Jennifer Connelly ) and makes a remarkable advancement in the foundations of "game theory," taking him to the brink of international acclaim. When he is recruited by a CIA agent ( Ed Harris ) to provide assistance to the military with top-secret code-breaking duties, however, the stress of Nash's demanding new covert activities leads to the shattering of his fragile grip on reality, and he becomes a paranoid schizophrenic. Battling decades of illness with the loyal Alicia by his side, Nash is ultimately able to recover his mental health and eventually goes on to triumphantly win the Nobel Prize. Based loosely on the book of the same name by Sylvia Nasar, A Beautiful Mind (2001) co-stars Paul Bettany , Adam Goldberg , Anthony Rapp , Christopher Plummer , and Judd Hirsch . — Karl Williams