Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Rush
AC
Rush in 2017
Born
Geoffrey Roy Rush

(1951-07-06) 6 July 1951 (age 73)
Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Alma materUniversity of Queensland (BA)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • film producer
  • composer
Years active1971–present
Spouse
​
(m. 1988)​
Children2
AwardsFull list
Geoffrey Rush's voice
from the BBC program Front Row, 1 May 2013[1]

Geoffrey Roy Rush AC (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. Known for often playing eccentric roles on both stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Tony Award, making him the only Australian to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, in addition to three BAFTA Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. Rush is the founding president of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts and was named the 2012 Australian of the Year.[2][3][4]

Rush began his professional acting career with the Queensland Theatre Company in 1971. He studied for two years at the L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq starting in 1975. Rush starred in international productions of Waiting for Godot, The Winter's Tale and The Importance of Being Earnest. He made his Broadway debut in the absurdist comedy Exit the King in 2009, where he received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance.[5] He received a nomination for Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play for Diary of a Madman in 2011.[6]

He gained prominence for his role in Shine (1996), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor. His other Oscar-nominated roles were for Shakespeare in Love (1998), Quills (2000), and The King's Speech (2010). Rush gained mainstream popularity for his role as Captain Hector Barbossa in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (2003–2017). His other notable films include in Elizabeth (1998), Les Misérables (1998), Frida (2002), Finding Nemo (2003), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Munich (2005), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and The Book Thief (2013).

Rush is also known for his performances in television receiving Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie nominations for his portrayals of comedian Peter Sellers in the HBO film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), and scientist Albert Einstein in National Geographic anthology series Genius (2017), winning for the former.[7][8]

  1. ^ "Geoffrey Rush". Front Row. 1 May 2013. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  2. ^ "Geoffrey Rush". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  3. ^ "Geoffrey Rush". Australia Day Council. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  4. ^ Singer, Jill (24 March 2008). "Rush to flat earth". Herald Sun.
  5. ^ "Geoffrey Rush – From Oscar to Tony". CBS News. 2 June 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  6. ^ "Drama Desk Award Winners Announced". TheatreMania. 24 May 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  7. ^ "Q&A with Peter Sellers Geoffrey Rush". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  8. ^ "Genius review – Geoffrey Rush impresses as an unexpectedly racy Albert Einstein". The Guardian. 24 April 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2020.