Geoffrey Rush

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Geoffrey Rush

Birth name Geoffrey Roy Rush
Born July 06, 1951 (age 55)
Flag of Australia Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Spouse(s) Jane Menelaus
Notable roles David Helfgott in Shine
Peter Sellers in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
Hector Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean
Academy Awards
Best Actor
1996 Shine
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Mini-Series or a Movie
2005 The Life and Death of Peter Sellers

Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian Academy Award and Emmy Award winning actor.

Contents

[edit] Background

He was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, the son of Roy and Merle Rush. Before he began his acting career, he attended Everton Park State High School. He began his acting career with the Queensland Theatre Company in Brisbane. In 1975, Rush took off for Paris for a couple of years, and studied mime and pantomime at the famous Jacques Le Coq School Of Mime, then returned to Australia to resume his stage career. He also has an Arts Degree from the University of Queensland. While at university, he roomed with Mel Gibson.

Geoffrey Rush has appeared on stage for Company B, the Brisbane Arts Theatre, as well as in many other theatre venues, and has worked as a theatre director.

Geoffrey Rush also appeared in the William Shakespeare plays, The Winter's Tale with the South Australia Theatre Company in 1987 (at The Playhouse in Adelaide, South Australia), and Troilus and Cressida (at the Old Museum Building in 1989). He also appeared in an on-going production of The Importance of Being Earnest as John Worthing.

[edit] Film career

Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa, as depicted in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa, as depicted in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Geoffrey Rush's film debut was in the Australian film Hoodwink in 1981. His next film was in Gillian Armstrong's Starstruck, the following year. In 1996, he starred in Shine, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. From that point on, his career skyrocketed.

In 1998 he appeared in three major films: Les Misérables, in which he played Inspector Javert; Elizabeth, in which he played the suspicious Sir Francis Walsingham; and Shakespeare in Love in which he played the acting company manager who remained calm in the midst of chaos (and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor).

In September, 1998, Rush played the title role in the Beaumarchais play "The Marriage of Figaro" for the Queensland Theatre Company. This was the opening production of the Optus Playhouse, at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre at South Bank in Brisbane. A pun on Geoffrey Rush's name (and the circumstances), was used in the opening prologue of the play with the comment that the "Optus Playhouse was opening with a Rush".

In 2000, he received his third Academy Award nomination, for Quills, in which he played the Marquis de Sade.

Rush's career continued at a fast pace, with nine films released from 2001 through 2003. He starred in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, as Captain Hector Barbossa, also appearing in its sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and will reprise his role in the third title. Rush reprised his character's voice for the enhancements at the Pirates of the Caribbean attractions at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom theme parks, which involved an Audio-Animatronic with Rush's likeness being installed.

Geoffrey Rush played actor Peter Sellers in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. For this performance, he won an Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Mini-series or Movie.

In 2005, he starred in Steven Spielberg's film Munich as Ephraim, a cold Mossad officer.

In 2006, Rush hosted the Australian Film Institute Awards for the Nine Network.

[edit] Personal life

Geoffrey Rush currently lives in Camberwell, a suburb of Melbourne. He has become involved in the preservation of heritage and architecture, becoming a figurehead for a campaign for the preservation of Camberwell Railway Station from demolition by developers and championing a National Trust of Australia (Victoria) poll for the Victorian Heritage Icons Awards.

Since 1988, Rush has been married to Jane Menelaus, with whom he has a daughter, Angelica (b. 1992) and a son, James (b. 1995).

As of 2007, Rush has never gotten his driver's license.[citation needed]

[edit] Awards won

  • 1996 - Best Actor in a Lead Role at the American Film Institute Awards, for his role in Shine
  • 1997 - Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Academy Awards, for his role in Shine
  • 1997 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama at the Golden Globes, for his role in Shine
  • 2003 - Global Achievement Award at the AFI Awards
  • 2005 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television at the Golden Globes for his role in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
  • 2005 - Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie at the Emmy Awards for his role in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers

[edit] Awards nominated

  • 1998 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role at the AFI Awards, for his role in A Little Bit of Soul
  • 1999 - Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the Academy Awards, for his role in Shakespeare in Love
  • 1999 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture at the Golden Globes, for his role in Shakespeare in Love
  • 2001 - Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Academy Awards, for his role in Quills
  • 2001 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama at the Golden Globes, for his role in Quills
  • 2002 - Best Actor in a Leading Role at the AFI Awards, for his role in Swimming Upstream
  • 2006 - Best Supporting Actor at the AFI Awards, for his role in Candy

[edit] Filmography

Awards
Preceded by
Nicolas Cage
for Leaving Las Vegas
Academy Award for Best Actor
1996
for Shine
Succeeded by
Jack Nicholson
for As Good as It Gets
Preceded by
Al Pacino
for Angels in America
Emmy Award for Best Lead Actor in a Mini-Series or a Movie
2005
for The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
Succeeded by
Andre Braugher
Thief

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

References

Performance and cast list information:

Geoffrey Rush performance photos - as "John Worthing"

"The Importance of Being Earnest" — [1] , [2] , [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8]

Geoffrey Rush as Director

Director information and cast lists: