Geoffrey Rush at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting (from four nominations), three British Academy Film Awards (from five nominations), two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. He is the foundation President of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts. He is the 2012 Australian of the Year.[1][2]
Contents
Early life
Rush was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, to Merle (née Kiehne), a department store sales assistant, and Roy Baden Rush, an accountant for the Royal Australian Air Force.[3][4] His parents divorced when he was five and his mother subsequently took him to live with her parents in suburban Brisbane.[5] Before he began his acting career, Rush attended Everton Park State High School. He also has an arts degree from the University of Queensland.[6] While at university, he was talent-spotted by Queensland Theatre Company (QTC) in Brisbane. Rush began his career with QTC in 1971, appearing in 17 productions.
In 1975, Rush went to Paris for two years and studied mime, movement and theatre at the L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, before returning to resume his stage career with QTC.[4] In 1979, he shared an apartment with actor Mel Gibson for four months while they co-starred in a stage production of Waiting for Godot.[4][5][6]
Stage career
Rush made his theatre debut in the QTC's production of Wrong Side of the Moon. He worked with the QTC for four years, appearing in roles ranging across classical plays & pantomime, from Juno and the Paycock to Hamlet on Ice. Following these, Rush left for Paris where he studied further.
Rush's acting credits include Shakespeare's plays, The Winter's Tale (with the State Theatre Company of South Australia in 1987 at The Playhouse in Adelaide), and Troilus and Cressida (at the Old Museum Building in 1989). He also appeared in an on-going production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest as John Worthing (Ernest) (in which his wife, Jane Menelaus, appeared as Gwendolen).
In September 1998, Rush played the title role in the Beaumarchais play The Marriage of Figaro for the QTC. 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".
Rush has appeared on stage for the Brisbane Arts Theatre and in many other theatre venues. He has also worked as a theatre director.
In 2007, he starred as King Berenger in a production of Eugène Ionesco's Exit the King at the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne and Company B in Sydney, directed by Neil Armfield. For this performance, he received a Helpmann Award nomination for best male actor in a play.
Rush made his Broadway debut in a restaging of Exit the King under Malthouse Theatre's touring moniker Malthouse Melbourne. This restaging featured a new American cast including Susan Sarandon. The show opened on 26 March 2009 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Rush won the Outer Critics Circle Award, Theatre World Award, Drama Desk Award, the Distinguished Performance Award from the Drama League Award and the 2009 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play.
In 2011, Rush played the lead in a theatrical adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's short atory The Diary of a Madman at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Rush won for this role Helpmann Award and was nominated for the Drama Desk Award.[7]
From November 2011, Rush played the role of Lady Bracknell in the Melbourne Theatre Company production of The Importance of Being Earnest.[8] Other actors from the 1988 production include Jane Menelaus, this time as Miss Prism, and Bob Hornery, who had played Canon Chasuble, as the two butlers.[9]
Film career
 |
Rush at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. |
Rush made his film debut in the Australian film Hoodwink in 1981. His next film was Gillian Armstrong's Starstruck, the following year. In the coming years he appeared in small roles on television dramas, including a role as a dentist in a 1993 episode of the British television series Lovejoy. He made his breakthrough performance in 1996 with Shine, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, becoming the first Australian-born actor to win an Oscar.
In 1998, he appeared in three major films: Les Misérables, Elizabeth, and Shakespeare in Love.
In 1999, Rush took the lead role as Steven Price in the horror film House on Haunted Hill. 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 to 2003. He starred in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, as Captain Hector Barbossa, also appearing in its sequels, Dead Man's Chest, At World's End and On Stranger Tides.
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 (including one at Tokyo Disneyland). He also voiced Nigel the pelican in Finding Nemo.
 |
Rush at the Sydney premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in May 2011 |
Rush played actor Peter Sellers in the television film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. For this performance, he won an Emmy Award[10] for Best Actor in a Mini-series or Movie, a SAG Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture made for Television. In 2005, he starred in Steven Spielberg's Munich as Ephraim, a Mossad agent.
In 2006, Rush hosted the Australian Film Institute Awards for the Nine Network. He was the Master of Ceremonies again at the 2007 AFI Awards.
In 2010, Rush played speech therapist Lionel Logue in The King's Speech, a part that earned him a BAFTA and nominations for the Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actor.
Rush returned as Captain Hector Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, starring Johnny Depp. Rush is also preparing for a film version of The Drowsy Chaperone, an award-winning stage musical.[11] In addition, he voiced the alien Tomar-Re in the film adaptation of the Green Lantern comic book series.[12]
In the beginning of 2009, Rush appeared in a series of special edition postage stamps featuring some of Australia's internationally recognised actors. He, Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe, and Nicole Kidman each appear twice in the series. Rush's image is taken from Shine.[13]
In 2011, Rush made a cameo in a commercial, The Potato Peeler, for the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), playing a Polish peasant. He spoke his lines in Polish for the part.[14]
In August 2011 he was appointed the foundation President of the newly formed Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts.[15]
Personal life
Since 1988, Rush has been married to actress Jane Menelaus, with whom he has a daughter, Angelica (born 1992), and a son, James (born 1995). Geoffrey Rush lives in the eastern suburbs of Victoria, Australia.[3]
Filmography
Other awards
- Awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Queensland, in Australia.
- Awarded the Australian Centenary Medal in the 2001 Queen's New Year's Honours List for his services to the arts especially through a distinguished acting career.
- 2012: Australian of the Year
- 2011: Santa Barbara International Film Festival – Montecito Award
- 2009: Australian Film Institute Longford Life Achievement Award
- 2003: Australian Film Institute Awards – Global Achievement Award
- 2004: Brisbane International Film Festival – Chauvel Award
- 2003: Hollywood Film Festival for Supporting Actor of the Year
- 1994: Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards
References
- ^ Australian of the Year Awards 2012 Recipients
- ^ Singer, Jill "Rush to flat earth". Herald Sun. 24 March 2008.
- ^ a b Geoffrey Rush biography. Film Reference.com.
- ^ a b c Geoffrey Rush Biography. Tiscali.film & tv.
- ^ a b Geoffrey Rush biography. Yahoo! Movies.
- ^ a b Geoffrey Rush, 1997 Academy award winner. Alumni at University of Queensland.
- ^ "The Diary of a Madman". Bam.org. http://bam.org/view.aspx?pid=2650. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
- ^ "The Importance of Being Earnest :: Melbourne Theatre Company". Mtc.com.au. http://www.mtc.com.au/tickets/production.aspx?performanceNumber=3737. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
- ^ "The importance of being Geoffrey Rush" by Peter Craven, The Australian (12 November 2011)
- ^ Geoffrey Rush Emmy Winner
- ^ "Geoffrey Rush to Take a Seat in Drowsy Chaperone Film". Broadway. http://www.broadway.com/buzz/153520/geoffrey-rush-to-take-a-seat-in-drowsy-chaperone-film/. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
- ^ Vilensky, Mike (30 March 2011). "Geoffrey Rush Joins Green Lantern". New York. http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/03/tk_2.html. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
- ^ Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman Happy to Be Licked – On Stamps People, 4 February 2009
- ^ MIFF Trailer 2011 – The Potato Peelers. YouTube (2011-06-23). Retrieved on 2011-11-27.
- ^ "Rush named president of Australian Oscars". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 19 August 2011. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-19/geoffrey-rush-australian-academy/2846536.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Geoffrey Rush 
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Geoffrey Rush - Geoffrey Rush at the Internet Movie Database
- Geoffrey Rush at the Internet Broadway Database
- Geoffrey Rush – Stage acting credits
- Professional photographs of Geoffrey Rush – National Library of Australia
| Awards | ||
| Preceded by Simon McKeon |
Australian of the Year 2012 | Succeeded by Incumbent |
- Henry Fonda (1981)
- Ben Kingsley (1982)
- Robert Duvall (1983)
- F. Murray Abraham (1984)
- William Hurt (1985)
- Paul Newman (1986)
- Michael Douglas (1987)
- Dustin Hoffman (1988)
- Daniel Day-Lewis (1989)
- Jeremy Irons (1990)
- Anthony Hopkins (1991)
- Al Pacino (1992)
- Tom Hanks (1993)
- Tom Hanks (1994)
- Nicolas Cage (1995)
- Geoffrey Rush (1996)
- Jack Nicholson (1997)
- Roberto Benigni (1998)
- Kevin Spacey (1999)
- Russell Crowe (2000)
- Jack Thompson (1980)
- Mel Gibson (1981)
- Ray Barrett (1982)
- Norman Kaye (1983)
- John Hargreaves (1984)
- Chris Haywood (1985)
- Colin Friels (1986)
- Leo McKern (1987)
- John Waters (1988)
- Sam Neill (1989)
- Max von Sydow (1990)
- Hugo Weaving (1991)
- Russell Crowe (1992)
- Harvey Keitel (1993)
- Nicholas Hope (1994)
- John Lynch (1995)
- Geoffrey Rush (1996)
- Richard Roxburgh (1997)
- Hugo Weaving (1998)
- Russell Dykstra (1999)
- Ian Dunlop (1968)
- Stanley Hawes (1970)
- Ken G. Hall (1976)
- Charles Chauvel (1977)
- Marie Lorraine (1978)
- Paulette McDonagh (1978)
- Phyllis McDonagh (1978)
- Jerzy Toeplitz (1979)
- Tim Burstall (1980)
- Phillip Adams (1981)
- Eric Porter (1982)
- Bill Gooley (1983)
- David Williamson (1984)
- Don Crosby (1985)
- Barry Jones (1986)
- Nadia Tass (1986)
- David Parker (1986)
- Paul Riomfalvy (1987)
- Russell Boyd (1988)
- John Meillon (1989)
- Peter Weir (1990)
- Fred Schepisi (1991)
- Lee Robinson (1992)
- Sue Milliken (1993)
- Jack Thompson (1994)
- George Miller (1995)
- Jan Chapman (1997)
- Bud Tingwell (1998)
- John Politzer (1999)
- Anthony Buckley (2000)
- David Stratton (2001)
- Patricia Edgar (2002)
- Ted Robinson (2003)
- Patricia Lovell (2004)
- Ray Barrett (2005)
- Ian Jones (2006)
- David Hannay (2007)
- Dione Gilmour (2008)
- Geoffrey Rush (2009)
- Reg Grundy (2010)
- Donald McAlpine (2012)
- John Hurt (1980)
- Burt Lancaster (1981)
- Ben Kingsley (1982)
- Michael Caine / Dustin Hoffman (1983)
- Haing S. Ngor (1984)
- William Hurt (1985)
- Bob Hoskins (1986)
- Sean Connery (1987)
- John Cleese (1988)
- Daniel Day-Lewis (1989)
- Philippe Noiret (1990)
- Anthony Hopkins (1991)
- Robert Downey, Jr. (1992)
- Anthony Hopkins (1993)
- Hugh Grant (1994)
- Nigel Hawthorne (1995)
- Geoffrey Rush (1996)
- Robert Carlyle (1997)
- Roberto Benigni (1998)
- Kevin Spacey (1999)
- Ray McAnally (1989)
- Salvatore Cascio (1990)
- Alan Rickman (1991)
- Gene Hackman (1992)
- Ralph Fiennes (1993)
- Samuel L. Jackson (1994)
- Tim Roth (1995)
- Paul Scofield (1996)
- Tom Wilkinson (1997)
- Geoffrey Rush (1998)
- Jude Law (1999)
- Benicio del Toro (2000)
- Jim Broadbent (2001)
- Christopher Walken (2002)
- Bill Nighy (2003)
- Clive Owen (2004)
- Jake Gyllenhaal (2005)
- Alan Arkin (2006)
- Javier Bardem (2007)
- Heath Ledger (2008)
- Christoph Waltz (2009)
- Geoffrey Rush (2010)
- Christopher Plummer (2011)
- Kevin Bacon (1995)
- Geoffrey Rush (1996)
- Jack Nicholson (1997)
- Ian McKellen (1998)
- Russell Crowe (1999)
- Russell Crowe (2000)
- Russell Crowe (2001)
- Daniel Day-Lewis/Jack Nicholson (2002)
- Sean Penn (2003)
- Jamie Foxx (2004)
- Philip Seymour Hoffman (2005)
- Forest Whitaker (2006)
- Daniel Day-Lewis (2007)
- Sean Penn (2008)
- Jeff Bridges (2009)
- Colin Firth (2010)
- George Clooney (2011)
- Richard Easton (2001)
- Alan Bates (2002)
- Eddie Izzard (2003)
- Kevin Kline (2004)
- Brían F. O'Byrne (2005)
- Richard Griffiths (2006)
- Frank Langella (2007)
- Mark Rylance (2008)
- Geoffrey Rush (2009)
- Liev Schreiber (2010)
- Bobby Cannavale (2011)
- Kenneth Branagh (2001)
- Albert Finney (2002)
- William H. Macy (2003)
- Al Pacino (2004)
- Geoffrey Rush (2005)
- Andre Braugher (2006)
- Robert Duvall (2007)
- Paul Giamatti (2008)
- Brendan Gleeson (2009)
- Al Pacino (2010)
- Barry Pepper (2011)
- Brian Dennehy (2000)
- James Franco (2001)
- Albert Finney (2002)
- Al Pacino (2003)
- Geoffrey Rush (2004)
- Jonathan Rhys Meyers (2005)
- Bill Nighy (2006)
- Jim Broadbent (2007)
- Paul Giamatti (2008)
- Kevin Bacon (2009)
- Al Pacino (2010)
- Idris Elba (2011)
- Henry Fonda (1981)
- Ben Kingsley (1982)
- Robert Duvall (1983)
- F. Murray Abraham (1984)
- Jon Voight (1985)
- Bob Hoskins (1986)
- Michael Douglas (1987)
- Dustin Hoffman (1988)
- Tom Cruise (1989)
- Jeremy Irons (1990)
- Nick Nolte (1991)
- Al Pacino (1992)
- Tom Hanks (1993)
- Tom Hanks (1994)
- Nicolas Cage (1995)
- Geoffrey Rush (1996)
- Peter Fonda (1997)
- Jim Carrey (1998)
- Denzel Washington (1999)
- Tom Hanks (2000)
- John Gaden (2001)
- John Bell (2002)
- Colin Friels (2003)
- Darren Gilshenan (2004)
- Robert Menzies (2005)
- Greg Stone (2006)
- Jefferson Mays (2007)
- Richard Roxburgh (2008)
- Ben Winspear (2009)
- Ewen Leslie (2010)
- Geoffrey Rush (2011)
- Apollo 13 (1995) : Kevin Bacon, Tom Hanks, Ed Harris, Bill Paxton, Kathleen Quinlan, Gary Sinise
- The Birdcage (1996) : Hank Azaria, Christine Baranski, Dan Futterman, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane, Dianne Wiest, Robin Williams
- The Full Monty (1997) : Mark Addy, Paul Barber, Robert Carlyle, Deirdre Costello, Steve Huison, Bruce Jones, Lesley Sharp, William Snape, Hugo Speer, Tom Wilkinson, Emily Woof
- Shakespeare in Love (1998) : Ben Affleck, Simon Callow, Jim Carter, Martin Clunes, Judi Dench, Joseph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush, Antony Sher, Imelda Staunton
- American Beauty (1999) : Annette Bening, Wes Bentley, Thora Birch, Chris Cooper, Peter Gallagher, Allison Janney, Kevin Spacey, Mena Suvari
- Traffic (2000) : Steven Bauer, Benjamin Bratt, James Brolin, Don Cheadle, Erika Christensen, Clifton Collins, Jr., Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas, Miguel Ferrer, Albert Finney, Topher Grace, Luis Guzmán, Amy Irving, Tomás Milián, D. W. Moffett, Dennis Quaid, Peter Riegert, Jacob Vargas, Catherine Zeta-Jones
- Gosford Park (2001): Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Michael Gambon, Richard E. Grant, Tom Hollander, Derek Jacobi, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Ryan Phillippe, Maggie Smith, Geraldine Somerville, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sophie Thompson, Emily Watson, James Wilby
- Chicago (2002): Christine Baranski, Ekaterina Chtchelkanova, Taye Diggs, Denise Faye, Colm Feore, Richard Gere, Deidre Goodwin, Queen Latifah, Lucy Liu, Susan Misner, Mýa, John C. Reilly, Dominic West, Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003): Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Bernard Hill, Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, John Noble, Miranda Otto, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, Karl Urban, Hugo Weaving, David Wenham, Elijah Wood
- Crash (2005): Christopher "Ludacris" Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Thandie Newton, Ryan Phillippe, Larenz Tate
- Little Miss Sunshine (2006): Alan Arkin, Abigail Breslin, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Greg Kinnear
- No Country for Old Men (2007): Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Garret Dillahunt, Tess Harper, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Kelly Macdonald
- Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Rubina Ali, Tanay Chheda, Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar, Madhur Mittal, Dev Patel, Freida Pinto
- Inglourious Basterds (2009): Daniel Brühl, August Diehl, Julie Dreyfus, Michael Fassbender, Sylvester Groth, Jacky Ido, Diane Kruger, Mélanie Laurent, Denis Menochet, Mike Myers, Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Til Schweiger, Rod Taylor, Christoph Waltz, Martin Wuttke
- The King's Speech (2010): Anthony Andrews, Helena Bonham Carter, Jennifer Ehle, Colin Firth, Michael Gambon, Derek Jacobi, Guy Pearce, Geoffrey Rush, Timothy Spall
- Tom Hanks (1994)
- Nicolas Cage (1995)
- Geoffrey Rush (1996)
- Jack Nicholson (1997)
- Roberto Benigni (1998)
- Kevin Spacey (1999)
- Benicio del Toro (2000)
- Raúl Juliá (1994)
- Gary Sinise (1995)
- Alan Rickman (1996)
- Gary Sinise (1997)
- Christopher Reeve (1998)
- Jack Lemmon (1999)
- Brian Dennehy (2000)
- Ben Kingsley (2001)
- William H. Macy (2002)
- Al Pacino (2003)
- Geoffrey Rush (2004)
- Paul Newman (2005)
- Jeremy Irons (2006)
- Kevin Kline (2007)
- Paul Giamatti (2008)
- Kevin Bacon (2009)
- Richard Easton (2001)
- Alan Bates (2002)
- Brian Dennehy (2003)
- Jefferson Mays (2004)
- Bill Irwin (2005)
- Richard Griffiths (2006)
- Frank Langella (2007)
- Mark Rylance (2008)
- Geoffrey Rush (2009)
- Denzel Washington (2010)
- Mark Rylance (2011)