Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Rush (b. 1951), stage and screen actor, grew up watching pantomime and vaudeville performances in his native Queensland, where he proceeded to act in university theatre groups and the Queensland Theatre Company. In the mid-1970s he attended the Jacques Lecoq School of Mime, Movement and Theatre in Paris; in the 1980s he worked with the State Theatre Company of South Australia. Rush's life changed forever when he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actor for portraying the pianist David Helfgott in the film Shine (1996). He also won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, an AFI Award, the New York Film Critics' Circle Award and the Los Angeles Film Critics' Association Award for the role. His other major awards include a Golden Globe and an Emmy for the telemovie The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2005) and a Tony for the Broadway production of Exit the King (2009). Since Shine, he has played leading roles in the films Elizabeth, Shakespeare in Love, Quills, the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and The King's Speech, while continuing to appear intermittently on stage in Australia and abroad. Geoffrey Rush is the Australian of the Year for 2012.