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Geoffrey Rush was born in Toowoomba, Queensland on July 6th, 1951, to an accountant father and shop assistant mother. He moved to Brisbane, when his parents split. After school, Rush took an arts degree at the University of Queensland (the institution years later awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Letters) where, acting in a revue in 1971, he was spotted and recruited by the Queensland Theatre Company. In addition to honing his skills with the classics, Rush lived in Paris for two years, where he studied pantomime at the Jacques Lecoq School of Mime.

After returning to Australia, the actor resumed his stage work, at one point co-starring in Waiting for Godot with former roommate Mel Gibson. He spent much of the early '80s as part of director Jim Sharman's Lighthouse troupe and he also began working in film; his debut came in the 1981 Hoodwink, which also featured a young Judy Davis.

Rush continued to appear in Australian films and on the stage, directing a number of theatrical productions in addition to acting in them. His big international break came in the form of the aforementioned Shine; following the adulation surrounding his performance as the unbalanced piano prodigy, Rush began to garner substantial roles in a number of high-profile projects. First was Gillian Armstrong's Oscar and Lucinda (1997), in which he played Oscar's great-grandson. The following year the actor drew raves for his work in Elizabeth, which featured him as the Queen's casually sinister confidant, and Shakespeare in Love, for which he again donned tights, this time to play a debt-ridden theater owner. His work in that film scored him his second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Supporting Actor. The same year, he could also be seen as the dastardly Inspector Javert in Bille August's adaptation of Les Miserables.

In 1999, Rush exchanged the past for the future with Mystery Men. Starring as the dastardly Casanova Frankenstein, he shared the screen with an unlikely assortment of actors, including Greg Kinnear, Janeane Garofalo, Ben Stiller, and Paul Reubens. The same year, he starred as an eccentric millionaire who invites a few guests (including Bridgette Wilson, Taye Diggs, and Peter Gallagher) over for some tea and terror in the remake of William Castle's 1958 classic The House on Haunted Hill.

At this point audiences in the know were indeed well aware of Rush's versitility, and any actor able to move from the campy, big budget B-horror to the Oscar nominated art-house antics of Quills had little need to prove himself to either critics or audiences. Though he may not have taken home the trophy at the 2001 Academy Awards, his performance as the Marquis de Sade in Quills drew praise from nearly every corner of the critical spectrum and Rush was now recognized as one of the premier talents of his generation. Whether appearing in such deadly serious independent drama as Frida or wide release cotton candy as The Banger Sisters, Rush was never anything less than fascinating to watch and his enthusiasm for his craft always managed to shine through into his performances. Though the film wasn't seen by the majority of stateside audiences, 2003's Swimming Upstream offered Rush in a meorable turn as the distant father of Australian swimmer Tony Figleton. After taking on one of Austrailia's most notorious outlaws in the 2003 drama Ned Kelley and offering vocal work for the popular Pixar family adventure Finding Nemo, Rush remained on this high seas - this time mostly above water - as the leader of an undead crew of pirates in the 2003 swashbuckler Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Though his menacing performance may have been slightly overshadowed by the flamboyant antics of co-star Johnny Depp, Rush nevertheless managed to craft one of the most complex and rousing villians in recent screen history. Next turning up as the hapless victim of a gold-digging maneater in the Coen Brothers' Intolerable Cruelty, Rush soon began preparation for his role as none other than the immortal Inspector Clouseau in the made-for-television biography The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.

Now considered one of Australia's most popular and distinguished actors, Geoffrey Rush will hopefully continue entertaining the world for many years to come.

Movie Credits
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2006) - Sir Francis Walsingham
Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (2007) - Captain Barbossa
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) - Captain Barbossa
Candy (2006) - Casper
Munich (2005) - Ephraim
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) - Peter Sellers
Intolerable Cruelty (2003) - Donovan Donaly
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) - Barbossa
Finding Nemo (2003) (voice) - Nigel
Ned Kelly (2003) - Francis Hare
Swimming Upstream (2003) - Harold Fingleton
The Banger Sisters (2002) - Harry Plummer
Frida (2002) - Leon Trotsky
Lantana (2001) - John Knox
The Tailor of Panama (2001) - Harold 'Harry' Pendel
The Magic Pudding (2000) (voice) - Bunyip Bluegum
Quills (2000) - The Marquis de Sade
House on Haunted Hill (1999) - Stephen H. Price
Mystery Men (1999) - Casanova Frankenstein
Shakespeare in Love (1998) - Philip Henslowe
Elizabeth (1998) - Sir Francis Walsingham
Les Misérables (1998) - Inspector Javert
A Little Bit of Soul (1998) - Godfrey Usher
Children of the Revolution (1996) - Zachary Welch
Shine (1996) - David as an Adult
Call Me Sal (1996) - Wal
Dad and Dave: On Our Selection (1995) - Dave Rudd
Twelfth Night (1987) - Sir Andrew Aguecheek
Starstruck (1982) - Floor Manager
Hoodwink (1981) - Detective 1

... and many more.


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Geoffrey Rush was born in Toowoomba, Queensland on July 6th, 1951, to an accountant father and shop assistant mother. He moved to Brisbane, when his parents split. After school, Rush took an arts degree at the University of Queensland (the institution years later awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Letters) where, acting in a revue in 1971, he was spotted and recruited by the Queensland Theatre Company. In addition to honing his skills with the classics, Rush lived in Paris for two years, where he studied pantomime at the Jacques Lecoq School of Mime.

After returning to Australia, the actor resumed his stage work, at one point co-starring in Waiting for Godot with former roommate Mel Gibson. He spent much of the early '80s as part of director Jim Sharman's Lighthouse troupe and he also began working in film; his debut came in the 1981 Hoodwink, which also featured a young Judy Davis.

Rush continued to appear in Australian films and on the stage, directing a number of


[+] Show Full Biography