Early life

Rush was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, the son of Merle (Bischof), a department store sales assistant, and Roy Baden Rush, an accountant for the Royal Australian Air Force. His father was of English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry, and his mother was of German descent. His parents divorced when he was five, and his mother subsequently took him to live with her parents in suburban Brisbane. Before he began his acting career, Rush attended Everton Park State High School and graduated from the University of Queensland with Bachelor's Degree in Arts. 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 L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, before returning to resume his stage career with QTC. 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.

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 and 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 ongoing 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 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 and Company B Belvoir. 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 2010, Rush played Man in Chair in The Drowsy Chaperone on its Australian tour.

In 2011, Rush played the lead in a theatrical adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's short story 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.

From November 2011, Rush played the role of Lady Bracknell in the Melbourne Theatre Company production of The Importance of Being Earnest. 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.

Film career

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.

In 1998, he appeared in three major films: Les Misérables, Elizabeth, and Shakespeare in Love for which he received his second Academy Award nomination as Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

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 and He role the voice of Bunyip Bluegum in The Magic Pudding.

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 played actor Peter Sellers in the television film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. For this performance, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a 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 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.

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, in 2011. Rush is also preparing for a film version of The Drowsy Chaperone, an award-winning stage musical. In addition, he voiced the alien Tomar-Re in the film adaptation of the Green Lantern comic book series.

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.

In August 2011 he was appointed the foundation President of the newly formed Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts.

In 2013, Rush starred alongside Jim Sturgess in The Best Offer and the film version of the best-selling novel The Book Thief. On August 4, 2015, Rush appeared on the documentary TV series Who Do You Think You Are? on Series 7, Episode 1 on the SBS.

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). Rush lives in the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell, Victoria.

Filmography

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979-1981	Consumer Capers	Jim Boy	TV series
1981	Hoodwink	Detective 1
1981	Menotti		TV series
1982	Starstruck	Floor Manager
1987	Twelfth Night	Sir Andrew Aguecheek
1995	"Dad and Dave on our selection"	Dave
1996	Shine	David Helfgott (adult)	Academy Award for Best Actor Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor - Male Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Society of Texas Film Critics Award for Best Actor Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor Nominated - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated - Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
1996	Mercury	Bill Wyatt	TV series
1996	Children of the Revolution	Zachary Welch
1997	Frontier	Soldier Administrator David Collins	TV mini-series
1997	Oscar and Lucinda	Narrator	(voice)
1998	A Little Bit of Soul	Godfrey Usher	Nominated - Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1998	Elizabeth	Sir Francis Walsingham	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1998	Les Misérables	Inspector Javert
1998	Shakespeare in Love	Philip Henslowe	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated - Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor - Comedy/Romance Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
1999	Mystery Men	Casanova Frankenstein
1999	House on Haunted Hill	Stephen H. Price
2000	Quills	Marquis de Sade	Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated - Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Nominated - Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
2000	Magic Pudding, TheThe Magic Pudding	Bunyip Bluegum	(voice)
2001	The Tailor of Panama	Harold 'Harry' Pendel
2001	Lantana	John Knox
2002	Frida	Leon Trotsky
2002	Banger Sisters, TheThe Banger Sisters	Harry Plummer
2003	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	Captain Hector Barbossa	Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Villain Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2003	Swimming Upstream	Harold Fingleton	Nominated - Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated - Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor - Male Nominated - Inside Film Award for Best Actor
2003	Ned Kelly	Superintendent Francis Hare
2003	Finding Nemo	Nigel	(voice)
2003	Intolerable Cruelty	Donovan Donaly
2003	Harvie Krumpet	Narrator	(voice)
2004	Life and Death of Peter Sellers, TheThe Life and Death of Peter Sellers	Peter Sellers	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Nominated - British Independent Film Award for Best Actor Nominated - London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film
2005	Munich	Mossad case officer Ephraim	Nominated - Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
2006	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	Captain Hector Barbossa	Cameo (Uncredited)
2006	Candy	Casper	Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated - Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
2007	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	Captain Hector Barbossa
2007	Elizabeth: The Golden Age	Sir Francis Walsingham
2008	$9.99	Angel	(voice)
2009	Bran Nue Dae	Father Benedictus
2010	Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole	Ezylryb & Lyze of Kiel (voice only)	(voice) Nominated - Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
2010	King's Speech, TheThe King's Speech	Lionel Logue	Also Producer BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor Santa Barbara International Film Festival for Best Ensemble Cast Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble Nominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Denver Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - National Movie Award for Best Performance of the Year Nominated - North Texas Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Nominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated - St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
2010	Lowdown	Narrator	(voice)
2010	Warrior's Way, TheThe Warrior's Way	Ron
2011	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	Captain Hector Barbossa	Nominated - People's Choice Award for Favorite Ensemble Movie Cast
2011	Green Lantern	Tomar-Re	(voice)
2011	Eye of the Storm, TheThe Eye of the Storm	Basil Hunter	Nominated - AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated - Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actor - Male Nominated - Inside Film Award for Best Actor
2013	The Best Offer	Virgil Oldman
2013	The Book Thief	Hans Hubermann	Nominated - AACTA International Award for Best Supporting Actor
2014	Unity	Narrator	Documentary
2015	The Daughter	Henry
2015	Minions	The Narrator	Voice
2015	Holding the Man	Barry
2016	Gods of Egypt	Ra
2017	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales	Captain Hector Barbossa	Post-production

Award and nominations

Academy Awards

Year	Category	Film	Result
1996	Best Actor	Shine	Won
1998	Best Supporting Actor	Shakespeare in Love	Nominated
2002	Best Actor	Quills	Nominated
2010	Best Supporting Actor	The King's Speech	Nominated

BAFTA Awards

Year	Category	Film	Result
1996	Best Actor in a Leading Role	Shine	Won
1998	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Elizabeth	Won
1998	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Shakespeare in Love	Nominated
2002	Best Actor in a Leading Role	Quills	Nominated
2010	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	The King's Speech	Won

Golden Globe Awards

Year	Category	Film	Result
1996	Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama	Shine	Won
1998	Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture	Shakespeare in Love	Nominated
2002	Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama	Quills	Nominated
2004	Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film	The Life and Death of Peter Sellers	Won
2010	Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture	The King's Speech	Nominated

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.
• Appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2014, one of Australia's highest civilian honours, for eminent service to the arts as a theatre performer, motion picture actor and film producer, as a role model and mentor for aspiring artists, and through support for, and promotion of, the Australian arts industry.
• 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

[ Source: Wikipedia ]