Geoffrey Rush

He is neither young nor handsome, something unusual in the mecca of cinema. Being away from the typical heartthrob has opened the doors of dark, evil and disturbing characters, without him being able to stop playing the “good guy” in the film. He is, therefore, a good example of professionalism and versatility. This image of a “dad” is helped by the fact that he achieved international fame at the age of 45 thanks to Shine , when he already had an extensive career behind him.

He was born in Toowoomba, Queensland (Australia) in 1951. His interest in theater materialized in 1971, when he made his debut with his state company. At the beginning of it he made his work as an actor compatible with his studies in English philology. After graduating in 1975 he traveled to Paris, where he studied Mime and Gesture Theater at the Jaques Lecoq school. With the European experience on his back, Rush returned to Australia where he cultivated his facet as a stage actor to accumulate more than seventy works and numerous awards. And it is that in his professional career, the theater represents almost twice as many titles as the cinema, a world in which he debuted in 1981 with a supporting role in Hoodwink. From then on he combined his work in film, television and theater, although without standing out in the first two areas. In 1992 he suffered a nervous breakdown that kept him out of work. His return to the cinema came three years later, just a few months before finding the role that would open the doors of the Oscar and the Golden Globe for him, that of David in Shine (1996). It was his first leading role in a film and Rush gave the stature playing an exceptional pianist with serious mental problems. From that moment on he began to alternate the main characters with the secondary ones, something that has been very common in his filmography. Another constant also became palpable immediately, his collection of evil characters. His first chance to be the anti-hero came in Les Miserables.(1998), where he brought Liam Neeson ‘s character upside down .

His European career began with this title, which was completed with co-productions such as Elizabeth (1998) or Shakespeare in Love (1998), which earned him an Oscar nomination. His first completely American film was Mystery Men (1999), where he showed that he could be something more than bad, since for the occasion he returned to embody the villain, but with large doses of humor, since it was a parody of superhero movies. . His career in Hollywood continued with titles like House on Haunted Hill (1999) and Quills .(2000), another good dose of disturbing characters since in the first he was an extravagant and sadistic millionaire, and in the second the Marquis de Sade, a role that earned him another Oscar nomination. This dark side did not go unnoticed in Hollywood, and he was chosen by Gore Verbinski to play the evil pirate Barbossa in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy . A character who, despite not appearing in the second installment –except at the end and in a glorious way–, is very important in the story starring Johnny Depp , Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley . Rush refers to the evolution of his character in the series and states that in Pirates of the Caribbean: At the end of the world(2006) Barbossa’s mission is “to ensure that the true romantic heritage of pirates is upheld, and not falter before the cutthroat business world of the East India Trading Company.”

The dose of evil roles was covered, so his next job came from the hand of the Coen brothers in the comedy Intolerable Cruelty (2003), although his character was not exactly an angel. However, with Call Me Peter (2004) he did move completely away from the “dark side”. This biographical drama about comedy actor Peter Sellers earned him an Emmy, as it was a television project. And it is that his good work both on stage and in front of the cameras has been recognized in multiple ways. It is worth as one of them, that the king Midas of Hollywood, Steven Spielberg , chose him as a secondary for Munich (2005). He is currently waiting for the premiere ofElizabeth: the golden age , in which he has repeated with the director Shekhar Kapur and with Cate Blanchett , as it happened in Elizabeth. The actor plays the faithful adviser to the English queen, so, except from the Spanish point of view – an English enemy in those years – his character could be interpreted as good. And it is that he is not as fierce the lion as he is painted, and that is thanks to the versatility of the one who gives him life. Well, Rush’s good work is what has led him to be recognized and valued by both the public and the union. With this comforting panorama, he cannot help but lead a quiet life in Melbourne (Australia), where he shares his days with his wife Jane Menelaus and his children Angelica and James, aged 15 and 12. And it is that in his family it is also exceptional, since it is not frequent in the world that marriages last 19 years, as is the case of Geoffrey and Jane, who is also an actress.