Geoffrey Rush burst onto the international stage at the age of 45 when he won the Best Actor Oscar for SHINE. At 20 years of age he made his professional debut in 1971 and spent the next 25 years in the major theatre companies across Australia.

Of only 24 performers internationally honoured with the Triple Crown of Acting – Geoffrey is the youngest with the Oscar for Shine (1997); Emmy for The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers (HBO - 2005) and a Tony for his Broadway debut in EXIT THE KING (2009). He is proud that two of these homegrown productions were made in Australia. He’s also been Oscar-nominated for the Marquis de Sade in Quills and for his roles in the Best Picture Oscars Shakespeare In Love and The King’s Speech.

Honoured for his contribution to world cinema with Berlin’s Camera d’Or (2017), at Karlovy Vary Festival (2022), and TIFF (Romania 2023), he thrives on diverse characters: Albert Einstein in Genius; Nigel the Pelican (Finding Nemo - Best Animated Film 2004), Leon Trotsky in FRIDA and Captain Barbossa in all five Pirates of the Caribbean.

Subsequently in the theatre he has played Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest; toured Gogol’s Diary Of A Madman across Australia and to Moscow, St Petersburg and New York as well as King Lear to add to his extensive repertoire of Shakespeare.

He has won 3 BAFTAS, 4 Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Globes. His most recent award-winning film was the acclaimed psychological thriller The Rule Of Jenny Pen (2024). He was the founding President of AACTA (2011 – 2017), appointed as a Commander of the Order of Australia in 2014 and was Patron of the Melbourne International Film Festival (2001 – 2017).