What Is Geoffrey Rush’s Net Worth, Career, Biography, Facts, Age, Life Story

Geoffrey Rush is an Australian actor and film producer who has a net worth of $40 million. Rush is credited as being one of the few people to have won the Triple Crown of Acting, an Academy Award, Tony Award, and Emmy Award. Geoffrey was named Australian of the Year in 2012, and he served as President of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts from 2011 to 2017. Rush has appeared in more than 60 film and television projects, including “Shine” (1996), “Shakespeare in Love” (1998), “Quills” (2000), “The King’s Speech” (2010), “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers” (2004), and “Genius” (2017).

He has also played Captain Hector Barbossa in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise (2003–present), which has grossed more than $4.5 billion at the box office. Geoffrey has lent his voice to the animated hits “Finding Nemo” (2003), “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” (2010), and “Minions” (2015), and he produced “The King’s Speech” as well as “Macbeth” (2007) and “Storm Boy” (2019). Rush has appeared in numerous theatrical productions, winning a Tony for Best Actor in a Play for “Exit the King” in 2009.

Early Life

Geoffrey Rush was born Geoffrey Roy Rush on July 6, 1951, in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. His mother, Merle, was a sales assistant at a department store, and his father, Roy, worked for the Royal Australian Air Force as an accountant. After his parents divorced in the mid-1950s, Geoffrey and his mother moved to Brisbane to live with her parents. Rush attended Everton Park State High School, then he enrolled at the University of Queensland, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972. In 1997,  he received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Queensland, and he was named their Alumnus of the Year in 1998. While attending college, Geoffrey began working with Queensland Theatre Company, appearing in 17 plays. He traveled to Paris in 1975 and spent two years studying theatre, mime, and movement at L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq.

Career

In 1980, Rush was cast as Father Peter Fuller on the Australian television series “Menotti,” and he made his film debut in 1981’s “Hoodwink.” He then appeared in the films “Starstruck” (1982) and “Twelfth Night” (1986) and the miniseries “Frontier” (1987). Geoffrey got his big break when he landed the role of David Helfgott in 1996’s “Shine,” which earned him several awards, including an Oscar. In 1998, he portrayed Inspector Javert in “Les Misérables,” Sir Francis Walsingham in “Elizabeth,” and Philip Henslowe in “Shakespeare in Love.” In 1999, Rush starred in the superhero comedy “Mystery Men” and the horror movie “House on Haunted Hill,” then he portrayed the Marquis de Sade in 2000’s “Quills.” He played Leon Trotsky in “Frida” (2002) and appeared in “The Tailor of Panama” (2001), “Lantana” (2002), “The Banger Sisters” (2002), “Swimming Upstream” (2003), “Ned Kelly” (2003), “Intolerable Cruelty” (2003), “Munich” (2005), and “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (2007), and he voiced Nigel the pelican in 2003’s “Finding Nemo,” which brought in $940.3 million at the box office.

In 2004, Rush played the title role in the HBO movie “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers” and won an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance. Geoffrey played Lionel Logue in 2010’s “The King’s Speech,” which earned him his fourth Academy Award nomination, then he starred in “The Eye of the Storm” (2011), “The Best Offer” (2013), and “The Book Thief” (2013). In 2015, he appeared in “The Daughter” and “Holding the Man” and served as the narrator in the massive hit “Minions,” which grossed $1.159 billion at the box office. Rush played the sun deity Ra in 2016’s “Gods of Egypt,” and in 2017, he appeared in the film “Final Portrait” and portrayed Albert Einstein in the National Geographic miniseries “Genius,” which earned him nominations from the Primetimes Emmys, Golden Globes, and Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2019, he executive produced and starred in the family drama “Storm Boy,” which is based on a 1964 Colin Thiele novella of the same name.

Personal Life

Geoffrey married actress Jane Menelaus on November 20, 1988, and they welcomed daughter Angelica in 1992 and son James in 1995. In November 2017, the tabloid “The Daily Telegraph” reported that Rush had engaged in “inappropriate behaviour” with a co-star onstage during a Sydney Theatre Company production of “King Lear.” Eryn Jean Norvill alleged that Geoffrey had “touched her genitals during the production of ‘King Lear’ without her consent” on five consecutive nights in 2015. Rush filed a defamation lawsuit against “The Daily Telegraph” and he was awarded $850,000 in November 2018. The following month, the publication was ordered to pay Geoffrey $2.87 million.

In December 2018, “The New York Times” interviewed actress Yael Stone (best known for her role on “Orange Is the New Black”), who alleged that Rush had committed sexual misconduct when they co-starred in a production of “Diary of a Madman” in 2010 and 2011. She revealed that the two shared a dressing room and that Geoffrey tried to watch her while she was showering. Stone stated, “I remember I looked up to see there was a small shaving mirror over the top of the partition between the showers and he was using it to look down at my naked body.” She also said that Rush danced naked in front of her and sent her vulgar text messages. Geoffrey responded by accusing Yael of making allegations that were “incorrect and in some instances have been taken completely out of context.”

Awards and Honors

Rush has received four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Actor in a Leading Role for “Shine.” His other nominations were for “Shakespeare in Love” (Best Actor in a Supporting Role), “Quills” (Best Actor in a Leading Role), and “The King’s Speech” (Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role). He also received Golden Globe nominations for those four films (winning for “Shine”) as well as “Genius,” and he won the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television for “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.” Geoffrey won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers,” and he was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for “Genius.” He has earned nine Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, winning Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for “Shine,” Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers,” Outstanding Performance by a Cast for “Shakespeare in Love,” and Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for “The King’s Speech.”

Rush has also won awards from the BAFTA Awards, 20/20 Awards, British Independent Film Awards, Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, Chlotrudis Awards, Gold Derby Awards, Hollywood Film Awards, Online Film & Television Association, Satellite Awards, and several film critic associations. The Australian Film Institute honored him with a Global Achievement Award in 2003 and an AFI Raymond Longford Award in 2009, and he received a Chauvel Award at the 2004 Brisbane International Film Festival and a Montecito Award at the 2011 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. In 2009, Australia Post released special edition “Australian Legends” stamps, and Geoffrey appeared as himself and as his character from “Shine.”