In film, he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for Shine (1996), and was nominated again for his performance in Quills (2000). He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Shakespeare in Love (1998) and The King's Speech (2010). He is particularly known for his role as Captain Barbossa in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, and has appeared in films including Elizabeth (1998), Les Miserables (1998), Frida (2001), Munich (2005), and The Book Thief (2013).
Over his career he has won an Academy Award, three British Academy Film Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. Rush is the founding president of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts and was named the 2012 Australian of the Year.[5][6][7]