Exactly twenty-five years ago, Geoffrey Rush appeared on the screens of the Karlovy Vary festival as David Helfgott, a talented pianist whose distinctive personality went against established, conventional norms of behavior, in the gripping drama Shine. For Czech audiences, it was probably the first encounter with this already well-respected representative of Australia’s theater scene, who after the age of forty conquered the world of cinema with his typical nonchalance.

That Shine would be the beginning of a more than memorable mission is reflected by the many awards that Geoffrey Rush earned for his performance in Scott Hicks’s film, above all a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar for Best Actor. Today, this much admired emissary of Australian film and theater, who has earned dozens of additional trophies and three more Academy Award nominations, is firmly entrenched in the global consciousness as a phenomenal and multifaceted actor capable of compellingly conveying the often surprising contradictions inherent to his characters.

The difficulty of meeting this challenge is only heightened by the fact that Rush, much more than many of his colleagues, tends to portray people who actually existed, including Lionel Logue, the speech therapist who helped King George VI successfully conquer his stutter (The King’s Speech), the revolutionary Leon Trotsky (Frida), the aristocrat and controversial author Marquis de Sade (Quills), one of the most beloved comic actors of the twentieth century (The Life and Death of Peter Sellers), sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti (Final Portrait), and Albert Einstein (Genius). And in the near future, we can look forward to his portrayal of the legendary Groucho Marx.

Generalizations are always tricky, especially when talking about such an original actor. And yet, period films and costume dramas whose stories are set in worlds different from our own clearly represent a challenge that Rush enjoys revisiting again and again. Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth, Les Misérables, and Pirates of the Caribbean – no costume is too alien, and his elegant, universal, and truly captivating acting style can without exaggeration be described as timeless.

One of Rush’s compatriots once said of him that the stage is his home and film is the country he likes to visit with a visa, only to come back to the stage. His homeland has long appreciated these constant returns, as evidenced by the fact that in 2011 Rush was made the first president of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts and a year later he was named Australian of the Year.

Karel Och