Wins Oscar

Rush wins the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of pianist David Helfgott in Scott Hicks’s Shine. Susan Sarandon presents the award.

There’s a game you can play where you create a dinner party where you can invite guests from any time in history, real or fictional. The Academy has honored me by choosing to seat me as “David Helfgott” at a table with “Larry Flynt” and “Count Laszlo de Almásy” and “Karl Childers” and “Jerry Maguire.” I can’t quite imagine where the conversation might head that night, but it has really enriched me as an actor to be seated at that table.