FORMER Super League and NRL forward George Burgess has secured a lead role in the film ‘Beast’, alongside Russell Crowe.

Burgess, who had spells with South Sydney Rabbitohs and St George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL as well as Bradford Bulls and Wigan Warriors in Super League, first ventured into acting in 2018 with his feature film debut in Locusts.

The 34-year-old then moved into theatre the following year, winning the People’s Choice Award for Not So Enchanted.

Burgess recently starred in a small role in the 2024 action thriller Land of Bad and also appeared in Spartacus: House of Ashur.

His new film, ‘Beast’, is an MMA fighting drama as the former England international explains how he came to move into film and theatre.

“One of four brothers and a twin, I was kind of the odd one out in terms of being creative,” Burgess told The Daily Telegraph.

“I used to draw and paint and sing, and did drama class when I was in school, and I first felt like I was at home there. I got the lead in the first school play that we ever did, and that was the start for me, being on stage in front of the rest of the school and playing this character. From then on, it was always in my brain. And things happen along the way – you become an awkward teenager, and you get embarrassed, you’ve got all the brothers that maybe shy you away from it … but when I felt like I could do it again, in my mid 20s, I started revisiting it, and I found a love for it again.

“And now we’re here. So I’m not playing sports anymore, and I can do my dream. The fuse was lit very early in my life, long before sport was.

“Sport, for me, was never gonna be my thing. I was studying art and drama … and then my dad passed away when I was 15, and my brothers we decided that we were gonna try and play professionally together, to pay homage to his legacy. And that’s what we did.”