Biography
Actor Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in a promotional picture from X-Men 3
Hugh Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor who portrayed Wolverine in X-Men (2000), X2: X-Men United (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). His other works include Swordfish (2001), Kate and Leopold (2001), Someone Like You (2001), and Van Helsing (2004).
Hugh Jackman was born on 12 October 1968, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, the youngest of five children of English-born Anglican parents. His mother left the family and went back to England when he was eight years old, and he remained behind with his father, an accountant with a degree from Cambridge. Jackman attended Knox Grammar School, an elite all-boys school in Wahroonga, New South Wales and graduated from the University of Technology, Sydney with a BA in Communications, having majored in journalism. Jackman's introduction to acting was by accident like many others, as he had to take an acting class as part of the requirements for a college diploma. Jackman became interested in the craft and sadly, a family member had passed on and left Jackman a small inheritance. The inheritance in turn, lead to Jackman attending the WAAPA in Perth, where he graduated in 1994.
During Hugh Jackman's stage musical career in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, he hosted both Melbourne's Carols by Candlelight and Sydney's Carols in the Domain.
Jackman married actress Deborra-Lee Furness in February of 1996. They met on the set of his first TV acting job in Corelli, an Australian television program. Jackman played an angry prisoner who fell in love with his counsellor, played by Furness. He and his wife adopted Oscar Maximilian Jackman, who was born on May 15, 2000. They adopted a second child, Ava Eliot Jackman, who was born on July 10, 2005.
Jackman played Gaston in the Melbourne production of Beauty and the Beast, Joe Gillis in the same city's production of Sunset Boulevard. He first became known outside of Australia when he played the leading role of Curly in the Royal National Theatre's acclaimed stage production of Oklahoma! in the West End of London in England, demonstrating his talent as a singer as well as an actor. On 6 June 2002, Hugh Jackman sang the role of Billy Bigelow in Carousel in a special concert performance at Carnegie Hall in Manhatten, New York City.
He was a last-minute addition to the X-Men cast. Dougray Scott was originally cast as Wolverine, but Scott was tied up on the set of Mission: Impossible 2 for two additional months of shooting. Hugh stands a foot taller than Wolverine, who is reported by Marvel Comics to be 5' 3". Despite this, Jackman's performance was highly praised and the film's success immediately made him a star. Jackman is currently in plans to star in a spinoff film for Wolverine, slated for release in 2007.
In 2004, Jackman won a Tony Award for his Broadway portrayal of Australian songwriter and performer Peter Allen in The Boy from Oz. Jackman hosted the Tony Awards in 2004 and 2005, garnering very positive reviews. The televised hosting of the Tony Awards earned Jackman an Emmy Award win for Outstanding Individual Performer in a Variety, Musical or Comedy program in 2005.
2005 saw him cast in the lead role of The Fountain, directed by Darren Aronofsky. Jackman starred alongside Rachel Weisz and Ellen Burstyn.
In 2004, he was part of an advertising campaign for pay-tv company Foxtel. He was named Company Magazine's 35th Sexiest Man Alive in the same year.
Hugh Jackman currently lives in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Selected filmography
2007 - Wolverine - Logan (aka Wolverine)
2006 - Superman Returns - Jonathan Kent (Flashback)
2006 - The Prestige - Rupert Angier
2006 - Scoop
2006 - Good - John Halder
2006 - X-Men: The Last Stand - Logan (aka Wolverine)
2006 - Happy Feet - Memphis
2006 - The Fountain - Tom Verde
2006 - Flushed Away - Roddy
2005 - Stories of Lost Souls - Roger
2004 - Van Helsing: The London Assignment - Van Gabriel Helsing
2004 - Van Helsing - Van Gabriel Helsing
2003 - X2 - Logan (aka Wolverine)
2002 - Standing Room Only - Roger
2001 - Someone Like You - Eddie Alden
2001 - Kate and Leopold - Leopold Alexis Elijah Walker Gareth Thomas Mountbatten, Duke of Albany
2001 - Swordfish - Stanley Jobson
2000 - X-Men - Logan (aka Wolverine)
1999 - Oklahoma! - Curly McLain
1999 - Paperback Hero - Jack Willis
1999 - Erskineville Kings - Wace
1995 - Correlli - Kevin Jones
