Date of Birth: 12 October 1968, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Birth Name: Hugh Michael Jackman
Height: 6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
Hugh Jackman was born in Sydney, New South Wales, to Grace McNeil (Greenwood) and Christopher John Jackman, an accountant. He is the youngest of five children.
His parents, both English, moved to Australia shortly before his birth.
He also has Greek (from a great-grandfather) and Scottish (from a grandmother) ancestry.
Jackman has a communications degree with a journalism major from the University of Technology Sydney.
After graduating, he pursued drama at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, immediately after which he was offered a starring role in the ABC-TV prison drama Correlli (1995), opposite his future wife Deborra-Lee Furness. Several TV guest roles followed, as an actor and variety compere.
An accomplished singer, Jackman has starred as Gaston in the Australian production of Beauty and the Beast. He appeared as Joe Gillis in the Australian production of Sunset Boulevard.
In 1998, he was cast as Curly in the Royal National Theatre’s production of Trevor Nunn’s Oklahoma. Jackman has made two feature films, the second of which, Erskineville Kings (1999), garnered him an Australian Film Institute nomination for Best Actor in 1999. Recently, he won the part of Logan/Wolverine in the Bryan Singer-directed comic-book movie X-Men (2000).
In his spare time, Jackman plays piano, golf, and guitar, and likes to windsurf.
Spouse (1)
Deborra-Lee Furness
(11 April 1996 – present) (2 children)
Trade Mark (3)
Ruggedly handsome features
Renown for his fluent American accent
The role of Wolverine in the live-action X-Men films.
Trivia
mAdopted a son, Oscar Maximillian Jackman, in May 2000 (b. 15 May 2000).
mChosen as one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World” 5 years in a row, 2000-2004.
mHe was a last-minute addition to the X-Men (2000) cast. Dougray Scott was originally cast as Wolverine, but Mission: Impossible II (2000) required two extra months of shooting.
mAccording to the comic books, Wolverine stands 5-feet-3-inches in height. Jackman, who plays Wolverine, stands a whole foot taller than his character.
mHe has made six films with Halle Berry: X-Men (2000), Swordfish (2001), X-Men 2 (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Movie 43 (2013) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).
mExpressed great fondness for the comic book character Superman. Ironically, Superman is owned by DC Comics, the rival company of Marvel Comics, which owns X-Men and Wolverine.
mAdopted a girl, Ava Eliot Jackman (b. July 10, 2005), in July 2005.
mHis stunt double for Van Helsing (2004) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) was Richard Bradshaw, his brother-in-law (sister’s husband).
mDoesn’t smoke in real life. He says he finds it horrible to smoke in movies.
mHe and his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, suffered through two miscarriages, which they point to as the most difficult point in their lives. Both of their children are adopted.
mUpon meeting Olivia Newton-John (John Travolta introduced the two while he and Jackman were filming Swordfish (2001)), he confessed to her that under his desk in elementary school, there was a poster with Newton-John on it, and he would kiss the poster every day.
mHis life goal as a young man was to be a international freelance journalist. He got a degree in journalism before turning to acting.
mHe undergoes intense physical training each time he’s played Wolverine. When in peak physical condition, he can bench press well more than 300 pounds.
mAs of 2015, he holds the record for playing the same comic book character (Marvel Comics’ “Wolverine”) more times than any other actor, in this case, 7 films. Prior to that, the record was held by Christopher Reeve, who played DC Comics’ Superman in 4 films.
mHugh credits his good friend Russell Crowe with catapulting his career into super stardom. After Crowe turned down the lead in X-Men (2000), he personally recommended Jackman to director Bryan Singer for the part.
mGodfather of Rupert Murdoch’s daughters Grace and Chloe.
mWatched Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry films as inspiration for his performance as Wolverine.
mOn becoming a father — I think it inevitably changes your perspective of life. I don’t get nearly enough sleep. And the simplest things in life are completely satisfying. I find you don’t have to do as much, like you don’t go on as many outings.
mOn his father — He never took one day off in his life. He had five kids he was bringing up on his own. If any one deserved a day off it was my old man, but he never did. I learned that from him.
mOn Father’s Day gifts — The best is a hand written card. I don’t know where some of my awards are, but I can tell you exactly where those cards are. I treasure them most.
mOn Family — The things that I really cherish are the everyday moments, like sitting around cooking pancakes together on Sunday morning, or getting home after a tough day and my kids come up and give me a hug and remind me what’s really important.
mWhen I come home, my daughter will run to the door and give me a big hug, and everything that’s happened that day just melts away.
mAs a teenager I was explosively angry. I think rugby saved me because that’s just organized violence.
mI’m a typical actor. Someone picks me up in the morning, they give me something to wear, tell me what to say, feed me and send me home.
