In November 2008, Open Salon named Hugh Jackman one of its sexiest men living.[1] Later that same month, People magazine named Jackman "Sexiest Man Alive."[2]
A three-time host of the Tony Awards, Jackman hosted the 81st Academy Awards on February 22, 2009.[3]
Early life
Jackman was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, the youngest of six children of English parents Chris Jackman and Grace Watson, and the second of his siblings to be born in Australia. (He also has a younger half sister.)[4][5] His mother left the family when he was eight years old, and he remained with his accountant father and siblings.[6]
Jackman attended the all-boys Knox Grammar School, where he starred in its production of the musical My Fair Lady in 1985. Beforehand he went to Pymble Public School which is in the local area of the Upper North Shore and Kur-ring-gai area. The following year he spent a gap year working at Uppingham School in England. On his return to Australia he studied at the University of Technology, Sydney, graduating in 1991 with a BA in Communications.[7] After obtaining his BA, Jackman went on in 1991 to complete the one year course "The Journey" at the Actors' Centre in Sydney.[4]
After completing the course he was offered a role on the popular soap opera Neighbours, but turned it down[8] to attend the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts of Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia, from which he graduated in 1994.[9]
Career
Early stage, film, and television work
On stage in Melbourne, Jackman played Gaston in the local Walt Disney production of Beauty and the Beast and Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard. During his stage musical career in Melbourne, he starred in the 1998 Midsumma festival cabaret production Summa Cabaret. He also hosted Melbourne's Carols by Candlelight and Sydney's Carols in the Domain.
Jackman's early film work includes Erskineville Kings and Paperback Hero (1999), while his television work includes Correlli (a 10 part drama series on the ABC and Jackman's first major professional job, devised by Australian actress Denise Roberts and where he also met his future wife, Deborra-Lee Furness), Law of the Land, Halifax f.p., Blue Heelers, and Banjo Paterson's The Man from Snowy River
International stardom
Oklahoma!
Jackman became known outside of Australia in 1998, when he played the leading role of Curly in the Royal National Theatre's acclaimed stage production of Oklahoma!, in London's West End. The performance earned him an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. He also starred in the 1999 film version of the same stage musical, which has been screened in many countries.
X-Men
In 2000, Jackman was cast as Wolverine in Bryan Singer's X-Men, replacing Dougray Scott. His co-stars include Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Famke Janssen and Anna Paquin. According to a CBS interview in November 2006, Jackman's wife Deborra-Lee Furness told him not to take the role, a comment she later told him she was glad he ignored.
Jackman, at 6'2,[10] stands nearly a foot taller than Wolverine, who is said in the original comic book to be 5' 3".[11] Hence, the filmmakers were frequently forced to shoot Jackman at unusual angles or only from the waist up to make him appear shorter than he actually is. Jackman was also required to add a great deal of muscle for the role, and in preparing for the fourth film in the series, he bench-pressed over 300 pounds.[12] An instant star upon the film's release, Jackman later reprised his role in 2003's X-Men 2, 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, released May 1st, 2009.
2001
Jackman starred as Leopold, opposite Meg Ryan, in the 2001 romantic comedy film Kate & Leopold, a role for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Jackman plays a Victorian English aristocrat who is accidentally time-traveled to 21st-century Manhattan, where he meets Kate, a cynical advertising executive.
In 2001, Jackman also starred in the action/drama Swordfish, with John Travolta, and Halle Berry. This was the second time Jackman worked with Berry, and the two have worked together twice more in the X-Men movies, making a total of four movies starring Jackman and Berry from 2000 to 2006.
He also hosted an episode of "Saturday Night Live" in 2001.[13]
Stage musicals 2002–2006
In 2002, Jackman sang the role of Billy Bigelow in the musical Carousel in a special concert performance at Carnegie Hall.
In 2004, Jackman won the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, for his 2003–2004 Broadway portrayal of Australian songwriter and performer Peter Allen, in the hit musical, The Boy from Oz, which he also performed in Australia in 2006.
In addition, Jackman hosted the Tony Awards in 2003, 2004, and 2005, garnering very positive reviews. His hosting of the 2004 Tony Awards earned him an Emmy Award win for Outstanding Individual Performer in a Variety, Musical or Comedy program in 2005.
Return to film
After 2003s X2: X-Men United, in 2004 Jackman played the title role of a monster killer named Gabriel Van Helsing in the film Van Helsing. He was featured as the new Van Helsing in the book "Slayers and Their Vampires: A Cultural History of Killing The Dead" written by Bruce A. McClelland.
Also in 2005, Jackman was one of the choices to play James Bond, in 2006s Casino Royale, but eventually lost out to Daniel Craig.[14]
2006-2008
Jackman starred in the 2006 film The Prestige, directed by Christopher Nolan and also starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Andy Serkis and David Bowie. As Robert Angier, Jackman portrayed a magician who built up a rivalry with contemporary Alfred Borden in attempt to 'one up' each other in the art of deception. Jackman stated that his main reason for doing The Prestige was to work with the musician Bowie, who played scientist Nikola Tesla.
Jackman portrayed three different characters in Darren Aronofsky's science-fiction film The Fountain. - Tommy Creo, a neuroscientist, who's torn between his wife, Izzi (Rachel Weisz) who is dying of a brain tumor, and his work at trying to cure her, Captain Tomas Creo, a Spanish Conquistador in 1532 Seville, and a future astronaut, Tom, travelling to a golden nebula in an eco-spacecraft and seeking to be reunited with Izzi. Jackman said The Fountain was his most difficult film thus far, due to the physical and emotional demands of the part.
He also starred in Woody Allen's film Scoop, opposite Scarlett Johansson.
He rounded out 2006 with two animated films: Happy Feet, directed by George Miller, in which he voiced the part of Memphis, an emperor penguin, and Flushed Away, where Jackman also supplied the voice of a rat named Roddy who ends up being flushed down his Kensington family's toilet into the London sewer system. Flushed Away also starred Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, Andy Serkis and Bill Nighy.
In 2007, Jackman produced and guest-starred in the television musical-dramedy series Viva Laughlin, which was canceled by CBS after two episodes. A decision about the remaining episodes already filmed at the time of cancellation has yet to be made.
Jackman's 2008 movies included Deception (which he starred in and produced), Uncle Jonny, and Australia.
Australia
In 2008, director Baz Luhrmann cast Jackman to replace Russell Crowe as the male lead in his much-publicized epic film, Australia, which co-stars Nicole Kidman. The movie was released in late November 2008 in Australia and the U.S.
Jackman plays a tough, independent cattle drover, who reluctantly helps an English noblewoman in her quest to save both her philandering husband's Australian cattle station and the (half-caste)mixed-race Aboriginal child she finds there.
Of the movie, Jackman says, "This is pretty much one of those roles that had me pinching myself all the way through the shoot. I got to shoot a big-budget, shamelessly old-fashioned romantic epic set against one of the most turbulent times in my native country's history, while, at the same time, celebrating that country's natural beauty, its people, its cultures.... I'll die a happy man knowing I've got this film on my CV."[15]
Future projects
* An action drama, Drive, starring Jackman, is currently in production, and is scheduled to be released in 2009.[16]
* Jackman is also planned to star in a remake of Carousel, scheduled to be released in 2010, in which he will play Billy Bigelow.[17][18]
* He is also tipped along with Ewan McGregor to reprise the role of Joe Gillis in a new film version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Sunset Boulevard.[19]
* Jackman is also currently working on creating a new comic book series, Nowhere Man, with U.S. publisher Virgin Comics and writer Marc Guggenheim, with hopes of adapting it to a film as well.[20]
* There is word of a movie named "Unbound Captives",to be released in 2010,where Hugh Jackman returns playing alongside his past co-star,Rachel Weisz and Robert Pattinson.
Hugh Jackman and Seed Productions partner John Palermo are ramping up several projects for the "Wolverine" star. Fox and Seed are in development on a sequel to "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," which topped the domestic box office over the weekend.
The Seed partners have begun planning the sequel, which they are squarely focusing on the samurai storyline originated in the comic series, and whose Japanese locale was teased after the film's final credits. A writer has yet to be hired. Seed will produce.
Fox has just closed a deal to acquire "Personal Security," a spec script by Matt Lieberman. Jackman will star as a tough Gotham police detective forced into bodyguard duty for a spoiled teen heiress who is receiving kidnapping threats. Jackman and Palermo will produce with Tapestry's Michael Schreiber.
While Jackman has not set his next star vehicle, he has gotten revved up over "Drive," a Seed-produced adaptation of the James Sallis novel set up at Universal.
Jackman will play a solitary man who drives race cars by day and getaway cars by night in Los Angeles. Jackman was energized by the latest draft written by Hossein Amini, who turned in a script that Jackman said captured the tone of a Steve McQueen film.
Long-in-the-works "Carousel" is also now a priority at Fox 2000, after David Magee turned in a script that Jackman and Palermo said keeps the timeless spirit of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic, but injects relevance for a contemporary audience. Jackman will play Billy Bigelow. On Jackman's wishlist for the role of Julie Jordan is Anne Hathaway, who dueted with him in the Oscarcast opening number. Negotiations have not begun with the actress.
Finally, Jackman, who won a Tony for "The Boy From Oz," hopes to return to the Broadway stage in early 2010 in the title role in "Houdini," with Jack O'Brien ("Hairspray") directing, Danny Elfman writing the music, and David Yazbek ("Dirty Rotten Scoundrels") writing lyrics. The book was first written by Kurt Andersen, but the producers are aiming for a rewrite. Jackman and Palermo will produce with Scott Sanders and David Rockwell.
The Fox-based Seed label has grown in size to include execs Amanda Schweitzer, Kathryn Tamblyn, Allan Mandelbaum and Joe Marino, with Alana Free operating the Sydney-based production office whose goal is to mount modest-budget films to harness local talent in Jackman's home country.
Production company
In 2005, Jackman joined with longtime assistant John Palermo to form a production company, Seed Productions, whose first project was Viva Laughlin in 2007. Jackman's actress wife Deborra-Lee Furness is also involved in the company, and Palermo had three rings made with an inscription meaning "unity" for himself, Furness, and Jackman.[21] About the trio's collaboration Jackman reports "I'm very lucky in the partners I work with in my life, Deb and John Palermo. It really works. We all have different strengths. I love it. It's very exciting."[22]
[edit] Personal life
Jackman married Alicia Conley April 11th, 1996. They met on Correlli, an Australian television series. Aliciac had two miscarriages,[23] after which she and Jackman adopted two children, Oscar Maximillian (born May 15, 2000) and Ava Eliot (born July 10, 2005). They currently live in Manhattan, NY.[24]
Jackman personally designed an engagement ring for Furness, and their wedding rings bore the Sanskrit inscription "Om paramar mainamar," translated by Furness as "we dedicate our union to a greater source."[25]
Honors
* Jackman was appointed a goodwill ambassador of Seoul, South Korea on April 10, 2009.[26]
* Hollywood Walk of Fame - Jackman had his hand and footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on April 21, 2009.[27]
Other interests
Charity work
As a philanthropist, Jackman is a longtime proponent of microcredit — the extension of very small loans to impoverished prospective entrepreneurs in undeveloped countries. He is a vocal supporter of Muhammad Yunus, microcredit pioneer and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner.[28][29][30]
Jackman recently narrated a video for the Global Poverty Project. He also narrated the documentary The Burning Season[31] about global warming.
Jackman also supports The Art of Elysium,[32] and the MPTV Fund Foundation,[33] and he and his wife Deborra-Lee Furness are patrons of the Bone Marrow Donor Institute in Australia.
He also used twitter for charity. On April 14, 2009 Jackman posted on his twitter page that he would donate $100,000 to one individual's favorite non profit organization.[34] On April 21, 2009 he revealed his decision to donate $50,000 to Charity:Water and $50,000 to Operation Of Hope.[35]
Sports
Jackman has shown keen interest in a variety of sports. In high school, he played rugby, cricket, took part in high jumping and was on the swimming team.[36] He also enjoys basketball and kayaking[37]
Jackman is a longtime fan and supporter of the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, a NRL club based in Sydney's north.[38] He sang the national anthem at the 1999 NRL Grand Final.[39]
Hugh also revealed on Sky Sports Soccer A.M that he was a Norwich City F.C Fan.[40]
Jackman can also play the piano,[41] does yoga every day,[42] and has been a member of the School of Practical Philosophy since 1992.[43]
Jackman has served as the unofficial mascot of the University of Michigan Wolverines since 2000.
