Hugh Michael Jackman AC (born 12 October 1968 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian actor, producer, and general all-around heartthrob.
Jackman first gained worldwide attention for playing Curley in the West End's revival of Oklahoma!, but he did not become a household name until he was cast as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine in the X-Men Film Series, a role that he initially played 9 times in total over 17 years, and for a time held the record of appearances of the same actor in a comic book movie franchise. note Jackman would eventually go on to reprise his role in the mid-2020s as the Marvel Cinematic Universe expanded into The Multiverse, officially returning for Deadpool & Wolverine.
Jackman subsequently won a Tony Award for his performance in the Broadway production of The Boy from Oz as Australian singer-songwriter Peter Allen. He has also starred in romances and romantic comedies, including Kate & Leopold (opposite Meg Ryan) and Australia (opposite fellow Aussie and close friend Nicole Kidman). He currently plans to star in a future remake of Carousel, a role he had formerly played on Broadway, and got himself an Academy Award nomination for playing Jean Valjean in the film version of the musical Les Miserables in 2012. He's also a very well-regarded awards show host, having hosted the Tony Awards four times and the Academy Awards once (and winning an Emmy for his second gig at the Tonys).
He is married to Deborra-Lee Furness, who was his co-star on the short-lived Australian drama series Correlli - his first screen appearance. They have two children, both adopted.
Incidentally, he won People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive award in 2008.
Apparently has a Sitcom Arch-Nemesis in Neil Patrick Harris as seen in this song and dance routine
and backed up here. He also made an enemy out of Deadpool after refusing to reprise his role as Wolverine. Or the rivalry could be with Ryan Reynolds. It's hard to tell. All that's known is that, apparently, they made up. He's Back!
It should also be noted that he has a reputation for being one of THE nicest celebrities in all of Hollywood. Ask anyone... except Dr. Cox.
Selected filmography:
- Oklahoma! (1999) as Curley McLain
- Paperback Hero (1999) as Jack Willis
- X-Men Film Series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine:
- X-Men (2000)
- X2: X-Men United (2003)
- X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
- X-Men: First Class (2011)
- The Wolverine (2013)
- X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
- X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
- Logan (2017): Also played X-24
- Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
- Swordfish (2001) as Stanley Jobson
- Kate & Leopold (2001) as Leopold Mountbatten, 3rd Duke of Albany
- Van Helsing (2004) as Gabriel Van Helsing
- Scoop (2006) as Peter Lyman
- The Fountain (2006) as Tomas, Tommy, and Tom Creo
- The Prestige (2006) as Robert Angier
- Flushed Away (2006) as Roddy St. James (voice)
- Happy Feet (2006) as Memphis (voice)
- Australia (2008) as Drover
- Real Steel (2011) as Charlie Kenton
- Rise of the Guardians (2012) as E. Aster Bunnymund / The Easter Bunny (voice)
- Les Miserables (2012) as Jean Valjean
- Prisoners (2013) as Keller Dover
- Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014) As Himself
- Chappie (2015) as Vincent Moore
- Pan (2015) as Blackbeard
- Eddie the Eagle (2016) as Bronson Peary
- The Greatest Showman (2017) as P. T. Barnum
- The Front Runner (2018) as Gary Hart
- Bad Education (2019) as Frank Tassone
- Home Movie: The Princess Bride (2020) as Prince Humperdinck
- Reminiscence (2021) as Nicolas "Nick" Bannister
- Human Resources (2022) as Dante (voice)
- Koala Man (2023) as Big Greg
- Rick and Morty (2023) As Himself
Associated Tropes:
- Ability over Appearance: Wolverine is a Pint-Sized Powerhouse and was rarely portrayed as attractive in other adaptations. Hugh is a full foot taller and Wolverine is presented as a bit of a Hunk - and yet he nails everything about the character. In the first film he claims that most of the rest of the cast stood on Scully Boxes around him to make him appear shorter.
- Beauty Inversion: He was heavily aged using makeup and special effects for Logan to the point of being almost unrecognizable compared to his normal self.
- Carpet of Virility: He naturally has plenty of chest hair, and it even came through in some of his more heroic roles.
- Covered in Gunge: This happened to him at the 2009 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards alongside Sandra Bullock.
- Darkhorse Casting: Outside of musical theatre circles, he was a total unknown when cast as Wolverine and had only appeared in a couple of small films. The film's success made him a superstar practically overnight.
- Dyeing for Your Art:
- Each time he plays Wolverine, he has to bulk up considerably. On the first film he underestimated how long it took to get in shape, which is why Logan doesn't appear as buff as he does in later films. His Shirtless Scenes were filmed later on in production when he'd had a chance to put on more muscle as a result.
- Shaved his head and body hair for The Fountain.
- For Les Misérables (2012) he lost weight by recreating the prison rations his character would have received and shaved his head for the beginning scenes where Valjean is a starving prisonernote . Amazingly, while he was starving himself, he was also working out extensively because The Wolverine was scheduled to start production and he needed his body to be ready to pack on muscle mass once he started eating again quickly.
- He shaved his head bald and grew a long beard for Pan.
- Fake American: About 60% of his roles have him playing an American (or putting on an American accent, such as with the Canadian Wolverine). Either that or...
- Fake Brit: He put on a British accent for Van Helsing and Les Misérables (2012) (despite playing a French character), and can switch between that an American easily (as seen in The Prestige where he does both). Rise of the Guardians is one of the rare projects where he doesn't play either and gets to use his real Australian accent. He's also a subversion in that his mother is from England, making him a dual citizen of the UK and Australia.
- Irony as She Is Cast: Wolverine loves smoking cigars, but Hugh does not smoke and always hates smoking in movies.
- Large Ham: As befits someone who got his start in musical theatre, he can pull off this trope magnificently when he wants to as his stint hosting awards shows has proven.
- Manly Facial Hair: Quite a few of his characters have impressive beards, most famously Wolverine's iconic one.
- Mr. Fanservice: He's very handsome, a fact directors are only too happy to call attention to. And while shirtless scenes are a nice bonus, he can pull this trope off nicely even while fully clothed.
- Nice Guy: Known as one of the nicest celebrities in Hollywood.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: He mostly averts as this but if you listen carefully you can catch it with some of the roles where he plays American or British characters.
- The Other Marty: Dougray Scott was initially cast as Wolverine. But he was filming Mission: Impossible II and production was lengthened, so he had to drop out.
- Playing Against Type:
- Wolverine was this for him at the time of casting; he had started doing musicals in Australia, so a comic book action movie was quite different.
- Plays a camp Agent Peacock - who's also the villain - in Pan.
- Playing Their Own Twin: A variation. The Prestige has a sequence where his character finds a lookalike to play his double. Hugh plays the double too - though apparently some people thought it was a different actor.
- Playing with Character Type:
- In The Prestige as the below type - who crosses the
Moral Event Horizon and becomes the villain. - In The Fountain his character Tommy is desperately trying to save his wife - but she's dying of cancer and his Aesop is learning that he can't save her.
- In The Prestige as the below type - who crosses the
- Real Men Wear Pink: Playing Wolverine earned Jackman enough man points to stand him in good stead for three lifetimes. However, Jackman began his career in musicals, and is one of the few remaining song-and-dance men who is completely and endearingly sincere in his love for musical theater. He also played the incredibly Camp musical composer Peter Allen in the musical "The Boy From Oz". See attached
- Star-Making Role: Wolverine, at least outside of Australia. He was virtually unknown when cast in X-Men, and the film brought him to the world's attention in a big way.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's 6'3" with dark hair and very easy on the eyes.
- Those Two Actors: He's made six films with Halle Berry. In addition to the four X-Men movies they did together, they were also in Swordfish and Movie 43.
- What Could Have Been:
- He was the first choice for the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl before Johnny Depp was cast, but Disney turned him down as he wasn't considered a bankable leading star at the time. His take on the character was apparently far more akin to a classic Errol Flynn-esque swashbuckler than the "washed-up rockstar of the high seas" Depp immortalized the role as.
- He was offered the part of James Bond in Casino Royale (2006) before the casting of Daniel Craig. However, he turned down the offer due to his commitments to the X-Men Film Series.
- He was approached for various comic book movie roles after the success of X-Men such as Reed Richards in Fantastic Four (2005), Tony Stark in Iron Man, and Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight.
