Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman (birthname: Hugh Michael Jackman) holds the rare distinction of being a world-class musical performer, a Marvel Cinematic Universe mega-star as Wolverine, and a fine dramatic and comedy actor. His combination of performing diversity and screen and stage stardom is rare in his generation and points to his durability.

Before he broke through as Wolverine in X-Men (2000), directed by Bryan Singer, Jackman had made a huge impact on the musical stage in Australia and the U.K., particularly as star of Trevor Nunn’s acclaimed revival of Oklahoma! (1998), which brought him an Olivier Award Best Actor nomination. His film debut was in the micro-budget Australian indie, Erskineville Kings (1999), winning Jackman Best Male Actor from the Film Critics Circle of Australia.

Soon after, Jackman showed off his comic chops in Antony Bowman’s Paperback Hero (1999). He was cast at the last minute as Logan/Wolverine in X-Men, and Jackman’s career was never the same again, becoming one of the iconic faces of the early wave of Marvel’s universe of superheroes.

Hugh Jackman jumped fully into Hollywood moviemaking, co-starring in such projects as Dominic Sena’s crime thriller, Swordfish (2001), with John Travolta, Halle Berry, and Don Cheadle, followed by James Mangold’s Kate & Leopold (2001), with Meg Ryan, earning Jackman a Golden Globe best actor nomination, and solidifying Jackman’s broad diversity of performing styles. Jackman returned to the Wolverine character for the first of a string of seven sequels to the original X-Men, with Singer’s X2 (2003), with Berry, Patrick Stewart, and Ian McKellan, and earning a worldwide gross of $407 million.

Jackman’s massive run of X-Men/MCU movies is one of the longest by any single actor in MCU and one of the few cases of a character getting his spinoff movie, James Mangold’s far more dramatic and less CGI-driven Logan (2017), with Stewart, Richard E. Grant, and Dafne Keen, grossing $619 million globally. Before this, Jackman’s Wolverine appeared in Brett Ratner’s X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Gavin Hood’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Mangold’s The Wolverine (2013), Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), as well as uncredited cameos in X-Men: First Class (2011) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016).

Another potentially major franchise for Hugh Jackman, Universal Pictures’ Van Helsing (2004), written and directed by Stephen Sommers and co-starring Kate Beckinsale, proved to be a relative disappointment. Jackman’s comic talents surfaced in Woody Allen’s crime comedy, Scoop (2006), with Allen, Scarlett Johansson, and Ian McShane, followed by a very different co-starring role in Darren Aranofsky’s ambitious sci-fi drama, The Fountain (2006), with Rachel Weisz and Ellen Burstyn.

Jackman continued the sci-fi string with an often-overlooked Christopher Nolan film, The Prestige (2006), with Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Johansson. Jackman’s first major voice performance followed in fellow Aussie George Miller’s wonderful, Oscar-winning animated film, Happy Feet (2006), with Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Nicole Kidman, and Hugo Weaving, earning $384 million globally.

Jackman’s first project as producer-star was the thriller, Deception (2008), with Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor. In a return to his homeland, Jackman co-starred with Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann’s sprawling Australia (2008), with David Gulpilil and Bryan Brown. Back in an all-American vein, Jackman was the star of the brawny Shawn Levy/DreamWorks Pictures production blending sci-fi and sports, Real Steel (2011), with Anthony Mackie.

A major role for Hugh Jackman, putting him into the Oscar race and letting him show off his musical chops, was as Jean Valjean in Tom Hooper’s musical epic, Les Misérables (2012), with Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and Eddie Redmayne, scoring eight Oscar nominations (including Jackman as best actor) and three Oscar wins. For something completely different, Jackman starred in the Peter Farrelly-directed segment, titled “The Catch,” with Kate Winslet, in the comedy anthology, Movie 43 (2013); then Jackman joined the ensemble of Neill Blomkamp’s dystopian Chappie (2015), with Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, and Sigourney Weaver.

Jackman took on a fanciful version of Blackbeard in Joe Wright’s Peter Pan fantasy for Warner Bros., Pan (2015), one of Jackman’s few box office bombs, co-starring Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara, and Amanda Seyfried. Jackman co-starred with Taron Edgerton in the sports biopic, Eddie the Eagle (2015), with Christopher Walken and Jim Broadbent, premiering at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Hugh Jackman tackled one of his purest musical roles—and biggest hits—with the smash musical about P.T. Barnum, The Greatest Showman (2017), with Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, and Zendaya, grossing $435 million worldwide, and scoring Jackman a best actor Golden Globe nomination. Jackman portrayed another actual figure, Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, in Jason Reitman’s drama, The Front Runner (2018), based on reporter Matt Bai’s book, co-starring Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, and Alfred Molina. Although it was a critical hit and commercial failure, Jackman’s next animation project was the very interesting Chris Butler-created stop-motion Missing Link (2019), with Zoe Saldana, Emma Thompson, and Timothy Olyphant.

Released during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jackman’s next starring role in a sci-fi drama was Lisa Joy’s mind-bending, commercially disappointing Reminiscence (2021), with Rebecca Ferguson, Thandiwe Newton, and Cliff Curtis. One of Jackman’s most serious dramatic outings arrived in 2022, with Florian Zeller’s The Son, with Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, and Anthony Hopkins, premiering at the Venice Film Festival. Jackman has been reported to be attached as the title star of a biopic of St. Paul in Apostle Paul (date to be announced).