Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman stars in The Music Man at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway from December 20, 2021.

Hugh Michael Jackman was born on October 12, 1968 in Sydney, Australia. He is a Golden Globe- and Tony Award-winning actor and Academy Award nominee, best known for his role as Logan (aka Wolverine) in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men movie franchise and for his roles in the movie musicals Les Misérables and The Greatest Showman.

Jackman attended Pymble Public School and Knox Grammar School on Sydney’s Upper North Shore and would eventually earn a bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Technology in Sydney, graduating in 1991. He studied acting at the Actors’ Centre there and went on to attend the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts at the Edith Cowan University in Perth, graduating in 1994.

On stage, Jackman’s first major role was Gaston in the Australian production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in Melbourne in 1995, which he followed up by playing the leading male character of Joe Gillis in the 1996 Australian production of Sunset Boulevard. He would make his London stage debut in 1998, starring as Curly McLain in the acclaimed National Theatre revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! and receiving an Olivier Award nomination for his efforts. In 2002, Jackman graced the stage of New York’s Carnegie Hall, playing Billy Bigelow in a special concert engagement of another Rodgers & Hammerstein classic, Carousel. He would finally make his Broadway debut in September 2003 when he starred as Peter Allen in the Broadway premiere of The Boy from Oz at the Imperial Theatre. His celebrated portrayal resulted in his first Tony Award win, for Best Actor in a Musical, in 2004, alongside a Theatre World Award, Drama League Award, and a Drama Desk Award.

Since The Boy from Oz, Jackman starred on Broadway in A Steady Rain (opposite Daniel Craig) at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre from September through December 2009, in a special concert series Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre from October 2011 through January 2012 (receiving a Special Tony Award later that season), and in the Broadway premiere of Jez Butterworth’s The River at Circle in the Square from October 2014 through February 2015.

On screen, Jackman’s first major TV role was Kevin Chambers in the Australian ABC series Correlli in 1995 and went on to appear as Duncan Jones on the Nine Network’s The Man from Snowy River in 1996. Since then, he has mainly concentrated on film. Following his 1999 appearances in Paperback Hero and Erskineville Kings, he gained acclaim in 2000 after landing the role of Logan (aka Wolverine) in 20th Century Fox’s blockbuster X-Men. He has played the popular Marvel superhero in a total of nine films in the franchise, including X2 (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), and, finally, Logan (2017).

He has also left his mark on the movie musical genre, starring as Jean Valjean in the 2012 film adaptation Les Misérables, which led to his first Academy Award nomination in 2013 (alongside a BAFTA nomination and his first Golden Globe win). He also starred as P.T. Barnum in 2017’s hugely popular The Greatest Showman, earning a Golden Globe nomination and winning his first Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.

His other notable film credits include a 2002 Golden Globe-nominated performance in Kate & Leopold, the titular role in Van Helsing (2004), The Prestige (2006), The Fountain (2006), Australia (2008), Real Steel (2011), The Prisoners (2013), Chappie (2015), and the role of Blackbeard in Pan (2015). In animation, he has voiced roles in Flushed Away and Happy Feet, both in 2006, Rise of the Guardians (2012), and Missing Link (2019).

Jackman has also served as host of The Tony Awards on four separate occasions (2003, 2004, 2005, and 2014), winning an Emmy Award in 2005 for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. He also hosted the Academy Awards in 2009.