Hugh Jackman in Van Helsing (2001)
Italian postcard by Promocard, no. PC 4802. Photo: Universal. Hugh Jackman in Van Helsing (Stephen Sommers, 2004). The card was published for the video and DVD release of the film in Italy.
Hugh Jackman (1968) is a ruggedly handsome Australian actor, singer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, and producer. Jackman is best known as Wolverine in the X-Men film series. His other films include The Prestige (2006), the epic historical romantic drama Australia (2008), and the film version of Les Misérables (2012), which earned him his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor and a Golden Globe. On Broadway, Jackman won a Tony Award for his role in 'The Boy from Oz'.
Hugh Michael Jackman was born in 1968 in Sydney, New South Wales, to Grace McNeil (Greenwood) and Christopher John Jackman, an accountant. He is the youngest of five children. His parents separated when he was eight. His mother then moved back to England. His father brought up five children, by himself. 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. Straight out of drama school, he was offered a starring role in the TV prison drama series 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 Trevor Nunn's 'Oklahoma'. Jackman made two feature films in Australia. His second film, Erskineville Kings (Alan White, 1999), garnered him an Australian Film Institute nomination for Best Actor in 1999. Then he won the breakthrough role of Logan/Wolverine in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000), a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics team of the same name. He was a last-minute addition to the X-Men cast. Dougray Scott was originally cast as Wolverine, but was injured in a motorbike accident and wouldn't have recovered in time for filming. X-Men was very successful at the box-office, earning US$296 million.
Hugh Jackman starred as Leopold opposite Meg Ryan in the romantic comedy Kate & Leopold (James Mangold, 2001), a role for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. Then he took stunt-driving classes to prepare for his role in Swordfish (Dominic Sena, 2001) with John Travolta and Halle Berry. Jackman reprised his role as Wolverine in X2 (Bryan Singer, 2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (Brett Rattner, 2006), and the prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). He also cameoed as Wolverine in X-Men: First Class (2011). He returned for the role of Wolverine again in The Wolverine (2013), a stand-alone sequel taking place after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, and reprised the character in the sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and briefly in the follow-up X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) Jackman announced that Logan (2017), the sequel to The Wolverine was the final time that he would play the role. In 2004, Jackman won a Tony Award for his Broadway portrayal of Australian songwriter and performer Peter Allen in the hit musical 'The Boy from Oz' (2003–2004), which he also performed in Australia in 2006. Jackman played the title role of monster killer Gabriel Van Helsing in the horror-action film Van Helsing (Stephen Sommers, 2004) with Kate Beckinsale. The film is a homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and 1940s which were based on novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 stars out of 4 stating that "At the outset, we may fear Sommers is simply going for f/x overkill, but by the end, he has somehow succeeded in assembling all his monsters and plot threads into a high-voltage climax. Van Helsing is silly, spectacular, and fun." The film grossed over $300 million worldwide. In 2005, Jackman joined with longtime assistant John Palermo to form a production company, Seed Productions, whose first project was Viva Laughlin (2007). Jackman's wife Deborra-Lee Furness is also involved in the company, and Palermo had three rings made with a "unity" inscription for himself, Furness, and Jackman.
Hugh Jackman starred alongside Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Scarlett Johansson in the mystery thriller The Prestige (Christopher Nolan, 2006). Jackman portrayed Robert Angier, an aristocratic magician who builds up a rivalry with contemporary Alfred Borden (Bale) in an attempt to one-up each other in the art of deception. The Prestige was acclaimed and a box-office hit. Jackman portrayed three different characters in the Science-Fiction film The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky, 2006). He also starred in Woody Allen's Scoop (2006) opposite Scarlett Johansson. He rounded out the year with two animated films: Happy Feet (George Miller, 2006) in which he voiced emperor penguin Memphis, and Flushed Away (2006), where Jackman supplied the voice of the rat Roddy who ends up being flushed down a family's toilet into the London sewer system. Baz Luhrmann cast Jackman to replace Russell Crowe opposite Nicole Kidman in his much-publicised epic, Australia (2008). That year, People Magazine named Jackman its 2008 "Sexiest Man Alive". Jackman co-starred with Daniel Craig on Broadway in the play 'A Steady Rain'(2009). In 2011, Jackman had a one-man show at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, backed by a 17-piece orchestra. He performed numbers from shows including 'Oklahoma' and 'The Boy from Oz'. He later returned to Broadway in a new show, 'Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway' (2011-2012). Jackman starred as Jean Valjean in the film Les Misérables (2012), an adaptation of the musical. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for this performance and received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Jackman appeared alongside Kate Winslet in Movie 43 (Peter Farrelly, a.o., 2013). Jackman returned to Broadway in the new play, 'The River' (2014-2015). He portrayed the villain Blackbeard in the film Pan, which revolved around the backstories of J.M. Barrie's characters Peter Pan and Captain Hook. The film received generally negative reviews and failed at the box office. In 2016, Jackman played fictional ski coach, Bronson Peary, in Eddie the Eagle, which portrayed how Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards became the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping in 1988. In 2017, he reprised the character for the final time in the third Wolverine film, Logan. Jackman's performance and the film were critically acclaimed and it is regarded as one of the greatest superhero films of all-time. That year, he also starred as P. T. Barnum in the musical The Greatest Showman (2017) for which he received his third Golden Globe nomination. Next, he starred as American senator Gary Hart in the political drama film The Front Runner (Jason Reitman's, 2018), which chronicled the rise of Hart as a Democratic presidential candidate in 1988, and his subsequent fall from grace when media reports surfaced of his extramarital affair. In 2019, Jackman went on his first world tour called 'The Man. The Music. The Show' to perform songs from The Greatest Showman. In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours, Jackman was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia. Hugh Jackman 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 two children, Oscar and Ava, are adopted.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Hugh Jackman in Van Helsing (2001)
Italian postcard by Promocard, no. PC 4802. Photo: Universal. Hugh Jackman in Van Helsing (Stephen Sommers, 2004). The card was published for the video and DVD release of the film in Italy.
Hugh Jackman (1968) is a ruggedly handsome Australian actor, singer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, and producer. Jackman is best known as Wolverine in the X-Men film series. His other films include The Prestige (2006), the epic historical romantic drama Australia (2008), and the film version of Les Misérables (2012), which earned him his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor and a Golden Globe. On Broadway, Jackman won a Tony Award for his role in 'The Boy from Oz'.
Hugh Michael Jackman was born in 1968 in Sydney, New South Wales, to Grace McNeil (Greenwood) and Christopher John Jackman, an accountant. He is the youngest of five children. His parents separated when he was eight. His mother then moved back to England. His father brought up five children, by himself. 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. Straight out of drama school, he was offered a starring role in the TV prison drama series 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 Trevor Nunn's 'Oklahoma'. Jackman made two feature films in Australia. His second film, Erskineville Kings (Alan White, 1999), garnered him an Australian Film Institute nomination for Best Actor in 1999. Then he won the breakthrough role of Logan/Wolverine in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000), a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics team of the same name. He was a last-minute addition to the X-Men cast. Dougray Scott was originally cast as Wolverine, but was injured in a motorbike accident and wouldn't have recovered in time for filming. X-Men was very successful at the box-office, earning US$296 million.
Hugh Jackman starred as Leopold opposite Meg Ryan in the romantic comedy Kate & Leopold (James Mangold, 2001), a role for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. Then he took stunt-driving classes to prepare for his role in Swordfish (Dominic Sena, 2001) with John Travolta and Halle Berry. Jackman reprised his role as Wolverine in X2 (Bryan Singer, 2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (Brett Rattner, 2006), and the prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). He also cameoed as Wolverine in X-Men: First Class (2011). He returned for the role of Wolverine again in The Wolverine (2013), a stand-alone sequel taking place after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, and reprised the character in the sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and briefly in the follow-up X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) Jackman announced that Logan (2017), the sequel to The Wolverine was the final time that he would play the role. In 2004, Jackman won a Tony Award for his Broadway portrayal of Australian songwriter and performer Peter Allen in the hit musical 'The Boy from Oz' (2003–2004), which he also performed in Australia in 2006. Jackman played the title role of monster killer Gabriel Van Helsing in the horror-action film Van Helsing (Stephen Sommers, 2004) with Kate Beckinsale. The film is a homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and 1940s which were based on novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 stars out of 4 stating that "At the outset, we may fear Sommers is simply going for f/x overkill, but by the end, he has somehow succeeded in assembling all his monsters and plot threads into a high-voltage climax. Van Helsing is silly, spectacular, and fun." The film grossed over $300 million worldwide. In 2005, Jackman joined with longtime assistant John Palermo to form a production company, Seed Productions, whose first project was Viva Laughlin (2007). Jackman's wife Deborra-Lee Furness is also involved in the company, and Palermo had three rings made with a "unity" inscription for himself, Furness, and Jackman.
Hugh Jackman starred alongside Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Scarlett Johansson in the mystery thriller The Prestige (Christopher Nolan, 2006). Jackman portrayed Robert Angier, an aristocratic magician who builds up a rivalry with contemporary Alfred Borden (Bale) in an attempt to one-up each other in the art of deception. The Prestige was acclaimed and a box-office hit. Jackman portrayed three different characters in the Science-Fiction film The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky, 2006). He also starred in Woody Allen's Scoop (2006) opposite Scarlett Johansson. He rounded out the year with two animated films: Happy Feet (George Miller, 2006) in which he voiced emperor penguin Memphis, and Flushed Away (2006), where Jackman supplied the voice of the rat Roddy who ends up being flushed down a family's toilet into the London sewer system. Baz Luhrmann cast Jackman to replace Russell Crowe opposite Nicole Kidman in his much-publicised epic, Australia (2008). That year, People Magazine named Jackman its 2008 "Sexiest Man Alive". Jackman co-starred with Daniel Craig on Broadway in the play 'A Steady Rain'(2009). In 2011, Jackman had a one-man show at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, backed by a 17-piece orchestra. He performed numbers from shows including 'Oklahoma' and 'The Boy from Oz'. He later returned to Broadway in a new show, 'Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway' (2011-2012). Jackman starred as Jean Valjean in the film Les Misérables (2012), an adaptation of the musical. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for this performance and received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Jackman appeared alongside Kate Winslet in Movie 43 (Peter Farrelly, a.o., 2013). Jackman returned to Broadway in the new play, 'The River' (2014-2015). He portrayed the villain Blackbeard in the film Pan, which revolved around the backstories of J.M. Barrie's characters Peter Pan and Captain Hook. The film received generally negative reviews and failed at the box office. In 2016, Jackman played fictional ski coach, Bronson Peary, in Eddie the Eagle, which portrayed how Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards became the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping in 1988. In 2017, he reprised the character for the final time in the third Wolverine film, Logan. Jackman's performance and the film were critically acclaimed and it is regarded as one of the greatest superhero films of all-time. That year, he also starred as P. T. Barnum in the musical The Greatest Showman (2017) for which he received his third Golden Globe nomination. Next, he starred as American senator Gary Hart in the political drama film The Front Runner (Jason Reitman's, 2018), which chronicled the rise of Hart as a Democratic presidential candidate in 1988, and his subsequent fall from grace when media reports surfaced of his extramarital affair. In 2019, Jackman went on his first world tour called 'The Man. The Music. The Show' to perform songs from The Greatest Showman. In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours, Jackman was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia. Hugh Jackman 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 two children, Oscar and Ava, are adopted.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.