Top 50 Hugh Jackman Quotes

The activity of being a husband, a father – those are roles, too, but underneath them is the spiritual center that connects us all, and that’s what’s most important.

My father is very Jean Valjean. He’s what I would call a great example of a religious person. He is a deeply thoughtful man whose religion is in his deeds way more than anything else. It’s not talked about that much.

I remember at one point being in fellowship, and everyone used to wear the fish symbol; it said you were a Christian. So I asked my father, ‘Dad, why don’t you wear that at work?’ And he said, ‘Your religion should be in your actions.’ He set a great, great example.

Americans are the most generous country on the planet. I’ve worked in Europe, I’ve worked in Australia. There is no where else where you get absolutely no attitude for being a foreigner. If you do your job well, they embrace you.

At which point should we let go and do what we want to do, and when should we submit to rules? Coming to terms with our true natures and who we really are has always been a fascination to humans. I know it fascinates me.

I’m quite an independent person, and I had to be. As a boy and growing into a young man I had to look out for myself. And now I’m very family-oriented. It’s a big priority in my life.

With age, you see people fail more. You see yourself fail more. How do you keep that fearlessness of a kid? You keep going. Luckily, I’m not afraid to make a fool of myself.

I have a terrific marriage, but unlike a lot of relationships where they ebb and flow, no matter what happens you fall deeper and deeper in love every day. It’s kind of the best thing that can happen to you. It’s thrilling.

My friends say, ‘Man you’re going to have kids sleeping on pillowcases with your face on it! You’re going to be on toothbrushes and magnets and stuff.’ I guess now that I’m a dad, I’m thrilled about that.

For me that’s one of the great indulgences in life – a hand-tailored suit, and a great pair of handmade shoes.

If you ask my wife, the biggest fault is my inability around the house. She says the only thing handy about me is that I’m close by. And, I have a terrible memory. I’m bad at saying no. I often double-book. There are a lot of things.

Acting is something I love. It’s a great craft that I have a lot of respect for. But I don’t think it’s any greater challenge than teaching 8-year-olds or any other career. In my life, I try not to make it more important than it is and I just hope that rubs off on the people around me.

Both my parents are English and came out to Australia in 1967. I was born the following year. My parents, and immigrants like them, were known as ‘£10 poms.’ Back then, the Australian government was trying to get educated British people and Canadians – to be honest, educated white people – to come and live in Australia.

I once sang ‘Summer Nights,’ from ‘Grease,’ at a bar in Melbourne with John Travolta, who’s a good friend of mine. He looked cool singing the part of Danny – sitting in an armchair, smoking a cigar – while I got stuck playing Sandy.

The most scared I’d ever been was the first time I sang at a rugby match, Australia versus New Zealand, in front of one hundred thousand people. I had a panic attack the night before because people have been booed off and never worked again… just singing one song, the national anthem.

To me, the smell of fresh-made coffee is one of the greatest inventions.

But in another world, another life, probably growing up in another country, I might have been more of a dancer.

I was probably more scared of my high school exams than I was of the Oscars. At the time you think it’s everything and if you don’t do well, your life’s over. Opportunities are gone. So the more you do it, the less the fear is present.

I can look back on my life, where there have been moments where things might have gone the other way. Everything is like stepping stones, and I’ve seen people I admire falter. We’re all vulnerable.

Breakfast is my specialty. I admit it’s the easiest meal to cook, but I make everything with a twist, like lemon ricotta pancakes or bacon that’s baked instead of fried.

It’s always interesting – how do you actually convey thought through song? We’re used to the convention on stage. In film, we used to be used to it, and now sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. You need to be fresh and really look at the material.

When you’re playing an icon like Wolverine, it’s sometimes better to be someone that nobody knows because they don’t know what to expect. I don’t mind a little bit of anonymity; it helps on the subway.

There comes a certain point in life when you have to stop blaming other people for how you feel or the misfortunes in your life. You can’t go through life obsessing about what might have been.

I’m quite a competitive person, so I do quite like to win.

I just love making a fool out of myself. I made my living as a clown at kids’ parties for about three years.

My parents were drawn to the idea that there was space and opportunity in Australia. For the meagre sum of £10, you could sail your entire family out to Australia, so that’s what my father chose to do.

The last 10 years I have had to bulk up for roles and I’m naturally skinny, so I have eaten and killed so many chickens! I wouldn’t even want to count. I need to balance that out.

I’d sell my soul for a good cause.

For Sunday breakfast, I make orange and ricotta pancakes, crepes and eggs. You know men, we usually go for breakfast because it’s the easiest thing to cook and then we try to make it seem fancy.

And I think that, of course, there is some dysfunction of needing to be liked or noticed or to feel part of things, something going on there for most actors. For some there’s not and I think they really struggle with it.

The first show I ever did, singing and dancing, was ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ I was playing Gaston. Gaston has red tights, knee high boots, and it’s very physical. I had headaches every day for two months.

One of things I’d love to do one day is a Shakespeare with Trevor Nunn. I’ve done musicals with him, but never Shakespeare. There’s no one better.

Being on Broadway is the modern equivalent of being a monk. I sleep a lot, eat a lot, and rest a lot.

My favorite play in drama school was ‘The Bacchae.’ It’s about a king who literally gets eaten alive by all the women in the play in a kind of orgy – it’s related to the word ‘bacchanal’ – and I loved that idea of animalistic chaos and following our own desires.

It dawned on me that acting was what I wanted to do with my life. Nothing had ever touched my heart like acting did.

In terms of theater, there’s not a more supportive theater community than in New York. It’s really kind of a real thrill to go there. I mean, don’t forget, I’m a boy from the suburbs of Sydney, so getting to New York is a huge, huge thrill.

I feel so lucky to have both a son and a daughter, because there’s a different relationship with each of them.

As an actor, you have many tools – your body, your voice, your emotions, mentally. In film, you have your eyes because they communicate your thought process. In fact, generally in film, what you don’t say is more important than what you say. That’s not so much the case for stage.

I lived with a coffee farmer called Dukale on a trip I made with World Vision to Ethiopia, and realised there’s no good reason for the disparity in opportunity around the world.

Comic book fans have loved Wolverine, and all the ‘X-Men’ characters, for more than the action. I think that’s what set it apart from many of the other comic books. In the case of Wolverine, when he appeared, he was a revolution really. He was the first anti-hero.

I’m not a kid. You don’t get in this business for anonymity. It’s not like I have posters of myself on the wall, but at the same time, I’m kind of ready for a little bit of it, but I worry for my little one, and my family – their privacy. That’s what I’m more protective of.

Sometimes you have to go places with characters and emotions within yourself you don’t want to do, but you have a duty to the story and as a storyteller to do it.

I wanted to be a lawyer. Then a journalist. Actually, I graduated from university as a journalist.

My agent said to me five years ago, ‘Hugh, I can see one day you… if I had to plan a goal for you, it’s for you to have the kind of career that Sinatra had.’

The word philosophy sounds high-minded, but it simply means the love of wisdom. If you love something, you don’t just read about it; you hug it, you mess with it, you play with it, you argue with it.

I’ve always felt that if you back down from a fear, the ghost of that fear never goes away. It diminishes people.

At the end of drama school, I made a contract with myself: I’d try acting for five years. I was 26. I had already spent eight years working in restaurants and gas stations. So I had seen enough small businesses to understand that that’s what acting is: a small business.

When I come home, my daughter will run to the door and give me a big hug, and everything that’s happened that day just melts away.

I’m doing a new musical on Broadway, which opens in October called ‘The Boy from Oz,’ where I play Peter Allen. For those of you who don’t know, he became first famous in America for marrying Liza Minelli.