Hugh Jackman to return to Broadway
Hugh Jackman to return to Broadway 2013/2014 season starring as America’s greatest showman in HOUDINI the Musical. The Great Houdini is a totally original Australian Broadway musical spectacular, with world-wide appeal that takes audiences of all ages on an amazing journey of Music, Magic and Mystery! With music & lyrics by Geoff Willis book by David Willis music arrangements by Andrew Robertson. World-famous illusionist and escapologist Harry Houdini is torn between the love of his Mama, his wife and his obsession to escape from handcuffs, chains and prison cells. Can this legendary mortal accomplish his greatest feat of all by escaping death itself.
Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television. Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters. He is known for his role as Wolverine in the X-Men film series, as well as for his leads in Kate & Leopold, Van Helsing, The Prestige, Australia, and Real Steel. Jackman is a singer, dancer, and actor in stage musicals, and won a Tony Award for his role in The Boy from Oz.
In November 2008, Open Salon named Jackman one of the sexiest men alive. Later that same month, People magazine named Jackman “Sexiest Man Alive.†A three-time host of the Tony Awards, winning an Emmy Award for one of these appearances, Jackman also hosted the 81st Academy Awards on 22 February 2009.
On the night of his final Academy graduation performance, Jackman received a phone call offering him a role on Correlli: “I was technically unemployed for thirteen seconds. Correlli, devised by Australian actress Denise Roberts, was a 10-part drama series on ABC, Jackmans first major professional job, and where he met his future wife Deborra-Lee Furness: Meeting my wife was the greatest thing to come out of it. The show lasted only one season.
After Correlli Jackman went on the stage in Melbourne. In 1996, Jackman played Gaston in the local Walt Disney production of Beauty and the Beast, and Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard. During his stage musical career in Melbourne, he starred in the 1998 Midsumma festival cabaret production Summa Cabaret. He also hosted Melbourne’s Carols by Candlelight and Sydneys Carols in the Domain. Jackmans early film work includes Erskineville Kings and Paperback Hero (1999), and his television work includes Law of the Land, Halifax f.p., Blue Heelers, and Banjo Patersons The Man from Snowy River.
Jackman became known outside of Australia in 1998, when he played the leading role of Curly in the Royal National Theatres acclaimed stage production of Oklahoma!, in Londons West End. The performance earned him an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Jackman said “I totally felt like it cant get any better than this. On some level that production will be one of the highlights of my career.†He also starred in the 1999 film version of the same stage musical, which has been screened in many countries.
Wolverine was tough for Jackman to portray because he had few lines, but a lot of emotion to convey in them. To prepare, he watched Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry movies and Mel Gibson in Road Warrior. Here were guys who had relatively little dialogue, like Wolverine had, but you knew and felt everything. Iam not normally one to copy, but I wanted to see how these guys achieved it.Jackman was adamant about doing his own stunts for the movie. We worked a lot on the movement style of Wolverine, and I studied some martial arts. I watched a lot of Mike Tyson fights, especially his early fights. Theres something about his style, the animal rage, that seemed right for Wolverine. I kept saying to the writers, Dont give me long, choreographed fights for the sake of it. Dont make the fights pretty.
Jackman also had to get used to wearing Wolverines claws. Every day in my living room, Id just walk around with those claws, to get used to them. Ive got scars on one leg, punctures straight through the cheek, on my forehead. Im a bit clumsy. Im lucky I didnt tell them that when I auditioned.
Jackman, at 6 feet 2.5 inches (1.89 m),( stands a foot taller than Wolverine, who is said in the original comic book to be 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m). Hence, the filmmakers were frequently forced to shoot Jackman at unusual angles or only from the waist up to make him appear shorter than he actually is, and his co-stars wore platform soles. Jackman was also required to add a great deal of muscle for the role, and in preparing for the fourth film in the series, he bench-pressed over 300 pounds. An instant star upon the films release, Jackman later reprised his role in 2003s X2: X-Men United, 2006s X-Men: The Last Stand, and 2009s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He also cameos as Wolverine in 2011s X-Men: First Class.
As a philanthropist, Jackman is a longtime proponent of microcredit the extension of very small loans to prospective entrepreneurs in impoverished countries. He is a vocal supporter of Muhammad Yunus, microcredit pioneer and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Jackman is a global advisor of the Global Poverty Project, for which he narrated a documentary; and he and the projects founder Hugh Evans visited the UN for the cause in 2009. Jackman hosted a preview of the Global Poverty Project Presentation in New York together with Donna Karran, Lisa Fox and his wife Deborra-Lee. He is also a World Vision ambassador and participated in the climate week NYC ceremony on 21 September 2009
Jackman married Deborra-Lee Furness on 11 April 1996. They met on Correlli, an Australian television series. Jackman personally designed an engagement ring for Furness, and their wedding rings bore the Sanskrit inscription “Om paramar mainamarâ€, translated as “we dedicate our union to a greater source.
Like to Read More on Hugh Jackman Go to Out Database Now
Looking for Memorabilia on Hugh Jackman Go to our Memorabilia Store Now
