Hugh Jackman

by Anthony Bunko

  Dean Carey, co-founder and creative director at the centre, explained: ‘My first impression was that he was four steps back from a cliff from which he wanted to jump off and fly. He really wanted to know how to take off. You would feed him information, he’d patiently order it in his own mind, and then, when he had it settled, bang! He just combusted.’

  The entire year’s experience ignited his passion for the craft even more, and the fundamentals he learnt played a huge part in the principles he took into his everyday life.

  Ross McGregor, who was the centre’s visiting director at the time, commented: ‘He was very, very focused. I think he felt responsible to himself or his family, I’m not sure who but he really wanted to achieve something. It was as though he had made a contract, and he’d decided not to renege on it.’

  Many years later, in 2007, Hugh proudly accepted the role of Patron of ACA and in his speech to the students and teachers, he announced: ‘I am often asked why Australian actors are doing so well on the international stage and my first response is always that the training we receive is world-class. Certainly for me, ACA was a huge part of my development. I really have to thank all the staff at ACA for instilling in me that sense of play, risk-taking and adventure that has made acting for me so fulfilling.’

  During his time at ACA, Hugh worked as a receptionist at the university gym to make extra cash. Michael Ryan was an aerobics instructor working there when he first met Hugh, who was taking bookings at the main desk. ‘All the girls in my class talked about this guy at the front counter,’ recalled Michael. ‘Finally, I decided I’d better go take a look for myself and there was Hugh, surrounded by a crowd of women trying to engage him in casual conversation. It was pretty clear he had something going for him even then.’

  They soon became friends and Michael couldn’t help but notice how skinny the budding actor was. As a joke, he called Hugh ‘chicken legs’. ‘Pectorally challenged,’ was how Hugh described himself. ‘That was me when I worked in the gym – I was known as the “before” model. All the others were these buff gym guys. I never understood the gym culture. Why do it? Sitting there, pushing weights, seemed ridiculous. Go to the beach and swim, or go out and run!’

  Michael volunteered to help train Hugh, which they both really enjoyed. Indeed, the results were so good that Hugh told his friend that if he ever became a successful actor, he would employ him as a personal trainer. In 2003, completely out of the blue, Michael got a call from Hugh, who simply said: ‘Quit your job today, you’re coming to Prague as my personal trainer.’ Michael dropped everything without a second thought and he is still Hugh’s trainer to this day, travelling with him all over the world.

  It was also while Hugh was working the front desk of the gym that he had a spooky encounter with a white witch. Annie Semler, the wife of the award-winning Australian cinematographer Dean Semler (Bruce Almighty, Dances with Wolves), came in for a series of treatments, during which she suddenly stopped and levelled an intense stare at Jackman. ‘You’re going to be a big star,’ she announced. Everyone around them stared at her as if she was insane. ‘Don’t worry, it’s all going to happen so fast. Listen to me, I’m a white witch.’ Her last statement only added fuel to the watching audience’s thoughts that she was completely crazy. At that moment, Hugh’s only concerns were about collecting her money.

  It actually turned out the white witch wasn’t as mad as they’d thought. The very next day Hugh landed himself an agent, Penny Williams, and then everything began to steamroll quite quickly. Two weeks later he was offered a part on the hugely popular Aussie soap opera Neighbours, a show which had provided breakout roles for Russell Crowe, Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce and Natalie Imbruglia, among others. It was a plum gig, a two-year contract with the allure of easy money and quick fame. Yet he wasn’t so sure about the opportunity, feeling it was a little too safe.

  However, the big break finally made Hugh realise that he could actually make a living as an actor, so while waiting for the Neighbours contract to arrive, he attended an interview with WAAPA, the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts in Perth.

  As the principal of WAAPA, Dr Geoffrey Gibbs had helped to inspire some of Australia’s best talent to become actors of international acclaim, but he never forgot the day that a young Hugh strolled into the auditorium, looking like an airline pilot; impossibly handsome, tall, calm and quietly confident: ‘I think we all knew instantly that this guy was going to be fantastic.’

  It didn’t take long for Hugh to win them over so convincingly that for the first time in WAAPA history, the selection panel offered him a place right there on the spot. Unanimous in their agreement, they couldn’t believe his incredible capacity to hold their attention. ‘I consulted my colleagues,’ recalled Gibbs. ‘They said, “Get him.” Just like that. It was unprecedented to make a decision on the spot. But we thought it was so incredibly brave of him to knock back a lot of money and fame from a successful show like Neighbours in order to craft a real future for himself.’

  Hugh himself was, of course, over the moon to be offered the position – especially since he had been turned down at around the same time by the National Institute of Dramatic Art. But he now had to make a decision: take the weekly salary and the immediate fame Neighbours could offer, or take the risk and spend three years going to acting school?

  Already, he had called family and friends to tell them that he had been offered the gig on Neighbours. They were all pleased for him, but Hugh being Hugh, he started to have doubts. He thought the TV-show role might be detrimental to his career as an actor. He knew he would learn a lot about handling press and camera techniques if he did Neighbours, but he kept asking himself if it would help him audition for the Royal Shakespeare or Sydney Theatre companies. After a lot of soul-searching he had to admit it probably wouldn’t, and so he decided to do things the hard way and go to WAAPA. Apparently, his step-sister in England still hasn’t forgiven him – Neighbours was such a massive hit in the UK that she had phoned all her friends to tell them her brother was going to be a TV star.

  Even his friends thought that turning down Neighbours was a big mistake, but Hugh headed off to Perth regardless to study at WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, which was established in 1980. The WAAPA is situated in Mount Lawley, a leafy suburb of Perth. As well as being a friendly, safe and relaxed place, Perth offers all the cosmopolitan attractions of a large, international city. The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts is recognised nationally and internationally for the quality of its graduates around the world. Many well-known actors, dancers, musicians and music theatre stars including Frances O’Connor, Marcus Graham, Lucy Durack, Rachelle Durkin, Emma Matthews, Jamie Oehlers and Tim Minchin, among others, have called WAAPA home at one point in their life.

  Hugh fitted into drama school very well and excelled during the next three years. He worked incredibly hard in a tough, yet enjoyable environment where he was forced to learn quickly and to adapt to change and new challenges: ‘When I trained at acting school you did fencing, Shakespeare class, modern dance, circus school, all before lunch.’

  Hugh immersed himself in acting; always willing to listen and learn, always prepared to try new roles, to stretch himself, he loved the school and never missed a day. He attended every class, which usually started at nine in the morning and continued through until six in the evening.

  Of course there were some doubts along the way, especially when certain teachers at the school confided in him that maybe he should have taken the gig on TV. Then there was the night when he sat alone in his small, cold flat eating two-minute noodles while watching the character he would have played in Neighbours on a small TV set: ‘I knew the guy was earning a couple of grand a week, which seemed like a fortune and I thought, “Did I do the right thing?”’

  Nevertheless, he stayed focused. He ate, slept, drank and dreamed about acting, and was passionate about the whole experience. It was the most fun he had ever had and in the three years he spent stud
ying, he gained all-round theatre education and experience. He took part in several stage productions including Tonight We Improvise and Barbarians, Translations, as well as director Wayne Harrison’s Romeo and Juliet.

  By his own admission, he only lost his composure on stage once during that time. He was playing Romeo and his father had flown over from Fiji, where he had been working, especially to see his son. They were doing two shows in one day, of about three hours in length. Hugh’s dad sat through both performances, even staying put when the house lights came on between shows and people were encouraged to go and get some food: ‘Dad didn’t move. He sat there for six hours. I was doing Romeo’s scene where he finds out that he’s been banished. I was crying and emotional. I remember seeing Dad, and he was crying. And I lost it. I lost it completely, to see Dad crying there. Although he has some true British grit qualities, deep down he is actually emotional, very effusive.’

  WAAPA was an amazing place to study, regarded as one of the best institutions in the world and incredibly well supported by the government. ‘It was really a turning point in my life. And I also had a great time in Perth as an acting student… an amazing city and a great breeding ground… agents everywhere.’

  He had never felt so fulfilled or challenged in his life. Like the ACA course in Sydney, it made him depressed at times, but he liked being pushed to his limits. It was sometimes a lonely place, but the only thing that mattered to Hugh was being on stage, which gave him the opportunity to find out what was underneath the very presentable exterior of Hugh Jackman. During those three years, Hugh grew up.

  When he graduated in 1994, all he could think of was getting work as an actor so that he wouldn’t have to work another dead-end job. And it wasn’t long before he found himself suddenly touted as Australian’s next superstar. Within 18 months he had scored a home run in not one, but two major acting fields.

  ‘He reminds me of a young Gregory Peck. There is such maturity in his work. That sense of knowing that Peck has. Unlike most other young actors, Hugh commands attention on stage. Because of his creative integrity, he demands respect for his character. He’s also an actor that other professionals like to work with. He gives them a sense that they’re all in it together. Some actors, if something goes awry, they worry about themselves and what they’re doing. Hugh is always aware of his role as a collaborator with the play, the director and the other actors. He’s always looking for ways to make the whole thing better. People couldn’t stop taking notice of him. Everything he does draws special attention to him. He’s not allowing himself to go unnoticed.’

  Dean Carey (head of acting, WAAPA)

  CHAPTER THREE

  More Than Just a Shopping Mall Heart-Throb

  During his time in Perth, a friend of Hugh’s from drama school took him to his first class at the School of Practical Philosophy. The School is a worldwide movement devoted to the study of religious and philosophical ideas drawn from varied sources such as Christianity, Hinduism, ancient Greece and Shakespeare. It teaches how natural laws governing humanity can be applied to everyday life and grew from London’s School of Economic Science, founded in 1937 in the wake of the Great Depression. Meditation is central to its practice.

  In fact, Hugh’s interest started when he noticed a fellow student in drama class who seemed to have a strangely peaceful quality about him. When he asked what his secret was, Hugh was told about the School of Practical Philosophy, so he decided to go along and check it out: ‘I’d felt this hole in my life since I had sort of abandoned the strict Christian model, and I felt I needed to replace it, that I needed a path. This made complete sense to me.’

  It became a major part of his life, and still is today. Initially, he thought it would help with his acting, but after a few months, he realised it was the other way around: ‘It gave me a great grounding and understanding of the world around us. We study great philosophers, thinkers, the scriptures from the East, from the West,’ he explained. ‘It’s not the kind of school where you’re actively encouraged to accept or reject any of the information, but to try it out practically in your life, as a way of inquiry. Inquiry comes first, and acting was just another activity that was an extension of it. It’s all about personal experience and what helps, what doesn’t. You start with working on yourself, then widening that work to helping others around you and the community at large.’

  Indeed, wherever he is in the world he attends class every week and has done so for the past 20 years. He believes this has helped him to enjoy the business he is in and stops him from succumbing to the ups and downs that are evident in his profession: ‘It’s ironic that actors, who can slip in and out of roles, often tend to take their own lives so seriously. It’s all a play, after all, and a wonderful one. I think my studies have helped me to put that into perspective and not to dismiss things as trivial or unimportant, but rather to see the rollercoaster quality as part of that inevitable play. I mean, success in this business is very much determined by public opinion and we all know how fickle that can be.’

  So while WAAPA gave Hugh the techniques and skills to succeed, the School of Practical Philosophy slowly but surely gave him the inner strength to not only dive head first into the dark, cold river known as acting, but also the confidence to swim against the current.

  Following his graduation from drama school in 1994, he did what most Australian film stars have done down the years and entered the world of soaps, mini-series and cop dramas. He was fortunate to land a part in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) prison drama Correlli in 1995. Correlli, which was extensively shot on location in Geelong Gaol, featured Deborra-Lee Furness in the title role as a criminal psychologist named Louisa Correlli. Hugh played Kevin Jones, an intense and charismatic armed robber, who pretends to be brain-damaged to avoid a maximum-security lock-up. Over the course of the 10-episode series, Jones and Correlli have a distinctly dangerous mutual attraction and, in a classic case of life imitating art, Hugh fell in love with Deborra-Lee. The show’s scriptwriters couldn’t have plotted it any better. A year later, the couple married.

  At twenty-seven, Correlli was Hugh’s first notable casting. Not only did the programme gain good viewing figures, but he personally received very good reviews for his powerful portrayal of the prisoner. On the back of it, he won a small part in Law of the Land in 1993, a Channel Nine drama series set in a rural town where the locals had their own way of enforcing the law. It starred Susan J. Arnold and John Brumpton in the main roles. Hugh played Charles ‘Chicka’ McCray in one episode only: Win, Lose and Draw.

  Although not a role that Russell Crowe or Mel Gibson might lose any sleep over, it at least proved that Hugh was slowly getting a firm foothold on the ladder of success. He decided, and not for the last time in his career, that he wanted to try something completely different. Unlike most young actors straight out of drama school with a couple of TV shows under their belt, who would have been more than satisfied with the mark they were making on TV-land, Hugh needed something else. He’d had a taste of the world of theatre from his visits to London and also while at drama school, and now he craved more.

  Incorporating the good looks of a leading man and a palpable talent, balanced with unaffected charm, he found his career moving quickly in a new direction as he joined the cast of the Melbourne production of the successful Broadway musical, Walt Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. It told the story of Belle, a young, beautiful French girl held prisoner by a horrendous beast (who used to be an enchanted prince). The beast must win Belle’s love in order to undo his beastly curse. In the Australian musical, Hugh portrayed the handsome but rather superficial Gaston, whose desire to marry Belle turns him from a self-centred but harmless buffoon into a menacing, murderous villain.

  ‘My first audition was for Beauty and the Beast. The casting director said, “Why did you sing that song?” I said I’d learned it at drama school. He said, “Never sing that again. It doesn’t suit your voice. Go get some lessons and come back in a month
.” Luckily, I’d read for the part before I sang. I could tell they thought I was good. So when I came back, I got the musical. I may be the only actor in history to have a contract with this clause: “Must take singing lessons every week.” I was suddenly doing eight shows a week and taking lessons for an entire year. Who wouldn’t get better if you worked that hard?’

  The tall and muscular Hugh Jackman wore prosthetic pieces to pull off the exaggerated build of the character, but even with all the added padding, the actor’s spot-on portrayal, complete with appropriate pomp and swagger, shone through. Hugh’s role as Gaston was the first stage performance for which he received an MO nomination for Best Actor for achievement in a live performance from the Australian entertainment industry. It was also the performance that would be the springboard to parts in Sunset Boulevard (directed by Trevor Nunn in 1996) and Oklahoma! in 1999.

  Despite the huge success of Beauty and the Beast, however, he did have one extremely embarrassing experience during the production. The incident in question didn’t take place on the opening night, as some have stated. In fact, Hugh has confirmed that it happened three months into the run. It all began when he started getting headaches every day, before and after the show. At first he thought this might be stress-related, but life was good and there was nothing much to worry about. He was told to go and see a naturopath, who instantly diagnosed dehydration: ‘You’re doing the show, you’re working out for the show, and you’re just not drinking enough water. You must drink about two litres a day.’

  Not one to disobey orders, Hugh did as he was told: ‘I drank four litres to make sure. I’d just gone to the bathroom, but waiting in the wings, I was like, bloody hell, I need to go again! I thought, I’ll be all right. The number featured Belle and me chasing around the stage, me lifting her up, dragging her, and singing the whole time. Then I realised, no way! I was sucking in air, trying to sing and dance. I picked her up, and I realised I’d peed my pants a little,’ he recounted, and went on to explain: ‘The very last note was a big-time F-sharp, front and centre. You have to release certain muscles to hit it, the same ones that allow you to hold on when you have to go to the bathroom. I thought, Shit, if I sing this note, I’m going to pee my pants; if I don’t, I’m going to be humiliated.’