Rise to Fame
Third choice for a role. Russell Crowe passed, Dougray Scott dropped out when Tom Cruise reportedly wouldn't release him from Mission: Impossible 2, and then Jackman auditioned and got rejected for being 'the nicest guy in the world.' Too tall, too handsome, not enough menace. Crowe reportedly recommended him anyway. He got the part, studied Clint Eastwood and Mel Gibson for the physicality, and initially did research on actual wolves before realizing the name had nothing to do with canines. X-Men grossed $296 million worldwide and nobody remembered the other candidates.
In the Spotlight
Seven years after supposedly retiring the claws in Logan, he came back for Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) and it became the highest-grossing R-rated film ever made, clearing $1 billion globally. The comeback worked. Off-screen, his 27-year marriage to Deborra-Lee Furness ended in divorce finalized in 2025, and he went public with a relationship with his Music Man co-star Sutton Foster shortly after. In 2025 he also booked a 12-show residency at Radio City Music Hall. At 56, he's somehow more in-demand than he was at 45.
Side Notes
He was training to be a PE teacher before he ever set foot on a stage. His father raised five kids alone after his parents divorced when he was 8. That 6'2" frame meant every X-Men film had to shoot him from the waist up and put co-stars in platform shoes because Wolverine is 5'3" in the comics. In 2011 he founded Laughing Man Coffee after meeting a fair trade farmer in Ethiopia, and the company donates all profits to charity. He also has two Tony Awards and studied philosophy for over a decade, in case you were worried he was shallow.