Hugh Jackman-The Success Claws

One Of Australia’s Greatest Exports Sits Down With The Ceo Magazine To Talk Wolverine, Family And Russell Crowe.

- Stephen Corby

It comes as only mildly surprising to learn that Hugh Jackman has an entry in the Guinness Book Of Records, and hardly surprising at all that he can play three instruments, on top of singing and dancing brilliantly enough to go on a successful global live stage tour. What is genuinely dumbfounding is that Jackman is now 51 years old.

Perhaps it’s all those paparazzi shots of him out of the surf at Bondi as if he’s auditioning for yet another superhero role, as Aquaman. Or possibly it’s because he’s so closely associated with the hirsute hero of the X-Men world, Wolverine, who never ages (a challenging superpower for any actor, but particularly so if you go on to play that character for 17 years), but it just seems implausible that someone who looks as flawless as he does could be anywhere near a half century.

However, Jackman has perhaps finally tired of the physical toll that it takes on him to look as ripped and young as Wolverine (not to mention as short – Jackman is 1.9 metres tall, 30 centimetres taller than the character is supposed to be, meaning that directors are constantly trying to shoot him from tricky angles or only from waist up – shirtless of course – to make him look smaller).

The Aussie actor, reportedly the most financially successful thespian to come out of this country – with a net worth of US$150 million (outstripping even Nicole Kidman, US$130 million, Russell Crowe, US$95 million, and Chris Hemsworth, US$90 million) – announced that the acclaimed Logan would be his last appearance as Wolverine.

Still, he had done enough to earn that Guinness Book mention for the longest career as a live-action Marvel superhero – take that, Robert Downey Jr (net worth, US$300 million).