One of the Canadian customs guards got suspicious and said 'Haven't you been coming and going across the border a lot lately?' I finally told him I was auditioning for Wolverine and everything changed. One minute it was get ready for the strip search, the next it was come on and sign six hundred autographs.
Hugh JackmanI 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.
Hugh JackmanUnless you're willing to fail miserably in the pursuit of your dreams, you'll never make it.
Hugh JackmanIf you never fall in love with your character, you'll never be able to do that character justice. No matter who it is, no matter what the character does, you have to find the reason for it. Everyone's got a reason for what they do, even if it's a reason that they're not proud of.
Hugh JackmanIt's tough to watch a movie you're in - you put everything into it, you want everything to work, and you never know until you see it all together.
Hugh JackmanI'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.
Hugh JackmanI love food, all types of food. I love Korean food, Japanese, Italian, French. In Australia, we don't have a distinctive Australian food, so we have food from everywhere all around the world. We're very multicultural, so we grew up with lots of different types of food.
Hugh JackmanBeing on Broadway is the modern equivalent of being a monk. I sleep a lot, eat a lot, and rest a lot.
Hugh JackmanIf 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.
Hugh JackmanIf you get too heavy with the nods and winks, people get a sense that they're excluded from something. If they're in screenings and everyone's laughing, and they don't know what the hell it's about, somehow you feel excluded from the party, or like you're not in the inner circle. As a performer, that's the worst thing you can do to an audience. It's fun, but you have to be very careful with it.
Hugh JackmanIt dawned on me that acting was what I wanted to do with my life. Nothing had ever touched my heart like acting did.
Hugh JackmanComic 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.
Hugh JackmanIf I could only do one exercise, it would be dead lifting. For cardio, I dance, I ride my bike, I run and I have kids. There is a... lot of cardio just from being a parent.
Hugh JackmanI always think the great parts outlive the actors that play them and that's a stage tradition, that goes back hundreds of years and it should be that way.
Hugh JackmanWhen lifting, I'm always with a trainer because the thing that makes a difference is that last 20% in your training, and he very scientifically looks after my food as well, because when I'm going for a 'shirt off' shot, everything changes the month before, and I'm timed down to the day.
Hugh JackmanI've always felt that if you back down from a fear, the ghost of that fear never goes away. It diminishes people.
Hugh JackmanI didn't really know X-Men at all before I started. So I'd heard of this comic but I didn't know it was as beloved or as iconic as I have now found out, but I just know fans are going to flip out at this.
Hugh JackmanFor 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.
Hugh JackmanIf I weren’t getting paid or didn’t have a character like Wolverine to maintain, I would just be a tall, lean, fit guy.
Hugh JackmanI 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.
Hugh JackmanI've dreamt of being in a movie musical for a long time. For some reason I never even thought 'Les Mis' would be possible.
Hugh JackmanIf I'm a lush at anything, it's food and drink. I'm not materialistic in any way, but I value food.
Hugh JackmanI had a bad back for a couple of years. I had to do a lot of physiotherapy for it. What I couldn't understand at the time was why the therapists had me doing a lot of stomach work.
Hugh JackmanMy 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.'
Hugh JackmanIt'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.
Hugh JackmanOne thing I do personally started 20 years ago. I started meditating, and I know twice a day I can kind of let everything drop. It's just about being quiet, like drawing back the day, and it allows me to have energy.
Hugh JackmanI think I may have been the only person to be rewarded charitably and get a tax deduction for swearing on film!
Hugh JackmanThe longer it takes you to become successful, the harder it will be for somebody else to take it away from you.
Hugh JackmanI come from the theater, so for me rehearsal is vital and a way of life. There are many film directors who don't believe in it and some actors who prefer not to rehearse.
Hugh JackmanYour marriage goes to a whole new level. You not only fall in love with your wife in a new way, but you're forced to pull together. You have to become a united front.
Hugh JackmanI know I'm not known as method. By nature I'm not a brooder. What I continue to use is a mixture of the English school, which is traditionally outside-in, and the more American way of working from the inside out.
Hugh JackmanThere is still boxing, but there's just no money in it anymore. If you went around the world and asked a bunch of people under 20 years old, to name a boxer, I bet they couldn't name one. They'd be able to name a UFC fighter though. When I was younger there was Mike Tyson and we watched everything. I'm not saying its gone, or its going to go, and it could easily be ignited by another fighter, but it's just that idea that UFC is more violent, that desire for more spectacle, has captured people's attention.
Hugh JackmanIf I go to a party I don't feel like I have to be in the centre. But I do find myself quite often being placed in that position. Even when I was younger at school, I would be asked to make a speech. I don't remember putting up my hand and all that often but I'd just find myself there.
Hugh JackmanThe 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.
Hugh JackmanMy gosh, I love food. If I wasn't an actor, I could be a completely different body shape right now.
Hugh JackmanI never wanted to go longer than five years off the stage. Not necessarily musicals, but just doing a play or something.
Hugh JackmanIn 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.
Hugh JackmanThe Wolverine was fired from his job as a cashier in a newsagents after just six weeks because his boss said, "he talks too much to customers". He can talk to me all day.
Hugh JackmanThe 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.
Hugh Jackman