by Eric Blume
Hugh Jackman celebrating his 50th birthday.
Let’s all take a moment to celebrate the half-century birthday of one of our most versatile and underrated actors, Hugh Jackman.
Underrated, you question? Sure, Hugh has a Best Actor Tony for The Boy from Oz, an Emmy Award for hosting the Academy Awards, and a Best Actor Oscar nomination for Les Miserables. But if you asked folks to list ten of the best working actors, would most people remember to put him on their list?
I’d argue no, and not because anyone holds him in anything but the highest regard, but rather that Hugh is so unflashy, and so dependably solid, that we take his skill for granted.
At Telluride with Jason Reitman to promote "The Front Runner"
Hugh Jackman is a natural-born movie star. He’s got the basic rugged handsomeness that the camera loves, but his angles are a bit off, in a great way, so he’s not generic in his beauty. He’s got charisma for days, and a generosity for both fellow actors and the audience that’s big and honest. He has legit training as a song-and-dance man, a quality particularly unique to male movie actors, and one that the industry has barely scratched the surface of. He’d been rumored to play Billy Bigelow in a movie musical remake of Carousel, a role he was born to play, and a text for which he could bring out a contemporary sensibility that would help the piece further resonate today.
Hugh spent seventeen years in the X-Men universe playing Wolverine. When this man jacks up, his frame is the perfect physical embodiment of the character, and he’s always deep into the role in the way all our best actors are, pretending what they think they’re playing is as interesting as what they’re actually playing. But he brought the character to full-circle power in last year’s Logan, which gave him an ability to turn the action movie genre into almost a chamber piece, with the emphasis on characterization and feeling.
Hugh Jackman is a great leading man, can more than hold his own as a singer and musician, nails comedy, flies high as a superhero, is hot AF, and by all accounts of everyone who has worked with him, also a warm, kind, charming human being. May we be so lucky to have the gift of him onscreen for decades to come.
What’s your favorite Hugh?