“I'm A Bloody Lucky Man”

Hugh Jackman is at the top of his game. Yet, as Michael Sheather reports, if not for his wife and family, he might be a completely different guy.

- Michael Sheather

Hugh Jackman pushes the elevator call button. The lift doors open. Four women stand inside the lift looking out at the tall, handsome man looking in. Their mouths fall open in shock. They start to blush and giggle, more like teenage schoolgirls than middle-age matrons. Hugh steps into the lift, smiling fit to bust.

Unable to resist, one of the women leans in, asking in a soft-spoken voice, “Are you really who we think you are?”

“Well,” replies Hugh, leaning down so that the woman can hear him. “I’m not sure who you think I am. I hope it’s someone nice.”

“We think you might be that singing and acting bloke, Hugh Jackman,” replies the woman.

“In that case, you’re right. That’s who I am. Lovely to meet you, and I hope you ladies are having a wonderful day.”

“We are now,” quips one of the women from behind her hand. “Wait till we tell everyone we shared a lift with the Wolverine man.”

At 50, Hugh Jackman is nothing if not charming. This is a man worth an estimated $150 million, at the very top of his game as a box office drawcard around the world, the star of a dozen smash-hit movies, a genuine A-lister if there ever was one. Yet he still speaks to his myriad of fans as though he is chatting in the checkout line at Woolies.

Hugh Jackman, by far the most successful Australian male star to make it in Hollywood in the past 30 years, is much more than the classic triple threat. Yes, he can act, dance and even sing, but there’s something else about him that not only catches the eye when he walks in a room, but insists you lock on and pay attention.