There have been many big-name stars that have kicked off their acting careers on Aussie soaps like Neighbours and Home And Away. Margot Robbie, Chris Hemsworth, Daniel MacPherson, Guy Pearce, Jesse Spencer, Kylie Minogue… The list goes on.
As it turns out, homegrown megastar Hugh Jackman could have also joined the Ramsay Street crew 25 years ago. Yep, the Wolverine himself was offered a role on Neighbours but turned it down because at the time, he thought it was more important to study.
“I was offered a job on Neighbours which was a very successful soap opera in Australia at the time the same weekend that I was offered a place at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts which was a prestigious drama school,” he exclusively told TV WEEK.
“So I had the choice of do I go and work as a working actor on a two-year contract or do I go and study. I was 24 [years old] so I wasn’t young in acting terms and I really didn’t know what to do.
After a couple of days deliberation, Hugh decided he wanted to get educated.
“I thought two years on a soap opera is not going to make me confident to go to the Royal Shakespeare Company in London and audition so instead I went to study.”
It obviously paid off for the 49-year-old actor. He scored his first breakout role in was as mutant Logan/Wolverine in the 2000 flick X-Men and played that character a further seven times.
He’s also appeared in a string of blockbuster films over the years (like Les Misérables, Real Steel, Van Helsing) but you’ll be able to catch him on the big screen next month for The Greatest Showman.
