I do heavy weights in the morning for about an hour, and then I do 45 minutes of higher-volume lifting in the afternoon. My least favorite is the legs... I do quite a few chin-ups and rows. I do mostly old-school lifting with a lot of squats.
— Hugh Jackman
If 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.
My father is very Jean Valjean. He's what I would call a great example of a religious person. He is a deeply thoughtful man whose religion is in his deeds way more than anything else. It's not talked about that much.
I've always felt embraced by the Broadway community even before I felt like I earned it.
Anyone who thinks they're indispensible is fooling themselves.
My dad's main client was the World Bank, and he spent most of his time traveling to Third World countries. His particular interest lay in the eradication of poverty through development and business.
I lived with a coffee farmer called Dukale on a trip I made with World Vision to Ethiopia, and realised there's no good reason for the disparity in opportunity around the world.
When I come home, my daughter will run to the door and give me a big hug, and everything that's happened that day just melts away.
I was probably more scared of my high school exams than I was of the Oscars. At the time you think it's everything and if you don't do well, your life's over. Opportunities are gone. So the more you do it, the less the fear is present.
I have two children and it's amazing how in tune they are with nature, with light, with smells, with time.
But in another world, another life, probably growing up in another country, I might have been more of a dancer.
I had spent some time in the outback, but to meet Aboriginals and work with them was wonderful. It gave me a great appreciation of how tough life is and about the indomitable spirit that the Aboriginal people have always possessed.
I've dreamt of being in a movie musical for a long time. For some reason I never even thought 'Les Mis' would be possible.
By nature I'm not a brooder.
Actually, I graduated from university as a journalist.
I've always felt that if you back down from a fear, the ghost of that fear never goes away. It diminishes people.
I 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.
When 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.
I like to dress up in a tailored suit from time to time, and there's a tailor I go to in Naples who's fantastic. But if I told anyone his name, I'd have to kill them.
I always felt love from both my parents.
When you dance, your body just wants to find its natural weight. I'm naturally a lot more Tommy Tune than I am Wolverine.
I had a fairly enlightened dad, though if you looked at his resume, it might not seem that way. He was a chartered accountant for Price Waterhouse. He was strict, and we had a very ordered life. To this day, I am the least materialistic person I know, because my father didn't raise me to just go out and buy this or that car.
I'd sell my soul for a good cause.
For 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.
I feel so lucky to have both a son and a daughter, because there's a different relationship with each of them.
Because I believe actually the more you do something, the less frightening it becomes because you start to realize the outcome is not as important as you think.
That's all about the natural order of things, the idea of nature protecting children but also children protecting nature.
One 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.
But anyone who's done a musical knows; whether you're dancing or not, physically it's the most difficult thing you can do.
I would love to have a robot at home.
The word philosophy sounds high-minded, but it simply means the love of wisdom. If you love something, you don't just read about it; you hug it, you mess with it, you play with it, you argue with it.
I 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.
I have lots of older siblings, and as they started to leave the house, I went from cooking once a week to twice, three times, and so on. After a while, it was just like making the bed.
There is anxiety, but it comes after you've finished filming because it's out of your hands; people are editing it, they're cutting it, marketing it. And it's... part your career sort of rides on that. But when you're actually filming it's a team thing and it really feels good there for me.
It's absolutely physically demanding to play the role of Wolverine. There's a lot of action, and I try to do as much of it as I can because it's better for the audience.
I remember at one point being in fellowship, and everyone used to wear the fish symbol; it said you were a Christian. So I asked my father, 'Dad, why don't you wear that at work?' And he said, 'Your religion should be in your actions.' He set a great, great example.
My mum and I are, in many ways, quite similar. We're both creative, gregarious, and energetic.
When I made 'Real Steel,' the director actually had the robots in the monitor, so he knew where everything was. So technically, there's been advancements. But at the end of the day, movies are about story and characters, so all the other stuff is great, but unless you have those two elements, then you've got nothing.
I wanted to be a lawyer. Then a journalist. Actually, I graduated from university as a journalist.
If I'm a lush at anything, it's food and drink. I'm not materialistic in any way, but I value food.
My gosh, I love food. If I wasn't an actor, I could be a completely different body shape right now.
I'm not a loner at all.
I just find the evangelical church too, well, restrictive. But the School of Practical Philosophy is nonconfrontational. We believe there are many forms of Scripture. What is true is true and will never change, whether it's in the Bible or in Shakespeare. It's about oneness.
Salvatore Ferragamo have done some nice handmade suits for me.
I have two kids, career and I travel, and I don't think my life is any different than most couples. The most valuable commodity now for many people is time and how to parcel that out.
Singing is incredibly physical.
I 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.
At the end of drama school, I made a contract with myself: I'd try acting for five years. I was 26. I had already spent eight years working in restaurants and gas stations. So I had seen enough small businesses to understand that that's what acting is: a small business.
Acting is something I love. It's a great craft that I have a lot of respect for. But I don't think it's any greater challenge than teaching 8-year-olds or any other career. In my life, I try not to make it more important than it is and I just hope that rubs off on the people around me.
With age, you see people fail more. You see yourself fail more. How do you keep that fearlessness of a kid? You keep going. Luckily, I'm not afraid to make a fool of myself.
