Having won an Emmy for his award show hosting skills, a Grammy for The Greatest Showman and a Tony for The Boy from Oz, Hugh Jackman is only an Oscar away from joining the coveted showbiz club known as EGOT. Although his latest film, Babe-esque murder mystery The Sheep Detectives, is unlikely to gain him entry just yet, the Australian has several performances under his belt worthy of membership.
From superhero spinoffs and sweeping melodramas to suspenseful thrillers and musicals that have established him as Hollywood’s ultimate song-and-dance man, here’s a look at the star’s 11 greatest films.
11. Kate & Leopold (2001)
Jackman deservedly picked up the first of four Golden Globe nods for his charming turn as – deep breath – His Grace Leopold Alexis Elijah Walker Thomas Gareth Mountbatten, 3rd Duke of Albany, in the kind of high concept rom-com they just don’t make anymore (well, not for cinemas anyway). Starring opposite the queen of the genre, Meg Ryan, the Australian is chivalry personified as a 19th-century royal who must get to grips with everything from the liberation of women to low-fat margarine after being propelled forward to his great-great-grandson’s modern-day New York flat. Just ignore how the happily-ever-after ending essentially retcons one particular relationship as incest.
Available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Prime Video and Sky Store
10. Australia (2008)
Baz Luhrmann’s love letter to his native Australia was typically ambitious in scope both thematically and geographically, lurching from Mills and Boon-esque romance and screwball comedy to old-school Western and historical revisionism while simultaneously navigating the Northern Territory’s vast terrain. Luckily, the auteur had two of the country’s national treasures to ground all the bombast. Nicole Kidman delivers one of her most alluring performances as the aristocratic ranch owner whose livelihood comes under threat. Jackman, in a role first intended for Russell Crowe and then Heath Ledger, provides just the right amount of ruggedness and sensitivity as her dashing hero.
Streaming on Disney+
9. The Fountain (2006)
This time and space-jumping meditation on metaphysics, religion and the power of love also takes several wild swings. While it doesn’t always hit the target, it boasts a dazzling visual energy (making its director Darren Aronofsky’s recent foray into AI slop, with his short video series On This Day … 1776, even more depressing) and a remarkable three-pronged performance from its committed leading man. Jackman is required to play a 16th-century conquistador hunting for the Fountain of Youth, a contemporary neuroscientist determined to find a cure for his cancer-stricken wife and a futuristic lone spaceman on a mission to save a dying star. And he transforms himself both emotionally and physically to convince in each disparate but intrinsically linked role.
Streaming on Tubi
8. Eddie the Eagle (2016)
Britain loves its sporting underdogs, so it’s unsurprising that a biopic of its greatest became the highest-grossing homegrown film of 2016. Jackman doesn’t portray the wispy-moustached, bespectacled hero of Eddie the Eagle, of course. Instead, he plays Bronson Peary, an entirely fictional American coach who, despite his initial misgivings, eventually helps the ski jumper fulfil his potential in time for the 1988 Winter Olympics. It’s not the most demanding role of Jackman’s career, although a drinking problem and some deep-seated daddy issues give him plenty to sink his teeth into. However, his natural charisma and winning chemistry with Taron Egerton’s leading man are integral to the film’s feel-good success.
Available to rent or buy on YouTube, Apple TV, Sky Store and Prime Video
7. Song Sung Blue (2025)
Kate Hudson got all the awards attention, but Jackman also shines in a curious antidote to the cookie-cutter musical biopics that have swarmed cinemas since Bohemian Rhapsody. Sporting a fetching 70s-style wig and more sequins than a Claire’s Accessories fire sale, Jackman plays Mike Sardina, half of a Neil Diamond tribute act that takes Milwaukee’s live circuit – and bizarrely a Pearl Jam support slot – by storm. Jackman inevitably makes for a great crooner. But his most impressive feat is imbuing what could have been a subject of derision with so much heart and soul that you can even withstand hearing Sweet Caroline for the gazillionth time.
Available to rent or buy on YouTube, Apple TV, Sky Store and Prime Video
6. Bad Education (2019)
Sadly, Jackman didn’t lend his comedic timing to a big-screen version of Jack Whitehall’s BBC Three sitcom. Instead, this Bad Education dramatises a 2004 New York Times article that uncovered the biggest embezzlement in the history of America’s public education system. Playing against type, the star portrays Frank Tassone, a school district superintendent who, on the surface, was a charming, upstanding member of Long Island society, but underneath, a devious scammer seemingly incapable of telling the truth. Jackman’s career-best turn, nominated at the Emmys rather than the Oscars due to the film’s HBO premiere, was so pitch-perfect that even the real-life crook gave it his seal of approval.
Streaming on HBO Max
5. Logan (2017)
Jackman achieved his Hollywood breakthrough as the mutton-chopped, steel-clawed mutant Wolverine in 2000’s X-Men, a role he’d reprise nine times. Putting a clear end to the character’s narrative arc, the genre-transcending Logan, however, isn’t like the others. Although forced to come to the rescue again to save a young clone, the Australian is more classic Clint Eastwood than comic-book hero as a man who must confront his fading regenerative powers, the slow cognitive decline of his beloved mentor and ultimately his own mortality. The bone-crunching violence may be tough to watch for those who prefer their Marvel battles more Boom Boom Pow. But swansongs don’t come much more impactful.
Streaming on Disney+
4. The Greatest Showman (2017)
While most critics were left bemused by The Greatest Showman’s unabashed sentimentalism, audiences couldn’t get enough, with both the film and its soundtrack taking up residence at the top of the charts. Jackman, who brings 19th-century circus impresario PT Barnum back to life, can take much of the credit for the phenomenon; he holds court magnificently throughout, whether empowering life’s outsiders, mentoring Zac Efron’s ringmaster or belting out breaking hits The Greatest Show and A Million Dreams. His masterful hosting of the 2009 Academy Awards even inspired the film’s producers to stage the whole shebang.
Streaming on Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video
3. Les Misérables (2012)
As you’d expect, no other film has utilised Jackman’s musical theatre background more effectively than the blockbuster adaptation of Les Misérables. After all, there’s a distinct lack of spoken dialogue and, as evident by Russell Crowe’s dodgy vocals, director Tom Hopper demanded each number to be performed entirely live. As hardened convict Jean Valjean, a role he’d specifically courted and lost a remarkable amount of weight to play, Jackman knocks the likes of Bring Him Home out of the park, fully justifying his first – and so far only – nomination at the Oscars.
Streaming on Prime Video
2. The Prestige (2006)
Cloning machines. More tricks than a Paul Daniels magic set. An all-star cast that includes David Bowie as the godfather of electricity. Inception, Interstellar and The Dark Knight trilogy may have garnered all the fanboys, but The Prestige, a constantly twisting and turning thriller set in Victorian London, may well be the most entertaining of Christopher Nolan’s spectacles. After years of playing the good guy, Jackman is a revelation as Robert “The Great Danton” Angier, a devious magician driven to obsession and indeed murder by the seemingly miraculous trick conjured by Christian Bale’s friend-turned-foe. It’s a tragic tale of one-upmanship that absorbs from start to finish.
Streaming on HBO Max
1. Prisoners (2013)
A gritty, claustrophobic thriller about two young Pennsylvanian girls who go missing during Thanksgiving, Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners isn’t exactly a Saturday-night-with-a-takeaway kinda flick. It is, however, a consistently compelling morality tale that boasts Jackman’s most emotionally intense performance. Indeed, the Aussie should have bagged a second consecutive Oscar nod as a panic-stricken father who, frustrated with the police’s by-the-book response, decides to take the law into his own hands. It’s a devastating portrayal of how a parent’s love can manifest itself in the darkest of ways, and the audience’s sympathy shifts throughout. It proved that Jackman is one of the most versatile actors of his generation.
Streaming on Netflix and BFI Player