“I’ve been asked [countless times] to give a speech like this over the years, and I have always said no, because the money just was never really good enough,” the actor joked.
Jackman reportedly first visited Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana last year with his Broadway costar turned romantic partner, Sutton Foster—a longtime faculty member of the school’s theater department. Jackman himself studied communications and journalism at the University of Technology Sydney, and later trained at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
“I could cherrypick some stories that illustrate that with strong goal setting, hard work and just a touch of luck, you too will reach the top,” Jackman said during the speech. “But I’m here to tell you that life just doesn’t work out like that.”
Through college, Jackman said he did the bare minimum to get by: In his last semester of college, he picked up a theater appreciation elective class—which he didn’t show up for until the fourth week of the semester. During the class, he ended up being cast as the lead in a play, and he fell in love with the craft.
During his studies, Jackman said he picked up a range of gigs, from plays to musicals, even trying his hand at modeling.
“I was told very bluntly by the head of the agency that the camera did not love me, that I was not photogenic, and to move on to other things,” he said. “By the way, that comment stuck with me long into my film career. So, just be careful what you let in. It made me feel like I didn’t belong for a long time.”
