Hugh Jackman tells new grads the most “painful lesson” he learned

It’s been a busy month for Hugh Jackman. Between headlining New Born on Broadway and starring in an upcoming mystery-comedy called The Sheep Detectives, the X-Men actor stopped by Ball State University to deliver a commencement speech for the graduating class.

“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.”

After college, Jackman said he auditioned for an acting course at the Actors Centre Australia. He received a callback when another student dropped out of the program, but didn’t think he could pay the $3,500 fee—until he received a check in the mail for that amount from his grandmother’s will. 

Jackman never missed a class, and the rest is history.

“Some would insist it was a pure coincidence,” Jackman said. “Who knows? But wherever they come from, are the signs always that obvious? No. In fact, usually they’re quiet, subtle, and even more often disguised as failure.”

During his speech, Jackman reflected on some of his career missteps: a role he accepted despite his gut telling him not to, and a role he turned down which he later wished he hadn’t. 

“I learned a painful lesson in listening to that voice inside,” he said, adding that after those experiences, he told himself he would always listen to his gut.

Two years later, when he got a call about a Broadway show for the role he turned down, he agreed to the part straight away. “Even though a lot of people in the business told me not to do it, I listened to my voice, to that voice inside,” he said.

Jackman ended up winning a Tony Award for that role. If his career trajectory is proof of anything, it’s that everything happens for a reason. 

“My life has not gone the way I thought it would,” Jackman said. “A lot of the best things that have ever happened to me have been mistakes or failures or random classes I joined to get me across the finish line.”

At the end of his speech, Jackman told the graduating class to “throw away perfect” and to “embrace that even the mistakes may turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to us.”

“Our minds, our brains, they want a plan,” he said. “They have all sorts of good reasons to follow a path because it makes sense. But if we’re listening, if we open our hearts, that voice inside is trying to show us something a little more magical, a little more mysterious [and] surprising.”

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