While studying acting at Perth’s Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), Hugh Jackman visited London’s National Theatre, saw Angels in America and kept a photograph from the trip above his bed. Years later, after performing at the National Theatre in Oklahoma!, he returned to the spot where the picture was taken. Jackman recounted the story in an Instagram video described by PerthNow in 2024.
What happened during Jackman’s WAAPA years?
Jackman recalled that in 1992, while he was an acting student at WAAPA, he spent a summer break in London and went to the National Theatre to see Angels in America. The production moved him so deeply that he went outside afterward. A friend photographed him near the Cottesloe Theatre, hands clasped and face tilted upward.
As reported by PerthNow on June 7, 2024, Jackman said he kept that photograph above his bed for the rest of drama school. The visit was his own trip during a break; the account does not suggest WAAPA arranged it.
Why did he return to the same spot?
A few years after graduating, Jackman performed at the National Theatre in Oklahoma!. On a visit decades later, he remembered the student ambition captured in the old photograph and took another picture in the same place. The 2024 report describes the story as part of an Instagram video; the details here are attributed to PerthNow’s account of that video.
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PerthNow reported Jackman reflecting: “My friend said ‘Be careful what you wish for’ and I said ‘Yeah be very deliberate about what you wish for because it can come true’ and if you really believe it, it will.” It is a personal reflection on his own path, not a promise that wishing alone makes a goal happen.
Jackman’s connection to WAAPA
WAAPA is the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, part of Edith Cowan University. The academy lists Jackman among its notable alumni, and the National Film and Sound Archive catalogs a 1994 WAAPA graduating showreel associated with him. Those records offer institutional and archival context for the connection behind the story.
In a separate 2021 interview reported by PerthNow, Jackman described his time in Perth as “one of the best” and said, “I never missed a day at WAAPA.” That broader recollection is distinct from his 2024 account of the National Theatre photograph.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How widely was the story seen?
PerthNow reported on June 7, 2024 that the video had received more than half a million plays and over 800 comments at that time. Those are historical figures cited by the publication, not current platform totals.
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