Hugh Jackman reveals childhood world record ambitions

Hugh Jackman has said he was obsessed with setting a Guinness World Record when he was a child, long before he finally entered the record books.

The actor has been awarded a certificate for his record of the longest career as a live action Marvel superhero, for his tenure in the X-Men films.

Jackman holds the record with fellow X-Men star Sir Patrick Stewart as both have had careers spanning 16 years 228 days as Wolverine and Professor Charles Xavier (Professor X) respectively.

Both actors made their first appearance as Marvel superheroes in the 2000 film X-Men, and their most recent appearance was in Logan in 2017.

Jackman told the Press Association: “The Guinness Book of Records was actually my dream when I was a kid.

“When I was a kid me and my brother were like ‘How do we make a name for ourselves?’ That must have been what it was.

“The Guinness Book of Records was the hugest thing and we read through the entire thing.

“Clearly I’m not going to be the tallest, I don’t want to have the longest fingernails. We went through every possibility and we came down to badminton, non-stop.

“It was only 56 hours and we thought ‘That is two nights sleep, we can do that. And we trained for it, so we decided to not sleep, during a school week, for two days.

“Of course I was asleep by 11pm and I remember waking up the next morning and my brother was still awake and then he went to school and fell asleep, either on the bus on the way or school or something and got sent home.”

Jackman joked that his record for Wolverine was “second best,” adding: “Not as good as catching coins. We tried, we did that for like three months, without thinking that perhaps 10-year-old hands are probably not ideal for breaking the world record for catching coins.

“It’s a ridiculous amount of coins, it’s like 153 coins, on your elbow.

“Trust me, there is not a Guinness record I don’t know about.”

He joked: “Now I’ve got one I can relax and retire.”

Jackman’s next film will see him lend his voice to explorer Sir Lionel Frost in the animated film Missing Link, which sees his character embark on a foolhardy mission to find a mythical species, and said he sees parallels with his character of PT Barnum in The Greatest Showman.

He said: “There are some parallels with The Greatest Showman I think, that whole idea of finding your tribe and just being yourself.

“My character, like Barnum, was trying to be accepted by the establishment, he wants to be part of that gang and that club, that group and will do anything to be a part of it.

“But really the lesson is just do what is right for you and don’t worry what anyone else thinks.”

Discussing his penchant for playing dreams, he said: “I’m an actor and I believe fully in the power of imagination, and I think our lives are often dictated by the strength of our imagination and the dreams we have.”

Missing Link will be released in UK cinemas on April 5.