Hugh is world’s sexiest man

AUSTRALIAN actor Hugh Jackman has been listed as the “sexiest man alive” by People magazine following George Clooney and Brad Pitt atop the list of Hollywood hunks.

It was not only good looks and physical stature that earned the 40-year-old, 6ft 2in Jackman the People magazine title.

“Hugh Jackman is the real package — humble, romantic, drop-dead gorgeous and a star of the moment.

“He is so much more than his movies — that’s sexy,” said Elizabeth Sporkin, executive editor at People.

The magazine said he wields weapons with the best of Hollywood action heroes, and sings romantic ballads to his wife of 12 years, actress Deborra-Lee Furness. Jackman also bakes pancakes for his children, Oscar and Ava, when he is not busy sweating it out at the gym, People said.

The actor has wooed audiences as Wolverine in the action-packed blockbusters like the X-Men movies to the critically acclaimed The Prestige. He also starred as a vampire hunter in the Van Helsing films.

He won a Tony award, Broadway’s highest honour, for his role in The Boy from Oz.

Jackman says wife teased him after finding out he’d been named People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive.”

Recalling Furness’s reaction, Jackman says: “God bless her, she said, ‘I could’ve told them that years ago! And then she said, ‘Obviously Brad (Pitt) wasn’t available this year.’ And I said, ‘That was a joke, right?’”

Jackman, 40, who stars alongside Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann’s sweeping epic Australia due for release in the United States next week, beat out a slew of rivals including Javier Bardem, David Beckham and Daniel Craig.

Screen siren and co-star Kidman was quoted as saying that Jackman left people stammering: “Oh... my ... God.”

“Women’s jaws drop when Hugh walks into a room,” Kidman added of Jackman.

As the “sexiest man alive,” he joins the ranks of Pitt, Clooney, Matthew McConaughey and Matt Damon, but People said Jackman is different from the others.

“Brad is unattainably sexy, George is brainy-suave, Matt is boy-next-door sexy, and Hugh’s sex appeal is the fact that he is gritty, has a great accent, and is physical,” Sporkin said.