Hugh Jackman launches performing arts foundation at Perth university (ABC)

View Comments ABC Hugh Jackman attended the Perth launch of the Jackman Furness Foundation for the Performing Arts.

Hugh Jackman has launched the Jackman Furness Foundation for the Performing Arts at a packed-out ceremony in Perth.

Jackman and his wife Deborra-Lee Furness, along with acting great Jack Thompson, have created the foundation in the hope it will draw $10 million in private finance to support the performing arts in Western Australia.

Jackman was born and raised in Sydney, but moved to Perth to study acting at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).

He graduated from the academy in 1994 and began an illustrious film and stage career, marked by his flexibility in portraying varied characters, from Wolverine to Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz.

The foundation will be based at WAAPA at the Edith Cowan University campus.

Jackman told students and gathered dignitaries at the launch the university was world-renowned, before launching into a rendition of I Still Call Australia Home.

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