Hugh W. Mercer
Hugh Mercer Sketch by John Trumbull
Born	(1726-01-17)January 17, 1726 Pitsligo Kirk, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Died	January 12, 1777(1777-01-12) (aged 50) Princeton, New Jersey
Place of burial	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Service/branch	Jacobite army Colonial militia Continental Army
Years of service	Jacobite army:1745-1746 Colonial militia: 1755-1760, 1775-1776 Continental Army: 1776–1777
Rank	Brigadier General (Continental Army)
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War † Battle of Trenton Battle of Princeton † Seven Years' War Kittanning Expedition Battle of Fort Duquesne Jacobite Rising of 1745 Battle of Culloden
Other work	surgeon, apothecary

Hugh Mercer (January 17, 1726 – January 12, 1777) was a soldier and physician. He initially served with British forces during the Seven Years War but later became a brigadier general in the Continental Army and a close friend to George Washington. Mercer died as a result of his wounds received at the Battle of Princeton and became a fallen hero and rallying symbol of the American Revolution.

Early life and career[link]

Mercer was born near Rosehearty, at the manse of Pitsligo Kirk, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, to Presbyterian Minister, Reverend William Mercer of Pitsligo Parish Church and Ann Monro.^[1] At 15, he attended the University of Aberdeen, Marischal College, studying medicine and graduated a Doctor. He was assistant surgeon in the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745, and was present at the Battle of Culloden when Charles' Army was crushed on April 16, 1746, and any survivors were hunted down and killed.^[2] As a fugitive in his own homeland in 1747, Mercer fled Scotland after months in hiding. He bought his way onto a ship and moved to America, settling near what is now Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and practiced medicine for eight years.^[3]

Seven Years War[link]

In 1755, when General Edward Braddock's army was cut down by the French and Indians during the first British attempt to take Fort Duquesne, Mercer was shocked by the same butchery he remembered at Culloden. He came to the aid of the wounded and eventually took up arms in support of the army that a few years back was hunting him, this time as a soldier, not a surgeon. By 1756 he was commissioned a captain in a Pennsylvania regiment, and accompanied Lt. Col. John Armstrong's expedition on the raid of the Indian village of Kittanning in September 1756. During the attack, Mercer was badly wounded and separated from his unit. He trekked 100 miles through the woods for fourteen days, injured and with no supplies, until he found his way back to Fort Shirley, where he was recognized and promoted. He rose to the rank of colonel and commanded garrisons. It was during these trying times that Mercer developed a life-long and warm friendship with another colonel, George Washington.

Both Washington and Mercer served under British General John Forbes during the second attempt to capture Fort Duquesne. Forbes occupied the burned fort on November 25, 1758. He immediately ordered the construction of a new fortification to be named Fort Pitt, after British Secretary of State William Pitt the Elder. He also named the settlement between the rivers "Pittsborough," which is the location of modern Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Forbes’s health, which had been poor for much of the campaign, began a rapid decline during his occupation of Fort Pitt. On December 3, 1758, now gravely ill, Forbes began the arduous journey back to Philadelphia leaving Colonel Hugh Mercer in command of Fort Pitt. General Forbes died in Philadelphia on March 11, 1759. He was buried in Christ Church in Philadelphia.

Mercer's first task was to construct a temporary Fort to hold the Forks of the Ohio in case the French were able to execute their plans to return in the Spring of 1759. Drawing of the time call this temporary fortification "Mercer's Fort". Mercer's Fort stood at the site of what is today a parking lot between Point State Park and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette Building.

After befriending several Virginia men, Mercer moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1760 to begin his medical practice anew at the conclusion of the war. When Mercer arrived in Fredericksburg, it was a thriving Scottish community that must have been a happy sanctuary for a Scotsman who could never again see his homeland. He became a noted member and businessman in town, buying land and involving himself in local trade. He became a member of the Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge in 1767, and sat as its Master a few years later. (Two members of this same lodge, Washington and James Monroe, would later become American Presidents, and at least eight members were generals of the American Revolution (Washington, Mercer, George Weedon, William Woodford, Fielding Lewis, Thomas Posey, Gustavus Wallace, and the Marquis de Lafayette (honorary in 1824) – far more than any other group, institution or organization save the pre-Revolution British Army. This lodge is still in existence today.)

Soon after this, Mercer opened a physician’s apothecary and practice. His apothecary in Fredericksburg, Virginia is now a museum. George Washington's mother, Mary Washington, became one of Mercer's patients, and Mercer prospered as a respected doctor in the area. Mercer married Isabella Gordon and fathered five children: Ann Mercer Patton, John Mercer, William Mercer, George Weedon Mercer, and Hugh Tennant Mercer. In 1774, George Washington sold Ferry Farm, his childhood home, to Mercer, who wanted to make this prized land into a town where he and his family would settle for the remainder of his days.

Land grant to heirs of Hugh Mercer for service of George Weedon during the French and Indian War. Signed by Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson in 1780

During 1775, Mercer was a member of the Fredericksburg Committee of Safety, and on April 25 he was one of the members of the Independent Company of the Town of Fredericksburg who sent a letter of concern to then-Colonel George Washington when the British removed gunpowder from the magazine at Williamsburg. In an August vote, Mercer was excluded from the elected leadership of the new regiments formed by the Virginia Convention because he was a "northern Briton," but on September 12 he was elected Colonel of the Minute Men of Spotsylvania, King George, Stafford, and Caroline Counties.

On November 17 Mercer was one of 21 members chosen for the Committee of Safety of Spotsylvania County. On January 11, 1776, Mercer was appointed Colonel to what soon became the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Virginia Line, and the next day George Weedon was appointed Lieutenant Colonel. Future president James Monroe and future Chief Justice of the United States John Marshall also served as officers under his command. In June 1776 Mercer received a letter from the Continental Congress, signed by John Hancock, appointing him Brigadier-General in the Armies of the United Colonies and requesting him to report to headquarters in New York immediately. Mercer soon left Fredericksburg to join the Continental Army.

The American Revolution[link]

Before the New York Campaign, Washington ordered two forts built to repel the Royal Navy. On the New York side of the Hudson River, Fort Washington was constructed, and Mercer himself oversaw the building of the earthen fortification on the New Jersey side, named Fort Lee.^[4] Though bravely defended, the British captured Fort Washington on November 16, 1776, and the Americans abandoned Fort Lee four days later. The retreat to New Jersey became known as “the Crisis of the Revolution", because the enlistments of most of Washington's beaten and down-trodden soldiers ended on New Year's Day 1777.

There are rumors that Mercer exclusively originated Washington's daring plan to cross the Delaware River and surprise the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, and he was certainly a major contributor to its execution. Because of the win at Trenton (and a small monetary bonus), Washington's men agreed to a ten-day extension to their enlistment. When Washington decided to face off with Cornwallis during the Second Battle of Trenton on January 2, 1777, Mercer was given a major role in the defense of the city.

Trumbull's depiction of the Battle of Princeton in 1777, in which Mercer was killed. George Washington is the figure on the horse. Oil on canvas, 1786–1788. Yale University Art Gallery

The next day, January 3, Washington's army was en route to Princeton, New Jersey. While leading a vanguard of 350 soldiers, Mercer's brigade encountered two British regiments and a mounted unit. A fight broke out at an orchard grove and Mercer’s horse was shot from under him. Getting to his feet, he was quickly surrounded by British troops who mistook him for George Washington and ordered him to surrender. Outnumbered, he drew his saber and began an unequal contest. He was finally beaten to the ground, then bayoneted repeatedly - seven times - and left for dead.^[5]

When he learned of the British attack and saw some of Mercer's men in retreat, Washington himself entered the fray. Washington rallied Mercer's men and pushed back the British regiments, but Mercer had been left on the field to die with multiple bayonet wounds to his body and blows to his head. (Legend has it that a beaten Mercer, with a bayonet still impaled in him, did not want to leave his men and the battle and was given a place to rest on a white oak tree's trunk, while those who remained with him stood their ground. The tree became known as “the Mercer Oak” and is the key element of the seal of Mercer County, New Jersey.)

When he was discovered, Mercer was carried to the field hospital in the Thomas Clarke House (now a museum) at the eastern end of the battlefield. In spite of medical efforts by Benjamin Rush, Mercer was mortally wounded and died nine agonizing days later on January 12, 1777.

Because of Mercer’s courage and sacrifice, Washington was able to proceed into Princeton and defeat the British forces there. He then moved and quartered his forces to Morristown in victory. Because of those victories, Washington's army reenlisted, the French finally approved arms and supplies to the Americans and a stunned Cornwallis pulled his forces back to New York to reassess the surprising American successes. The "crisis" had ended, America had the means to fight, and British public support for the war slowly began to wane. A portrait by Charles Willson Peale entitled Washington at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777 displays Washington in the foreground with Hugh Mercer lying mortally wounded in the background, supported by Dr. Benjamin Rush and Major George Lewis holding the American flag. This portrait is the prize possession of Princeton University. Ironically James Peale painted a version of "Battle of Princeton" which shows in the background a very indistinct portrait of Mercer being helped from the ground.^[6] Reportedly the Trumbull sketch of Mercer {above} was based on a son of General Mercer.

Family lineage and heritage[link]

Succeeding generations of Mercer's family have distinguished themselves. Famous direct descendants of Hugh Mercer were Confederate Lt. Col Waller T. Patton and his brothers Col. George Smith Patton and John Mercer Patton, who in turn were ancestors of General George S. Patton, Jr. Other direct descendants include Confederate General Hugh Weedon Mercer (CSA) and songwriter Johnny Mercer.

In Fredericksburg, Virginia, Preservation Virginia (formerly known as The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities) maintains a renovated version of Mercer's apothecary shop to this day at 1020 Caroline Street. A statue erected by Congress to honor Mercer stands outside Kenmore Mansion, and the Mercer Counties of New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia and Illinois are named for him.

In film[link]

In the 2000 television film The Crossing, a dramatization of Washington's crossing of the Delaware and the battle of Trenton, Mercer is played by Roger Rees.

Namesakes[link]

• Fort Mercer, located in Red Bank Battlefield of what is now the Borough of National Park, New Jersey, which was named in his honor.
• Mercer County, New Jersey where Trenton is located, was named after Hugh Mercer.
• Mercer County, Pennsylvania
• Mercer County, Ohio
• Mercer County, Kentucky
• Mercer County, Illinois
• Mercer County, West Virginia
• Mercer County, Missouri [1]
• The town of Mercer, Maine
• The town of Mercerville, New Jersey
• The Mercer Oak
• Mercer, Pennsylvania
• Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
• Mercer Street in Fredericksburg, VA is named in Hugh Mercer's honor.
• Hugh Mercer Elementary School in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
• Mercer Hall at the University of Mary Washington

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Goolrick, John Tackett. The life of General Hugh Mercer: with brief sketches of General George Washington, … New York: Neale Pub. Co., 1906, OCLC 3578166
• Kwasny, Mark V. Washington's Partisan War, 1775-1783, Kent State University Press, 1998, ISBN 978-0-87338-611-1
• MacDougall, Donald John. Scots and Scots' descendants in America, vol. 1, Caledonian publishing company, 1917, OCLC 4054482

External links[link]

• Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge No. 4
• Hugh Mercer at Virtual American Biographies
• Hugh Mercer: An Unexpected Life
• Hugh Mercer Apothecary
• History Point: Central Rappahannock Regional Library
• Find A Grave - Hugh Mercer

Mabel Mercer (3 February 1900 – 20 April 1984)^[1] was an English-born cabaret singer who performed in the United States, Britain, and Europe with the greats in jazz and cabaret. She was a featured performer at Chez Bricktop in Paris, owned by the hostess Bricktop, and performed in such clubs as Le Ruban Bleu, Tony's, the RSVP, the Carlyle, the St. Regis Hotel, and eventually her own room, the Byline Club. Among those who frequently attended Mercer's shows was Frank Sinatra, who made no secret of his emulating her phrasing and story-telling techniques.

Early life[link]

Mercer was born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England.^[1] Her mother was a young, white English music hall performer, and her father was a black American jazz musician whom Mabel never knew. At age fourteen, she left her convent school in Manchester, and toured Britain and Europe with her aunt in vaudeville and music hall engagements.

Career[link]

In 1928, she was an unknown member of the black chorus in the London production of Show Boat, but she had become the toast of Paris by the 1930s, with admirers who included Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Cole Porter.

When World War II broke out, she traveled to America to sing in the finest supper clubs in New York City. Her recording career began in 1942, with an album of selections from Porgy and Bess on the elite Liberty Music Shops label, featuring piano accompaniment by Cy Walter. Over the following decades, Mercer made many concert appearances across the U.S. In the late 1960s, she gave two concerts with Bobby Short at Town Hall in New York City.^[1] Both were released by Atlantic Records: Mabel Mercer & Bobby Short at Town Hall, in 1968, (Atlantic SD 2-604) and Mabel Mercer & Bobby Short Second Town Hall Concert, in 1969 (Atlantic SD 2-605). In 1969, she made two appearances on the television program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

Her original and reissued albums are collector's items. Atlantic Records reissued four of her early LPs in a boxed set in 1975, in honor of her 75th birthday. She was awarded Stereo Review Magazine's first Award for Merit, for her lifetime achievement and for "outstanding contributions to the quality of American musical life." This award was officially renamed the Mabel Mercer Award in 1984.

Late career[link]

When Mercer returned on 4 July 1977 for her first performance in England in 41 years, the BBC filmed three evenings' performances and later broadcast it in a week-long late-night television program, a BBC first for an entertainer.

In 1978, "Midnight at Mabel Mercer's," her 1956 album on Atlantic, was praised as "one of the best recordings of the past twenty years" by Stereo Review. That same year, Mercer played at San Francisco's Club Mocambo to sold-out audiences, in celebration of her 78th birthday.

In 1982. Mercer teamed up with her dear friend Eileen Farrell in concert as part of the Kool Jazz Festival. Farrell often expressed it was the one pirated record she wished she had!

Honors[link]

In January 1981, she was honored by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York with "An American Cabaret," the only musical event of its kind at that point in the museum's history. Mercer was the first guest on Eileen Farrell's new program featuring great popular singers, on National Public Radio.

Mercer received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian medal, in 1983.^[1]

When President Ronald Reagan presented it to her in a ceremony at the White House, he called her "a singer's singer" and "a living testament to the artfulness of the American song". She also received two honorary Doctor of Music degrees: one from Boston's Berklee College of Music, the other from the New England Conservatory of Music.

Mabel Mercer died on 20 April 1984, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.^[1]

The Mabel Mercer Foundation[link]

In 1985, the Mabel Mercer Foundation was established with the efforts of her long-time friend and professional associate Donald F. Smith. This not-for-profit arts organization was formed to keep Mercer's memory alive, and to contribute to the art of cabaret performing by supporting artists and providing information resources. Its international activities include the debut of the London Cabaret Convention in 2004. The Foundation produced Noël Coward's 100th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall, and also has a Young Person's Series to introduce young people to The Great American Songbook of popular classics.

Filmography[link]

Live concerts[link]

• 2005: Mabel Mercer: A Singer's Singer^[2][3]

As actress[link]

• 1936: Tropical Trouble^[4]
• 1936: Everything Is Rhythm^[5]
• 1961: The Sand Castle^[6]

Discography[link]

• 1942: Porgy and Bess
• 1953: Songs by Mabel Mercer, Vol. 1
• 1953: Songs by Mabel Mercer, Vol. 2
• 1953: Songs by Mabel Mercer, Vol. 3
• 1955: Sings Cole Porter
• 1956: Midnight at Mabel Mercer's
• 1958: Once in a Blue Moon
• 1960: Merely Marvelous
• 1968: At Town Hall (Live)
• 1969: Second Town Hall (Live)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Photos: The Mabel Mercer Foundation
• Mabel Mercer at the Internet Movie Database

Hugh Jackman
Jackman at the Sydney premiere for Real Steel, September 2011
Born	Hugh Michael Jackman (1968-10-12) 12 October 1968 (age 43) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1994–present
Spouse	Deborra-Lee Furness (1996–present)

Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.

Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters. He is known for his role as Wolverine in the X-Men film series, as well as for his leads in Kate & Leopold, Van Helsing, The Prestige, Australia, and Real Steel. Jackman is a singer, dancer, and actor in stage musicals, and won a Tony Award for his role in The Boy from Oz.

In November 2008, Open Salon named Jackman one of the sexiest men alive.^[1] Later that same month, People magazine named Jackman "Sexiest Man Alive."^[2]

A three-time host of the Tony Awards, winning an Emmy Award for one of these appearances, Jackman also hosted the 81st Academy Awards on 22 February 2009.^[3]

Early life[link]

Jackman was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the youngest of five children of English parents Chris Jackman and Grace Watson, and the second child to be born in Australia (he also has a younger half-sister, from his mother's re-marriage).^[4] One of his paternal great-grandfathers was Greek.^[5] His parents divorced when he was eight, and he remained with his accountant father and siblings, while his mother moved back to England.^[6] As a child, Jackman liked the outdoors, spending a lot of time at the beach and on camping trips and vacations all over Australia. He wanted to see the world: "I used to spend nights looking at atlases. I decided I wanted to be a chef on a plane. Because I'd been on a plane and there was food on board, I presumed there was a chef. I thought that would be an ideal job."^[7]

Jackman went to primary school at Pymble Public School and later attended the all-boys Knox Grammar School, where he starred in its production of My Fair Lady in 1985, and became the captain of the school in 1986.^[8] Following graduation, he spent a gap year working at Uppingham School in England.^[9] On his return, he studied at the University of Technology, Sydney, graduating in 1991 with a BA in Communications.^[10] In his final year of university, he took a drama course to make up additional credits. The class did Václav Havel's The Memorandum with Jackman as the lead.^[4] He later commented, "In that week I felt more at home with those people than I did in the entire three years [at university]".^[11]

After obtaining his BA, Jackman completed the one-year course "The Journey" at the Actors' Centre in Sydney.^[4] About studying acting full-time, he stated, "It wasn't until I was 22 that I ever thought about my hobby being something I could make a living out of. As a boy, I'd always had an interest in theater. But the idea at my school was that drama and music were to round out the man. It wasn't what one did for a living. I got over that. I found the courage to stand up and say, 'I want to do it'."^[7] After completing "The Journey", he was offered a role on the popular soap opera Neighbours but turned it down^[12] to attend the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts of Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia, from which he graduated in 1994.^[13]

Jackman has said he "always loved acting but when I started at drama school I was like the dunce of the class. It just wasn’t coming right to me. Everyone was cooler, everyone seemed more likely to succeed, everyone seemed more natural at it and in retrospect I think that is good. I think it is good to come from behind as an actor. I think it is good to go into an audition thinking 'Man I’ve got to be at my best to get this gig.'"^[14]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

On the night of his final Academy graduation performance, Jackman received a phone call offering him a role on Correlli: "I was technically unemployed for thirteen seconds." Correlli, devised by Australian actress Denise Roberts, was a 10-part drama series on ABC, Jackman's first major professional job, and where he met his future wife Deborra-Lee Furness: "Meeting my wife was the greatest thing to come out of it."^[7] The show lasted only one season.

After Correlli Jackman went on the stage in Melbourne. In 1996, Jackman played Gaston in the local Walt Disney production of Beauty and the Beast, and Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard.^[4] During his stage musical career in Melbourne, he starred in the 1998 Midsumma festival cabaret production Summa Cabaret. He also hosted Melbourne's Carols by Candlelight and Sydney's Carols in the Domain.

Jackman's early film work includes Erskineville Kings and Paperback Hero (1999), and his television work includes Law of the Land, Halifax f.p., Blue Heelers, and Banjo Paterson's The Man from Snowy River.

[edit] Oklahoma!

Jackman became known outside of Australia in 1998, when he played the leading role of Curly in the Royal National Theatre's acclaimed stage production of Oklahoma!, in London's West End.^[4] The performance earned him an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Jackman said "I totally felt like it can't get any better than this. On some level that production will be one of the highlights of my career."^[7] He also starred in the 1999 film version of the same stage musical, which has been screened in many countries.

[edit] X-Men

Jackman at the X-Men Origins: Wolverine premiere, April 2009.

In 1999, Jackman was cast as Wolverine in Bryan Singer's X-Men (2000), replacing Dougray Scott. His co-stars included Patrick Stewart, James Marsden, Famke Janssen, and Ian McKellen. According to a CBS interview in November 2006, Jackman's wife Deborra-Lee Furness told him not to take the role, a comment she later told him she was glad he ignored.

Wolverine was tough for Jackman to portray because he had few lines, but a lot of emotion to convey in them. To prepare, he watched Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry movies and Mel Gibson in Road Warrior. "Here were guys who had relatively little dialogue, like Wolverine had, but you knew and felt everything. I'm not normally one to copy, but I wanted to see how these guys achieved it."^[7] Jackman was adamant about doing his own stunts for the movie. "We worked a lot on the movement style of Wolverine, and I studied some martial arts. I watched a lot of Mike Tyson fights, especially his early fights. There's something about his style, the animal rage, that seemed right for Wolverine. I kept saying to the writers, 'Don't give me long, choreographed fights for the sake of it. Don't make the fights pretty."^[7]

Jackman also had to get used to wearing Wolverine's claws. "Every day in my living room, I'd just walk around with those claws, to get used to them. I've got scars on one leg, punctures straight through the cheek, on my forehead. I'm a bit clumsy. I'm lucky I didn't tell them that when I auditioned."^[7]

Jackman, at 6 feet 2.5 inches (1.89 m),^[15] stands a foot taller than Wolverine, who is said in the original comic book to be 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m).^[16] Hence, the filmmakers were frequently forced to shoot Jackman at unusual angles or only from the waist up to make him appear shorter than he actually is, and his co-stars wore platform soles. Jackman was also required to add a great deal of muscle for the role, and in preparing for the fourth film in the series, he bench-pressed over 300 pounds.^[17] An instant star upon the film's release, Jackman later reprised his role in 2003's X2: X-Men United, 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, and 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He also cameos as Wolverine in 2011's X-Men: First Class.

2001[link]

Jackman starred as Leopold in the 2001 romantic comedy film Kate & Leopold, a role for which he received a Best Actor Golden Globe nomination.^[4] Jackman plays a Victorian English duke who accidentally time-travels to 21st-century Manhattan, where he meets Kate (Meg Ryan), a cynical advertising executive. In 2001, Jackman also starred in the action/drama Swordfish with John Travolta and Halle Berry. This was the second time Jackman worked with Berry, and the two have worked together twice more in the X-Men movies.

He hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live in 2001.^[18]

2002–2011 (Stage)[link]

Local advertising for the musical The Boy from Oz starring Jackman in New York City (2004)

In 2002, Jackman sang the role of Billy Bigelow in the musical Carousel in a special concert performance at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke's.

In 2004, Jackman won the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical for his 2003–2004 Broadway portrayal of Australian songwriter and performer Peter Allen in the hit musical The Boy from Oz, which he also performed in Australia in 2006.^[4] In addition, Jackman hosted the Tony Awards in 2003, 2004, and 2005, garnering positive reviews. His hosting of the 2004 Tony Awards earned him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performer in a Variety, Musical or Comedy program.

Jackman co-starred with Daniel Craig on Broadway at the Schoenfeld Theatre in a limited engagement of the play A Steady Rain, which ran from 10 September 2009 to 6 December 2009.^[19]

He returned to Broadway in a new show, Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre, which began performances on 25 October 2011 and concluded on 1 January 2012.^[20]

2003–2008 (Films)[link]

After 2003's X2: X-Men United, Jackman played the title role of monster killer Gabriel Van Helsing in the 2004 film Van Helsing.^[4] Jackman and the film were noted in Bruce A. McClelland's book "Slayers and Their Vampires: A Cultural History of Killing the Dead".

Jackman was one of the choices to play James Bond in 2006's Casino Royale, but eventually lost out to Daniel Craig.^[21] Jackman starred in the 2006 film The Prestige, directed by Christopher Nolan and co-starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Scarlett Johansson. As Robert Angier, Jackman portrayed a magician who built up a rivalry with contemporary Alfred Borden in attempt to one-up each other in the art of deception. Jackman stated that his main reason for doing The Prestige was to work with the musician David Bowie, who played scientist Nikola Tesla.

Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds (right) at the X-Men Origins: Wolverine premiere in Tempe, Arizona (2009)

Jackman portrayed three different characters in Darren Aronofsky's science-fiction film The Fountain: Tommy Creo, a neuroscientist, who's torn between his wife, Izzi (Rachel Weisz) who is dying of a brain tumor, and his work at trying to cure her; Captain Tomas Creo, a Spanish Conquistador in 1532 Seville; and a future astronaut, Tom, travelling to a golden nebula in an eco-spacecraft seeking to be reunited with Izzi. Jackman said The Fountain was his most difficult film thus far due to the physical and emotional demands of the part.

Jackman also starred in Woody Allen's 2006 film Scoop opposite Scarlett Johansson. That year he also reprised the role of Wolverine in X-Men: The Last Stand. He rounded out 2006 with two animated films: Happy Feet, directed by George Miller, in which he voiced the part of Memphis, an emperor penguin; and Flushed Away, where Jackman supplied the voice of a rat named Roddy who ends up being flushed down a family's toilet into the London sewer system. Flushed Away co-starred Kate Winslet and Ian McKellen (Jackman's fourth time working with him).

In 2007, Jackman produced and guest-starred in the television musical-dramedy series Viva Laughlin, which was canceled by CBS after two episodes. Jackman's 2008 movies included Deception (which he starred in and produced), Uncle Jonny, and Australia.

[edit] Australia

In 2008, director Baz Luhrmann cast Jackman to replace Russell Crowe as the male lead in his much-publicized epic film, Australia, which co-starred Nicole Kidman. The movie was released in late November 2008 in Australia and the U.S.

Jackman played a tough, independent cattle drover, who reluctantly helps an English noblewoman in her quest to save both her philandering husband's Australian cattle station and the half-caste Aboriginal child she finds there.

Of the movie, Jackman said, "This is pretty much one of those roles that had me pinching myself all the way through the shoot. I got to shoot a big-budget, shamelessly old-fashioned romantic epic set against one of the most turbulent times in my native country's history, while, at the same time, celebrating that country's natural beauty, its people, its cultures.... I'll die a happy man knowing I've got this film on my CV."^[22]

2009 to present[link]

Jackman's X-Men sequel film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, opened in 2009.

Jackman had a one-man show at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco from 3–15 May 2011.^[23] The production was a mixture of his favorite Broadway and Hollywood musical numbers, backed by a 17-piece orchestra, from shows including Oklahoma and The Boy from Oz. The show had a run-time of approximately 100 minutes, and also included slide shows of Jackman's youth, family, and work, as well as some one-on-one interaction with the audience. Jackman was backed by fellow musical theatre veterans Merle Dandridge and Angel Reda.^[24][25]

Future projects[link]

• Director Lee Daniels has confirmed Jackman has joined the cast of his upcoming film Selma, a film about Martin Luther King Jr. and Lyndon Baines Johnson and the civil rights marches.^[26]
• On 27 January 2011, DreamWorks announced that Jackman will star in the film Rise of the Guardians, scheduled to be released on 21 November 2012.^[27]
• Jackman has been cast in Movie 43, an upcoming 2012 ensemble comedy.^[28]
• Jackman will star as Jean Valjean in the film Les Misérables, an adaptation of the musical.^[29][30][31]
• Jackman will reprise his role as Logan/Wolverine from the X-Men film series in the 2013 film "The Wolverine"^[32]
• Jackman will feature in the film "The Greatest Showman on Earth"^[33]

Production company[link]

In 2005, Jackman joined with longtime assistant John Palermo to form a production company, Seed Productions, whose first project was Viva Laughlin in 2007. Jackman's wife Deborra-Lee Furness is also involved in the company, and Palermo had three rings made with a "unity" inscription for himself, Furness, and Jackman.^[34] Jackman said, "I'm very lucky in the partners I work with in my life, Deb and John Palermo. It really works. We all have different strengths. I love it. It's very exciting."^[35]

The Fox-based Seed label has grown in size to include execs Amanda Schweitzer, Kathryn Tamblyn, Allan Mandelbaum and Joe Marino, with Alana Free operating the Sydney-based production office whose goal is to mount modest-budget films to harness local talent in Jackman's home country.

Other interests[link]

Charity work[link]

Jackman aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge in New York (2006)

As a philanthropist, Jackman is a longtime proponent of microcredit – the extension of very small loans to prospective entrepreneurs in impoverished countries. He is a vocal supporter of Muhammad Yunus, microcredit pioneer and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner.^[36][37][38]

Jackman is a global advisor of the Global Poverty Project, for which he narrated a documentary;^[39] and he and the project's founder Hugh Evans visited the UN for the cause in 2009.^[40] Jackman hosted a preview of the Global Poverty Project Presentation in New York together with Donna Karran, Lisa Fox and his wife Deborra-Lee.^[41] He is also a World Vision ambassador and participated in the climate week NYC ceremony on 21 September 2009.^[42][43]

Jackman supports The Art of Elysium^[44] and the MPTV Fund Foundation,^[45] and he and his wife Deborra-Lee Furness are patrons of the Bone Marrow Institute in Australia.^[46] Jackman also narrated the 2008 documentary about global warming, The Burning Season.^[47]

Jackman also uses his Twitter account for charity. On 14 April 2009 Jackman posted on his Twitter page that he would donate $100,000 to one individual's favorite non profit organization.^[48] On 21 April 2009 he revealed his decision to donate $50,000 to Charity:Water and $50,000 to Operation of Hope.^[49][50]

Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig made a unique place for themselves in the history of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS fundraising 8 December 2009, when it was announced that they had raised $1,549,953 in the 21st annual Gypsy of the Year competition, from six weeks of curtain appeals at their hit Broadway drama, A Steady Rain.^[51]

Sports and other activities[link]

Jackman and Furness at Mumbai International Airport to attend FICCI – Frames film convention, 2011^[52]

Jackman has shown keen interest in sports. In high school, he played rugby union and cricket, took part in high jumping and was on the swimming team.^[4] He enjoys basketball and kayaking.^[53] He has expressed an interest in football, committing his support to Norwich City FC.^[54] In the United States, Jackman supports the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer, attending a game at PPL Park in June 2010.^[55] On 22 June 2011, Jackman again attended a home Union match against Sporting KC, sitting in front of the Sons of Ben supporters section, nicknamed "The River End".

Jackman is a longtime fan and supporter of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, a NRL club based in Sydney's north.^[56] He sang the national anthem at the 1999 NRL Grand Final.^[57]

Jackman also guest starred on the 19 September 2011 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw, assisting Zack Ryder in a win over WWE United States Champion Dolph Ziggler. Jackman helped "Long Island Iced Z" get the 3 count in a non-title match by punching the champion in the jaw whilst the referee was not looking.^[58][59]

Jackman plays the piano,^[60] does yoga,^[61] and has been a member of the School of Practical Philosophy since 1992.^[62]

Personal life[link]

Jackman married Deborra-Lee Furness on 11 April 1996. They met on Correlli, an Australian television series. Jackman personally designed an engagement ring for Furness, and their wedding rings bore the Sanskrit inscription "Om paramar mainamar", translated as "we dedicate our union to a greater source".^[63]

Furness had two miscarriages,^[64] following which she and Jackman adopted two children, Oscar Maximillian (born 15 May 2000)^[65] and Ava Eliot (born 10 July 2005).^[66]

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

Awards[link]

Jackman's signature at Grauman's Chinese Theatre

• 1997 Variety Club Award for Best Actor in a Musical – Sunset Boulevard
• 1998 Mo Award for Best Actor in a Musical – Sunset Boulevard
• 1999 Australian Movie Convention, Australian Star of the Year
• 2000 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards for Best Actor Erskineville Kings
• 2000 Saturn Award for Best Actor – X-Men
• 2001 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films - X-Men
• 2004 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical – The Boy from Oz
• 2004 Theatre World Award – The Boy from Oz
• 2004 Broadway Audience Award – The Boy from Oz
• 2004 Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance of the Year – The Boy from Oz
• 2004 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actor in a Musical – The Boy from Oz
• 2004 TDF-Astaire Award for Best Male Dancer in Theatre – The Boy from Oz
• 2004 Theater Fan's Choice Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical – The Boy from Oz
• 2004 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical – The Boy from Oz
• 2004 New York International Independent Film & Video Festival – Short Film Award for Best Actor – "Making the Grade"
• 2004 Australian Showbusiness Ambassador of the Year
• 2005 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program – 58th Annual Tony Awards Ceremonies
• 2006 ShoWest Award for Male Star of the Year
  

  

  Jackman and Halle Berry visiting with sailors and Marines during the opening day of Fleet Week New York 2006
• 2006 Mo Award for Australian Performer of the Year
• 2008 WAAPA – Chancellor's Alumni Award for Excellence, UTS Towering Achievement Award
• 2008 Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Performance in a Stage Musical – The Boy from Oz
• 2008 Australian Film Institute Award Readers' Choice
• 2008 People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive Award
• 2008 Australian GQ Man of the Year
• 2008 Teen Choice Award for Choice Actor in an Action Adventure X-Men Origins: Wolverine
• 2009 Jackman had his hand and footprint ceremony on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 21 April 2009.^[68]
• 2009 Best Performance By A Human Male at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards as Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine
• 2010 People's Choice Award for Favorite Action Star – X-Men Origins: Wolverine
• 2011 Scream Award for Best Cameo - X-Men: First Class
• 2012 People's Choice Award for Favorite Action Movie Actor - Real Steel

Nominations[link]

• 1997 Mo Award for Best Actor in a Musical – Beauty and the Beast
• 1998 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical – Oklahoma!
• 1999 Australian Film Institute for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Erskineville Kings
• 2001 Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy – Kate & Leopold
• 2001 CFCA Award for Most Promising Actor
• 2001 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards for Favorite Male - X-Men
• 2001 MTV Movie Awards for Best On-Screen Team - X-Men
• 2001 MTV Movie Awards for Breakthrough Male Performance - X-Men
• 2002 Golden Globes for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Kate & Leopold
• 2003 Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor - X-Men 2
• 2004 Empire Awards for Best Actor - X-Men 2
• 2004 MTV Movie Awards for Best Fight - X-Men 2
• 2004 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Actor - Van Helsing
• 2004 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Chemistry - Van Helsing
• 2005 People's Choice Awards for Favorite Male Action Movie Star
• 2005 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program - [[58th Tony Awards|58th Annual Tony Awards Ceremonies
• 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program – 59th Annual Tony Awards Ceremonies
• 2006 Green Room Award for Best Male Artist in a Leading Role – The Boy from Oz
• 2006 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Actor - X-Men: The Last Stand
• 2006 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Liplock - X-Men: The Last Stand
• 2007 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for Best Actor - The Fountain
• 2007 Australian Film Institute for Best Actor - The Prestige
• 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Programs - 81st Academy Awards
• 2009 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Drama Actor - Australia
• 2009 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Hissy Fit - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
• 2009 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Rumble - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
• 2010 MTV Movie Awards for Best Fight - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
• 2010 People's Choice Awards for Favorite Movie Actor
• 2010 People's Choice Awards for Favorite On-Screen Team - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
• 2010 SFX Awards for Best Actor - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
• 2012 People's Choice Awards for Favorite Movie Actor

Mentions in popular culture[link]

• Jackman was chosen as People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive of 2008.^[2]
• In the ABC comedy-drama Scrubs, one of the more prominent running gags is Dr. Cox's (John C. McGinley) seemingly irrational hatred of Jackman.
• In the 7th season of Punk'd, Jackman was led to believe that he had accidentally blown up director Brett Ratner's house.^[69]
• On the Season 6, Episode 13 of Will & Grace, which aired on 10 February 2004, the character Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes), mentions he is going to see The Boy From Oz, because he can not wait to see Hugh Jackman.^[70] He later discusses wanting to sue Jackman for stealing some of his dance moves.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hugh Jackman

• Hugh Jackman at the Internet Movie Database
• Hugh Jackman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Hugh Jackman at People.com
• 'A Steady Rain' Rules Broadway – opening night blog at broadway.tv
• Jackman, Hugh National Library of Australia, Trove, People and Organisation record for Hugh Jackman

Kate Beckinsale
Beckinsale at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con
Born	Kathrin Romary Beckinsale (1973-07-26) 26 July 1973 (age 38) Finsbury Park, London, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1991–present
Spouse	Len Wiseman (2004–present)
Partner	Michael Sheen (1995–2003)
Children	1
Parents	Richard Beckinsale Judy Loe

Kathrin Romary "Kate" Beckinsale (born 26 July 1973) is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing (1993) while still a student at Oxford University. She then appeared in British costume dramas such as Prince of Jutland (1994), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), Emma (1996) and The Golden Bowl (2000), in addition to various stage and radio productions. She began to seek film work in the United States in the late 1990s and, after appearing in small-scale dramas The Last Days of Disco (1998) and Brokedown Palace (1999), she had a breakout year in 2001 with starring roles in the war epic Pearl Harbor and the romantic comedy Serendipity. She built on this success with appearances in the bio-pic The Aviator (2004) and the comedy Click (2006).

Beckinsale became known as an action star following an appearance in 2003's Underworld and has since starred in many action films, including Van Helsing (2004), Underworld: Evolution (2006), Whiteout (2009), Contraband (2012), and Underworld: Awakening (2012). She also makes occasional appearances in smaller dramatic projects such as Snow Angels (2007), Winged Creatures (2008), Nothing but the Truth (for which she earned a Critic's Choice Award nomination in 2008) and Everybody's Fine (2009). Her next onscreen appearance will be in the sci-fi action remake Total Recall, due for release in August 2012.

Born and raised in London, Beckinsale is the child of actor Richard Beckinsale (1947–1979) and actress Judy Loe. She had an eight-year relationship with Welsh actor Michael Sheen from 1995 until 2003; they have one daughter. She married American film director Len Wiseman in 2004 and they live in Brentwood, Los Angeles. Publications such as Esquire and People Magazine have repeatedly included Beckinsale in their annual rankings of the world's sexiest and most beautiful women. She has worked occasionally as a model in television and print campaigns to promote Gap denim, Diet Coke, Absolut Vodka and Lux shampoo.

Early life[link]

Kathrin Romary Beckinsale^[1][2] was born in London. She is the only child of actor Richard Beckinsale and actress Judy Loe.^[3] She made her first television appearance at the age of four, in an episode of This is Your Life dedicated to her father.^[4][5] When she was five years old, her 31-year-old father died suddenly of a heart attack. Beckinsale was deeply traumatised by the loss and "started expecting bad things to happen".^[6] While she has seen her father "more on television than I have in life," "there are certainly enough memories for me not to feel that it's somebody I didn't know."^[3] Her widowed mother moved in with director Roy Battersby when Beckinsale was nine and she was brought up alongside his four sons and daughter.^[7] She has a close relationship with her step-father: "I couldn't have knitted a better one ... He wasn't pushy, he let me come to him."^[3] She has a paternal half-sister, actress Samantha Beckinsale, but they have not had regular contact.^[3]

Beckinsale was educated at the fee-paying Godolphin and Latymer School in West London^[8] and was involved with the Orange Tree Youth Theatre.^[9] In her teens, she twice won the W.H. Smith Young Writers' competition—once for short stories and once for poetry^[10]—and was presented with the prize by poet Ted Hughes.^[11] She has described herself as "a late bloomer": "All of my friends were kissing boys and drinking cider way before me. I found it really depressing that we weren't making camp fires and everyone was doing grown-up stuff."^[12] "I loathed being a teenager."^[13] She had a nervous breakdown and developed anorexia at the age of 15 and underwent Freudian psychoanalysis for four years.^[3]

Beckinsale read French and Russian literature at New College, Oxford and was later described by a contemporary, journalist Victoria Coren, as "whip-clever, slightly nuts and very charming".^[14] She was involved with the Oxford University Dramatic Society, most notably being directed by fellow student Tom Hooper in a production of A View from the Bridge at the Oxford Playhouse.^[15] She spent her third year in Paris as required of all Modern Language students at Oxford, after which she decided to leave university to concentrate on her burgeoning acting career: "It was getting to the point where I wasn't enjoying either thing enough because both were very high pressure. I was burning out and I knew I had to make a decision."^[3]

Acting career[link]

Early roles (1991–1997)[link]

Beckinsale decided at a young age that she wanted to be an actress: "I grew up immersed in film. My family were in the business. I quickly realised that my parents seemed to have much more fun in their work than any of my friends’ parents."^[16] She made her television debut in 1991 with a small part in an ITV adaptation of P.D. James’ Devices and Desires.^[17] Also that year, she appeared as a young woman engaging in a forbidden affair with a Nazi officer in the Hallmark film One Against The Wind.^[18] In 1992, she starred alongside Christopher Eccleston in Rachel’s Dream, a 30-minute Channel 4 short,^[19] and in 1993, she appeared in the pilot of the ITV detective series, Anna Lee, starring Imogen Stubbs.^[20]

In 1993, Beckinsale landed the role of Hero in Kenneth Branagh's big-screen adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. It was filmed in Tuscany, Italy during a summer holiday from Oxford University.^[21] She attended the film's Cannes Film Festival premiere and later remembered it as an overwhelming experience. "Nobody even told me I could bring a friend!"^[12] "I had Doc Martens boots on, and I think I put the flower from the breakfast tray in my hair".^[22] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone was won over by her "lovely" performance^[23] while Vincent Canby of The New York Times noted that she and Robert Sean Leonard "look right and behave with a certain naive sincerity, although they often seem numb with surprise at hearing the complex locutions they speak."^[24] The film earned over $22 million at the box office.^[25] She made three other films while at university. In 1994, she appeared as Christian Bale's love interest in Prince of Jutland, a film based on the Danish legend which inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet,^[26] and starred in the murder mystery Uncovered.^[27] In 1995, while studying in Paris, she filmed the French language Marie-Louise Ou La Permission.^[28]

Shortly after leaving Oxford University in 1995, Beckinsale starred in Cold Comfort Farm as Flora Poste, a newly orphaned 1930s socialite sent to live with distant family members in rural England. The John Schlesinger-directed film was an adaptation of Stella Gibbons's novel and also featured Joanna Lumley, Eileen Atkins, Ian McKellen, Rufus Sewell and Stephen Fry. Beckinsale was initially considered too young, but was cast after she wrote a pleading letter to the director.^[29] Emanuel Levy of Variety was reminded of "the strength of a young Glenda Jackson and the charm of a young Julie Christie.^[30] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times classed the actress as "yet another of those effortlessly skilled British beauties who light up the screen."^[31] Janet Maslin of The New York Times felt she played the role "with the perfect snippy aplomb".^[32] The film grossed over $5 million at the US box office.^[33] Also in 1995, she appeared in Haunted, a ghost story in which Derek Elley of Variety felt she "holds the screen, with both physical looks and verbal poise".^[34]

1995 also saw Beckinsale's first professional stage appearance as Nina in The Seagull at Theatre Royal, Bath. She became romantically involved with co-star Michael Sheen after meeting during play rehearsals.^[35] "He was the young lion of the theatre".^[36] "I was all revved up to feel very intimidated. It was my first-ever play and my mother had cut out reviews of him in previous productions. And then he walked in ... It was almost like, 'God, well, I'm finished now. That's it, then.'... He's the most outrageously talented person I've ever met."^[37] Irving Wardle of The Independent felt that "the casting, including Michael Sheen's volcanic Kostya and Kate Beckinsale's steadily freezing Nina, is mainly spot-on."^[38] In early 1996, she starred in two further plays; Sweetheart at the Royal Court Theatre^[39] and Clocks and Whistles at the Bush Theatre.^[40]

Beckinsale next starred in an ITV adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, playing Emma to Mark Strong's Mr Knightley and Samantha Morton's Harriet Smith. "You shouldn't necessarily like Emma," Beckinsale has said of her character. "You do love her, but in the way the family of a teenage girl could be exasperated by her outrageous behaviour and still love her."^[29] The programme was aired in autumn 1996, just months after Gwyneth Paltrow had starred in a film adaptation of the same story.^[29] Caryn James of The New York Times felt that, while "Ms. Beckinsale's Emma is plainer looking than Ms. Paltrow's", she is "altogether more believable and funnier."^[41] Jonathan Brown of The Independent has described Beckinsale's interpretation as "the most enduring modern performance" as Emma.^[42]

In 1997, Beckinsale appeared opposite Stuart Townsend in the comedy Shooting Fish, one of the most commercially successful British films of that year.^[43][44] "I'd just had my wisdom teeth out," Beckinsale later recalled of the initial audition. "I was also on very strong painkillers, so it was not the most conventional of meetings."^[45] Elley wrote of "an incredibly laid-back performance"^[46] while Thomas felt she "just glows as an aristocrat facing disaster with considerable aplomb".^[47] She narrated Austen's Emma for Hodder & Stoughton AudioBooks^[48] and Diana Hendry's The Proposal for BBC Radio 4.^[49] Also in 1997, she played Juliet to Michael Sheen's Romeo in a radio production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Sheen.^[50]

Move to Hollywood (1998–2002)[link]

At this point in her career, Beckinsale began to seek work in the United States, something she has said wasn't "a conscious decision ... My boyfriend was in a play on Broadway so that's why we ended up in New York, and my auditions happened to be for American films".^[51] She starred opposite Chloe Sevigny in 1998's The Last Days of Disco. The Whit Stillman film focused on a group of Ivy League graduates socialising in the Manhattan disco scene of the early 1980s. Beckinsale's attempt at an American accent was widely praised.^[52][53][54] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times felt her role as the bossy Charlotte was "beautifully played".^[55] Todd McCarthy of Variety was unimpressed by the film but noted that "compensations include Beckinsale, looking incredible in a succession of black dresses, whose character can get on your nerves even if the actress doesn't."^[56] Her performance earned her a London Critics' Circle Film Award.^[57] The film grossed $3 million worldwide.^[58] Also that year, she starred as Alice in a Channel 4 production of Through the Looking-Glass.^[59]

In 1999, Beckinsale appeared opposite Claire Danes in Brokedown Palace, a drama about two teenage Americans forced to deal with the Thai justice system on a post-graduation trip abroad. A then-26 year old Beckinsale played a teenager.^[60] Danes had hoped to become friends with Beckinsale during the shoot but found her "complicated" and "prickly".^[61] McCarthy said the leads "confirm their status as two of the young actresses on the scene today most worth watching", finding Beckinsale "very effective at getting across layered character traits and emotions."^[62] "Danes and Beckinsale are exceptionally talented young actresses", said Thomas, but "unfortunately, the script's seriously underdeveloped context defeats their considerable efforts at every turn."^[63] Stephen Holden of The New York Times felt that Beckinsale's character "never comes into focus".^[64] The film was a box office failure.^[65]

2000's The Golden Bowl marked Beckinsale's first role following the birth of her daughter. The Merchant/Ivory production was based on the novel by Henry James and also starred Uma Thurman and Jeremy Northam. Beckinsale's partner, Michael Sheen, hit Northam on the film set after he followed Beckinsale to her trailer to scold her for forgetting a line.^[66] Holden noted that "the most satisfying of the four lead performances belong to the British cast members, Ms. Beckinsale and Mr. Northam, who are better than their American counterparts at layers of emotional concealment", adding that each beat of Beckinsale's performance "registers precisely".^[67] Thomas felt her performance would take her to "a new career level".^[68] Andrew Sarris of The New York Observer asserted that she "comes close to capturing the sublimity of Maggie, despite the obvious fact that no movie can capture the elegant copiousness of James’ prose."^[69] The film grossed over $5 million worldwide.^[70]

Beckinsale rose to fame in 2001 with a leading role in the war epic Pearl Harbour as a nurse torn between two pilots, played by Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett. She was drawn to the project by the script: "It's so unusual these days to read a script that has those old-fashioned values to it. Not morals, but movie values. It's a big, sweeping epic ...You just never get the chance to do that."^[71] Director Michael Bay initially had doubts about casting the actress: "I wasn't sure about her at first ... she wore black leather trousers in her screen test and I thought she was a little nasty ... it was easy to think of this woman as a slut".^[72] He eventually decided to hire her because she wasn't "too beautiful. Women feel disturbed when they see someone’s too pretty."^[73] He asked her to lose weight during filming.^[74] In a 2004 interview, the actress noted that his comments were "upsetting"^[75] and said she wore leather trousers because "it was snowing out. It wasn't exactly like I had my nipple rings in."^[76] She felt grateful that she had not had to deal with such criticism at a younger age: "If I had come on to a movie set at [a younger] age and someone had said, 'You're a bit funny-looking, can you go on a diet?' - I might have jumped off a building. I just didn't have the confidence to put that into perspective at the time."^[72] However, speaking in 2011, she said she was "very fond" of Bay.^[77]

Pearl Harbor received negative reviews. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly praised "the avid eyed, ruby lipped Kate Beckinsale, the rare actress whose intelligence gives her a sensual bloom; she's like Parker Posey without irony."^[78] A.O. Scott of The New York Times noted that "Mr. Affleck and Ms. Beckinsale do what they can with their lines, and glow with the satiny shine of real movie stars."^[79] However, Mike Clark of USA Today felt that the "usually appealing Kate Beckinsale" is "inexplicably submerged — like her hospital colleagues — under heaps of tarty makeup that even actresses of the era didn't wear."^[80] The film was a commercial success, grossing $449 million worldwide.^[81]

Beckinsale's second film appearance of 2001 was in the romantic comedy Serendipity as the love interest of John Cusack. It was filmed directly after Pearl Harbour and Beckinsale found it "a real relief to return to something slightly more familiar."^[51] Turan praised the "appealing and believable" leads, adding that Beckinsale "reinforces the strong impression she made in Cold Comfort Farm, The Golden Bowl and The Last Days of Disco" after "recovering nicely" from her appearance in the much-maligned Pearl Harbor.^[82] Claudia Puig of USA Today felt that "Beckinsale's talents haven't been mined as effectively in any other film since Cold Comfort Farm".^[83] McCarthy found her "energetic and appealing"^[84] while Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times described her as "luminous but determined".^[85] In an uncomplimentary review of the film, Ebert described her as "a good actress, but not good enough to play this dumb".^[86] The film has grossed over $77 million at the worldwide box office.^[87]

In 2002, Beckinsale starred in Lisa Cholodenko's Laurel Canyon as a strait-laced academic who finds herself increasingly attracted to her free-spirited future mother-in-law. The independent film was another opportunity for Beckinsale to work with Christian Bale, her Prince of Jutland co-star. She found their sex scene awkward because she knew Bale well: "If it was a stranger, it would have been easier."^[88] While Frances MacDormand's performance as Bale's mother was widely praised, Beckinsale received negative reviews. Holden found the film "superbly acted, with the exception of Ms. Beckinsale, whose tense, colourless Alex conveys no inner life".^[89] Schwarzbaum was unimpressed by the "tedious" characters and criticised "the fussy performances of Bale and Beckinsale" in particular.^[90] The film has grossed over $4 million worldwide.^[91]

Action heroine roles (2003–2006)[link]

Beckinsale became known as an action star following an appearance as a vampire in 2003's Underworld. It was markedly different from her previous work and Beckinsale has said she was grateful for the change of pace after appearing in "a bunch of period stuff and then a bunch of romantic comedies."^[92] "It was quite a challenge for me to play an action heroine and pull off all that training when [in real life] I can’t catch a ball if it’s coming my way."^[93] The film received negative to mixed reviews but was a surprise box office hit and has gained a cult following.^[94] Also that year, she starred in the little-seen Tiptoes with Gary Oldman and Matthew McConaughey.^[95]

Beckinsale at the San Sebastián Film Festival in 2006

In 2004, Beckinsale starred in the action horror film Van Helsing. She was "so surprised" to be appearing in her second action film in two years. "It just seemed like a very good role."^[96] Beckinsale had just separated from her long-term partner Michael Sheen at the time of filming and appreciated the warm atmosphere created on set by director Stephen Sommers and co-star Hugh Jackman: "I really did find that working with people like Stephen and Hugh made it possible to get through what I was going through."^[97] The film grossed over $120 million at the United States box office and over $300 million worldwide, but it was not well-reviewed.^[98][99] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle described her as "a pretty actress doing her best to maintain dignity, vainly trying to craft a feminist statement from a filmmaker's whimsy"^[100] while Rex Reed of The New York Observer felt she was "desperately in need of a new agent".^[101]