My agent said to me five years ago, `Hugh, I can see one day you... if I had to plan a goal for you, it`s for you to have the kind of career that Sinatra had.`

Being on Broadway is the modern equivalent of being a monk. I sleep a lot, eat a lot, and rest a lot.

The character I play is actually only 1.6 meters [5` 3]. Before I had any kind of acting profile I was encouraged to lie about my height. I was told to say I was about six foot [1.83m] tall. I was worried about it when I first had my audition because pleasing fans of the franchise is important. My height was brought up on the Internet. They didn`t think it was right. A lot of people who never met me think I`m very short. Jimmy Marsden (Cyclops), who`s only 10cm [4 inches] shorter than me, was put on boxes and platforms in our scenes together. You`ll notice that every character in X-men looks taller than me."

I never read comics as a kid, and when I was slipped the comics under my trailer door, Bryan Singer didn`t want us to read them. He was very frightened that we would come out with these 2D characters, and I was amazed at how helpful they were, the images more than the story. The images, and how they capture emotion or an action sequence in just, say, three images - I have to say I used them as inspiration for some of the fighting stances or techniques. The way Wolverine stands and how he looks. - [on Comic books]

We feel that there are so many kids who need adopting. We thought we`d do it after having a couple of our own, but we just changed our mind.

I just love making a fool out of myself. I made my living as a clown at kids` parties for about three years.

I`m a big goofball, you know. Don`t tell anyone that, but I`m a big goofball. In Australia we call it a dag.

I have a terrific marriage, but unlike a lot of relationships where they ebb and flow, no matter what happens you fall deeper and deeper in love every day. It`s kind of the best thing that can happen to you. It`s thrilling.

I`ve always felt that if you back down from a fear, the ghost of that fear never goes away. It diminishes people. So I`ve always said `yes` to the thing I`m most scared about. The fear of letting myself down -- of saying `no` to something that I was afraid of and then sitting in my room later going, `I wish I`d had the guts to say this or that` -- that galvanizes me more than anything.

I have a wife and a son, but the gay rumors have started. I guess it`s a sign that I`m moving up the ladder.

I`m not a kid. You don`t get in this business for anonymity. It`s not like I have posters of myself on the wall, but at the same time, I`m kind of ready for a little bit of it, but I worry for my little one, and my family - their privacy. That`s what I`m more protective of.

Sometimes you have to go places with characters and emotions within yourself you don`t want to do, but you have a duty to the story and as a storyteller to do it.

"Now I meet people with full-color Wolverine tattoos on their backs. Thank God I did okay, because I think if I hadn`t, they`d spit on me in the street."

"I have shocking teeth... I`m being a little facetious-I just went to the dentist the other day, and he looked at my teeth and went, `Oh, my God, you`ve got gray teeth.`"

"Becoming a father, I think it inevitably changes your perspective of life. I don`t get nearly enough sleep. And the simplest things in life are completely satisfying. I find you don`t have to do as much, like you don`t go on as many outings."

"Acting is something I love. It`s a great craft that I have a lot of respect for. But I don`t think it`s any greater challenge than teaching 8 year olds or any other career. In my life, I try not to make it more important than it is and I just hope that rubs off on the people around me."

"People can stick pins in it, put in the freezer. It`s far more dangerous than a videogame." - [about his action figures]

"I didn`t do the motion capture work; I didn`t do any of that. I don`t know if they`ve used my voice or not, they probably have.. I did a lot of recordings on the first movie for dolls and videogames, so they probably just used the same stuff." - [on Wolverine videogame]

"There is something very secretive about the way they cast that role. I`ve never had an official call asking: `Are you interested or not`, but there`s no guy I know who wouldn`t want that role - and that includes me. Anyone who says otherwise is lying." [on the now [Nov. 2004] opened spot for the next James Bond]

"Now I meet people with full-color Wolverine tattoos on their backs. Thank God I did okay, because I think if I handn`t, they`d spit on me in the street." - on his role of Wolverine

"Finally something my family can be proud of"

(On turning down the chance to play Richard Gere`s character in the Harvey Weinstein-produced film Chicago) "I thought I was too young for the role. You have some 34-year-old guy up against Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renée Zellweger and it becomes a different movie. At one point, Harvey was telling me they were thinking of Kevin Spacey, and I told him, `That`s exactly right. You should hire him.` Then I was in New York when the movie opened and the queue was around the block. I sat down and thought that I had probably made the biggest mistake. But I still honestly think that it was the right thing to do. I still think I was too young for that part."