Hugh Jackman to receive Zurich Film Festival award

The Zurich Film Festival (Sept 26 - Oct 6) is to honour actor Hugh Jackman with the Golden Icon Award, given in appreciation of the lifetime achievements of an actor or actress. Jackman will receive the award on Sept 28 at the Corso Cinema.

Jackman will also present his latest film, the missing children thriller Prisoners, directed by Denis Villeneuve and co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal, which has been selected to screen in the Gala Premieres section of the festival.

“Hugh Jackman is in a class by himself as a multi-talented entertainer with a global following,” said Karl Spoerri, co-director of ZFF. “There is nothing he can’t do and he proves this time and time again with every project he’s involved in. We’re honored to recognize his brilliant career at the Zurich Film Festival.”

The Australian actor made his first major US film appearance as Wolverine in the first instalment of the X-Men series, a role he reprised in X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and this summer’s The Wolverine. Jackman is currently filming X-Men: Days of Future Past, which set for release in May 2014.

Earlier this year, he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical and received his first Academy Award nomination for his role as Jean Valjean in Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables.

Jackman will next be seen in Warner Bros’ Prisoners, where he plays a man who takes matters into his own hands following the disappearance of his young daughter and her best friend.