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Hugh Jackman's Tony honour

HUGH Jackman will be honoured with a Special Tony Award for his contribution to the Broadway community and charity work.

Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman
AAP

HUGH Jackman will be honoured with a Special Tony Award for his contribution to the Broadway community and charity work.

The Tony Awards Administration Committee will honour the Australian actor at the 2012 Tony Awards on June 10.

Jackman, a Tony Award winner and three-time Tony Awards host, single-handedly raised more than $US850,000 for Broadway Cares by auctioning off his undershirts after each performance in Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway.

Unbuttoning his shirt to expose his white undershirt, Jackman offered up his sweaty top each night to the highest bidder. He called it "a bit of shameless exploitation in pursuit of the common good".

Each T-shirt sold for anywhere between $US5000 and $US25,000.

Jackman set the record for the highest weekly gross by the Shubert Organisation theatre company with the production earning more than $US2 million in its final week. Opening on November 10, 2011, Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway played for 10 weeks to sold-out audiences through to January 1, 2012.

The 43-year-old from Sydney made his Broadway debut in 2003 with his role in The Boy From Oz, and went on to win the Tony for that performance, based on the life of Australian singer-songwriter Peter Allen.

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/hugh-jackmans-tony-honour/news-story/60fcd7903d9b7c8e7aed2dc3d7e9527e