Hugh Jackman turned down Neighbours money to go to drama school

Early in his career, Hugh Jackman was offered a two-year role on Neighbours. He has called it a job with good money. On the same day, he was offered a place at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He took the drama school and gave up the pay cheque. Later he decided to treat acting as a small business. His story is a good reminder to work out what study really costs before you swap income for it.

The offer that arrived on the same day

Jackman told the story at a BAFTA "A Life in Pictures" event in London in 2017. He was doing part-time acting classes and had auditioned for WAAPA in Perth, which he described as a prestigious school. Then both offers came at once, the soap and the drama school.

In a 2006 interview with Oprah Winfrey for O, The Oprah Magazine, he said the soap came after just three months of classes. He described it as a two-year job with good money. He told his dad he wasn't sure whether to take it, and his father said he couldn't tell him what to do.

Why he chose study over a steady pay cheque

Jackman spent the weekend thinking it over. He told Oprah that what kept coming back to him was a dream of one day auditioning for the Royal Shakespeare Company, for Broadway and for films. He asked himself whether two years on a soap would make him feel he deserved that audition. His answer was no, so he went to drama school. When he told his dad, his dad was relieved.

At BAFTA he said his heart was set on one day working at the National Theatre or the Royal Shakespeare Company. He also said this:

"I felt I want to feel when I go into the industry that I've educated myself."Hugh Jackman, BAFTA A Life in Pictures, 2017

Treating acting as a small business

Jackman told Oprah that when he finished drama school he made a deal with himself to give acting five years. He was 26. By then he had spent eight years working in restaurants and at petrol stations.

"So I had seen enough small businesses to understand that that's what acting is: a small business."Hugh Jackman, O, The Oprah Magazine, 2006

He made the same point on The Tim Ferriss Show in 2020. He said it only really clicked in his last semester of drama school. No company was going to hire him as an actor and send him out to jobs. He had to win every job himself, and his name was his brand.

It turned out well for him. But the money side of his choice is the useful part for everyone else. He gave up a known income for two years, and he did it on purpose, knowing what he was giving up.

What does study really cost?

Plenty of Australians face a smaller version of Jackman's choice. Do you take a job now, or study first? Do you cut back your hours to retrain? The cost of study is more than the course fee. It usually includes:

• Course fees, whether you pay them upfront or through a government loan.
• Income you give up while you study, like the two-year contract Jackman turned down.
• Living costs while you study, such as rent, transport and books.
• The tax side, meaning how a study loan gets repaid and whether any costs can be claimed as a deduction.

Moneysmart explains that the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) helps students pay for things like course fees. HECS-HELP is for students in a Commonwealth supported place. FEE-HELP is for fee-paying undergraduate and postgraduate students. Moneysmart's studying guide covers student budgets and loans.

How HELP repayments work in 2025-26

Compulsory repayments are collected through the tax system. The ATO says that from the 2025-26 income year, you only had to make a compulsory repayment if your repayment income was over $67,000. The repayment was worked out only on the part of your income above $67,000. These amounts are indexed each year in line with average weekly earnings. Moneysmart now lists the threshold as $69,528.

Here is how the 2025-26 repayment bands worked, as published by the ATO:

The ATO adds that if you have a loan when you lodge your tax return and your income is over the minimum, the repayment goes on your notice of assessment. You can check current figures on the ATO's compulsory repayments page.

Can you claim study costs on your tax return?

Sometimes, but the rules are narrow. The ATO says you can claim a self-education expense if, when you pay it, it has a sufficient connection to earning income from your current job. In practice, that means the study keeps up or improves skills you need for the work you already do, or is likely to increase your income from that work.

Study for a brand new career is a different story. The ATO's ruling TR 2024/3 includes examples showing that self-education costs to get new employment are not deductible. That would have covered Jackman's case: drama school was training for a new kind of work, not his existing jobs.

Some other points from the ATO:

• For costs from 1 July 2022 onwards, there is no longer a $250 amount you have to take off your claim first.
• You can't claim self-education expenses if your only income is a qualifying Australian Government allowance or payment.
• If a course as a whole isn't connected to your current job but some subjects are, you may be able to claim the cost of those subjects.

The full rules are on the ATO's self-education expenses page.

The lesson: put a number on what you are giving up

Jackman knew exactly what he was turning down: two years of steady, well-paid work. He chose study anyway, with his eyes open. Later he treated his career like a business, with a five-year deadline.

The general lesson is simple. Before you swap income for study, write down the full cost. That means fees, any loan and how it gets repaid, the pay you give up, and whether any of it can be claimed. It won't make the decision for you, but you'll know what you're signing up for.

When it is worth talking to a professional

The tax side of study can get tricky. Questions like whether a course is connected to your current job, how to split costs between subjects, or how a HELP debt affects your tax bill are things a registered tax agent can help work through. A registered tax agent can also help if you work for yourself and need to treat your income like a small business, as Jackman described. FIZO shows whether a tax agent is on the Tax Practitioners Board register. You can find a registered tax agent on FIZO.

This story is based on Hugh Jackman's own words in published interviews. It is general information only and not financial or tax advice.