Hugh Jackman says he used to be "explosively angry" and that playing rugby as a teenager saved him from getting into trouble.

The Australian actor is known for playing erratic superhero Wolverine in the X-Men franchise and returns for the character's own spin-off movie, The Wolverine.

Jackman takes cold showers to get himself in the mood to play the heated werewolf but can also take inspiration from his past.

"As a teenager I was explosively angry," he admitted to Empire.

"I think rugby saved me, because that's just organised violence. I would have got in a lot more fights.

But I was someone who would go into a little bit of a blind rage and it was not pretty."

The 44-year-old is married to actress Deborra-Lee Furness and together they have adopted children Oscar and Ava.

Age has had a good influence on Jackman, who tries to be a good role model for his kids.

"I think, just naturally, I started to calm down. Or I just made the choice to be a little bit less volatile," he mused.

"But as I got older there were fewer moments of that explosive rage. But even to this day they're still there, and I probably am just better at... or it's just longer in-between.

"But it's still there and I have to work on it and I have to be very sensitive as a father - I don't want them seeing that."

Jackman believes his rage was partly down to his parents splitting up when he was eight.

He wants things to be far more settled for Ava and Oscar.

"Sometimes, of course, I lose it, but it's not constructive," he confessed.

"And it really unsettles kids, I think. I do work on it."

- Cover Media