Who is Sutton Foster, explained: Meet the star of stage and screen who is dating Hugh Jackman | Explainer
Sutton Foster is a name you’re going to be hearing a lot more of, after her long-speculated relationship with Hugh Jackman was seemingly confirmed this week.
The former co-stars, who both have recently split from their spouses, were spotted holding hands on an apparent date night in LA.
Foster, who fans may know from the Stan TV show Younger, is a star of stage and screen, having also starred in Flight of the Conchords and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.
READ MORE: Inside Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen’s adorable marriage
Here’s everything you need to know about the American actress:
What is Sutton Foster most famous for?
Foster, 49, is a two-time Tony Award-winning actress, most famous for her work in musical theatre on Broadway.
Her performances in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Anything Goes earned her the Best Actress in a Musical trophy in 2002 and 2011, respectively.
After making her Broadway debut in Grease in 1996, Foster’s gone on to star in Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical, among others.
The actress has also appeared in TV shows Bunheads and Psych as well as Younger, where she played the lead character of Liza Miller for seven seasons.
Did Sutton Foster star in Les Misérables?
Yes, but not the movie version Hugh Jackman starred in.
Foster played Eponine Thenardier in a touring production in the late ’90s before taking on the role as an understudy on Broadway in 2000.
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Is Sutton Foster married?
Foster has been married twice before.
First to fellow two-time Tony Award-winning actor Christian Borle, from 2006 to 2009, after the couple first met in college.
Foster said in 2012 that she and the Smash star had remained friends following their reportedly “painful” split.
She then went on a blind date with American screenwriter Ted Griffin and the pair got engaged in 2013.
They tied the knot in 2014 before filing for divorce a decade later, in 2024.
Does Sutton Foster have kids?
The actress has one daughter, Emily Dale, whom she adopted in 2017 with Griffin.
Foster has been open about the fertility struggles the couple went through when trying to start a family in their late 30s, saying it was her husband who “made me want kids”.
“I didn’t really understand the concept of motherhood until he came around,” Foster told People magazine in 2018.
She said after a “hard” IVF journey, which spawned her book Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life, the couple decided adoption was “so clearly what was meant to be for us”.
“Now I realise Emily was so clearly meant to be our daughter,” she said in a later interview with the US publication.
“It doesn’t matter where she came from, my belly or someone else’s belly. When she was born, I was like, ‘What took me so long?'”
It’s something her Younger co-star Peter Hermann helped the couple with, having been through the process himself.
It’s also something Foster and Jackman, 56, would have likely bonded over, with the Aussie actor having two adopted children – Oscar and Ava – with his ex-wife.
When did Sutton Foster and Hugh Jackman first meet?
Foster first met Jackman backstage on Broadway in 2008.
The Aussie actor went to see Shrek: The Musical, in which Foster played Princess Fiona, and met the cast backstage after the show, posing for photos together.
When did Sutton Foster and Hugh Jackman get together?
Decades later, the pair starred together in a Broadway revival of The Music Man, which ran from December 2021 through till January 2023.
Amid rumours the duo had become close during the production, Jackman announced his split from wife of 27 years Deborra-Lee Furness in September 2023.
Foster then split from her husband in October last year, just shy of their tenth wedding anniversary.
Jackman and Foster have never addressed the speculation or rumours of a romance, with the only confirmation coming in the photos of them holding hands on a night out in January, 2025.
What has Sutton Foster said about Hugh Jackman?
The pair have praised each other publicly on numerous occasions.
In an interview with Vogue, Foster said the pair had become close friends through their time working together, which she wasn’t expecting to happen.
“He’s now become one of my best friends, which was a surprise because you usually go into these things thinking, ‘Well, I hope we get along’,” she said.
“But we just spent Memorial Day with our families. It’s really fun to meet new friends after 40.”
In the 2022 profile piece, she also admitted the pair somewhat blurred lines on stage to throw off the audience.
“One of the things that our director [Jerry Zaks] said early on was when you’re watching two characters fall in love, you look for the moments where they make each other smile,” she explained.
“So it’s sort of birthed out of that, and it’s a spontaneous moment that’s different every single night. It toes that line of, is it Harold and Marian, or Hugh and Sutton?”
During an appearance on US morning show Live With Kelly and Ryan, Foster said the pair would bond with “carpet chats” in her dressing room every night before going out on stage.
“We hang out in my dressing room before every show and just catch up,” she said.
“Somehow we ended up sitting … maybe because my dressing room’s a mess, we sit on the carpet.
“We’ve become really good friends, and we just talk and catch up on our day.
“That’s been one of the best parts of the whole thing, that I’ve made this wonderful new friend.”
Then, at the 2024 Drama Desk Awards last June, Foster told People that Jackman is “one of the greatest guys ever, an incredible costar”.
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