A bearded Hugh Jackman enjoys an action-packed play date with his 6-year-old daughter Ava around a Manhattan play yard together.

His beard would be enough to scare off some tender children but Ava Jackman is so close to her Australian film star father Hugh Jackman that she is obviously already used to his metamorphoses by now and she seemed unperturbed with his giant beard. Hugh, who is heroically hands on with his children, has grown the monstrous bush for his role as Jean Valjean in the film "Les Misérables."

The actor announced on his "Twitter" account recently that composer Claude-Michel Schönberg had penned a new number for him to sing in the film adaptation that is not in the beloved musical. Little else is known about the song at this point. Jackman sent out a message saying that he is in rehearsals for the movie. New songs are not uncommon when stage musicals move to the big screen. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote a new song for the 1996 film version of Evita and even won an Oscar for it.

The movie, directed by Tom Hooper, also will star Russell Crowe as Inspector Javert, Anne Hathaway as Fantine, Amanda Seyfried as Cosette and Samantha Barks as Eponine. The cast is also expected to include Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as the Thénardiers. However, before he starts work on this epic project, Jackman is performing to his favorite audience which is his daughter Ava and his son Oscar.

Jackman married his wife Deborra Lee-Furness, 56, in 1996 and they adopted Oscar in 2000 after she suffered two miscarriages. Their daughter was adopted in 2005. In an interview with "The Times," Jackman talked of how being a father has changed his life.

"Everything is related to the kids now," the actor said.

"Frightening how in love with them you are. You have those little flashes of them jumping into a road and you stop breathing. Everything is exposed with kids. There's no artifice, because they see you for exactly what you are," Jackman further shared.

"You can't pretend. Actors fool people about the kind of person they are. You wear whatever mask you want to put on. But it doesn't work with kids. If your career is more important than them, you're going to have hell. You see things get out of whack, out of balance, because they just mirror it back to you," the proud father of two explained.

It is apparent that Hugh's favorite role of all time is that of parent. He is often spotted spending quality time with his children.

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