Hugh Jackman launches charity coffee company

Hugh Jackman has launched a charity coffee business.

The Real Steel actor, who turned 43 on Wednesday, announced on his birthday that he was launching a company called Laughing Man. The organisation will sell coffee, tea and chocolates to raise money for causes including Harlem Village Academies.

Jackman told NewsCore that he came up with the idea for the business when he travelled to Ethiopia in 2009 and met with a local coffee farmer called Dukale.

He said: "I was so inspired by what I learned working with him and his community. I made Dukale a promise to do my part to help."

After his visit to Africa two years ago, Jackman met with former UK prime minister Tony Blair and United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki Moon and talked about Dukale to highlight the importance of understanding climate change.

He said at the time: "I'm going to use the best weapon I have - which is not the Wolverine claws or my mutant powers, but my voice - to speak on behalf of Dukale and a billion other people in developing countries who contribute the least to climate change and yet they are hit the hardest by it."

Laughing Man's first coffee shop is scheduled to open in New York suburb Tribeca later this month.

Last year, Jackman auctioned himself off to raise money for charity, offering to give the bidder a topless workout session.

> Hugh Jackman: 'The Wolverine script is the best we've had'
> Hugh Jackman 'peed himself during 'Beauty and the Beast' stage show'

Watch Hugh Jackman discuss Real Steel with Digital Spy below: