Hugh Jackman always feels guilty if he is short with fans.

The 47-year-old actor - who has been called the nicest man in Hollywood - admitted it is just easier to greet autograph seekers with a smile because if he is rude he spends all day worrying about it.

He said: ''I suppose there have been times where I've been a bit short with people. And I find that the minute after, my mind is like, 'Why did you do that? That poor person, they just wanted a photo,' or whatever. It stays in my head.

''It's actually harder work for me. It's easier for me to be polite and look people in the eye and shake their hand than to do it any other way. Maybe it's just the way I was brought up.''

Hugh - who is currently starring in 'Pan' - always buys lottery tickets for the cast and crew of his movies on Fridays and revealed his attempts to treat everyone equally on set are because he didn't find fame until relatively late in his career and he was often treated badly.

He explained to The Guardian: ''I didn't have any power in this industry until I was maybe 30, and I've had many, many jobs where I was way down the other end of the food chain, and so I always respected the people who were at the top who seemed to care about what you did and appreciate you. So I've tried to never forget that.''