Chris Hemsworth is an A-list actor thanks to his role as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Prior to making it big in Hollywood, Hemsworth had roles on Australian shows like “Neighbours,” “The Saddle Club,” and “Home and Away.” Hemsworth made his debut as the God of Thunder with his first standalone movie in 2011. Since then, he’s branched out to dramas like “Rush” and comedies like the 2016 “Ghostbusters” reboot.
Most recently, he reprised his Marvel role in “Avengers: Endgame,” teamed up with costar Tessa Thompson for “Men in Black: International,” and starred in the Netflix thriller “Extraction.”
Here are nine things you probably didn’t know about Hemsworth.
His childhood nicknames were “Kip” and “Hemsy.”
Hemsworth revealed the fun fact during interviews with GQ US and “Sunrise.”
His “Avengers” costar Chris Evans also calls the actor “Hemmy.”
Hemsworth’s “cinematic crush” is Robin Wright in the 1987 movie “The Princess Bride.”
“She’s just so incredibly beautiful and confident and strong and smart and witty,” Hemsworth told W magazine in 2017. “I love that movie.”
One of the reasons he got into acting was to financially support his family.
“I loved film and TV, but it was like we had no money,” Hemsworth told Variety in 2019. “I wanted to pay off their house, initially. That was my sort of thing.”
The actor went on to say that his motivation led him to “put too much pressure” on himself when it came to auditions.
“If I hadn’t taken it upon myself to take care of my family, I might have been more relaxed.”
Hemsworth ended up eventually being able to accomplish his goal of paying off the house, telling GQ Australia: “That was the first thing I did. As you get older, the roles reverse – they had us so young, they worked long hours, they gave up all their youth, to give us a great life.”
He also jokingly told GQ US that acting appealed to him because he was always a “liar” and used to fib in order to get out of things he didn’t want to do around the house.
“I’d pretend to be sick or broken in some way and incapable of doing any real work,” he said. “That’s where it all started.”
Before becoming known for his role as Thor, Hemsworth almost ended up playing a different Marvel comic book character.
Hemsworth told Variety that he “got very close” to Channing Tatum’s lead role in “G.I. Joe” and Taylor Kitsch’s part as Gambit in 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”
“I was running out of money,” he said. “But if I played either of those characters, I wouldn’t have been able to play Thor.”
In 2019, Hemsworth launched a fitness app called Centr, focused on how to “train, eat, and live better.”
Hemsworth told Men’s Health that app is based on “the three main elements of healthy living – the movement, the nutrition, and the mindfulness.”
“That was kind of the genesis of this whole Centr app – things I learned along the way from meeting people who are leading experts in their fields, in mindfulness, nutrition, and training,” he said. “For me to do a great job and not to implode from the anxiety, I’ve got to find that center.”
Mark Ruffalo is the “Avengers” costar most likely to make him laugh on set.
While playing a game of “Most Likely To…” with his Marvel costars, Hemsworth said that Ruffalo entertains him because he “can’t remember his lines.”
He has “about five” of Thor’s hammers in his house, and one is located in his bathroom.
“Often people stay in there a little longer, and I think it’s because of the hammer,” Hemsworth said during an appearance on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in January 2018.
The actor went on to say that his hammer has a few dents and scratches on it because one of his sons has a habit of trying to lift the “heavy” prop.
His first job ever was cleaning breast pumps.
During an appearance on NBC’s “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in June 2019, Hemsworth played a game called “True Confessions” and revealed that he was 14 years old at the time.
Hemsworth worked for a pharmacy that would rent the machines made by an appliance company called Fisher & Paykel. His job was to clean the dried milk off the pumps using a toothbrush, spray, and wipe.
His hidden talent is sewing.
Hemsworth told W magazine that he “had a real interest” when he was a child.
“I think it’s because I couldn’t afford any cool clothes, so I was like, ‘I’m going to make them myself,'” he said.
“Anything that could hold my attention was a big plus for my parents in particular,” the actor added. “For some reason, cross-stitch was the one that I enjoyed.”