For Chris Hemsworth, home isn’t a red carpet or a gated Los Angeles estate. It’s open land, horses, surf, and space to breathe.
The 42-year-old Australian actor says relocating his family from Hollywood to a sprawling farm in Australia was the “greatest decision” he’s ever made — a move sparked by growing disillusionment with life in Los Angeles.
Speaking on the podcast SmartLess, the “Crime 101” and Marvel star reflected on the turning point. It came around the time his twin sons were born, when he and wife Elsa Pataky were living in L.A. but rarely working there.
“We were kind of set up in LA and not enjoying it,” Hemsworth said. “Nothing was shooting there. We were filming kind of everywhere else.”
What awaited him at home after long shoots wasn’t relaxation. It was paparazzi and the constant buzz of celebrity culture.
“You’d come home and paparazzi and all the sort of the trappings of living in that space,” he explained.
The contrast pushed him to reconsider where — and how — he wanted to raise his family. Hemsworth and Pataky, who married in 2010 just months after meeting, now live on a large farm in Australia with their three children.
“When you come back from work, you wanna go on a holiday? Like coming home for me is – it feels like a holiday,” he said. “We have big farm and horses and motorbikes and surf.”
The setting is a return to his roots. Hemsworth grew up about 20 minutes outside Melbourne with brothers Liam and Luke, in a semi-rural area surrounded by bushland and rainforest. The nearest neighbor was a kilometer or two away. Childhood meant outdoor adventures and imaginative play — experiences he credits with sparking his interest in acting.
“It was just all bush land… and so we would just have adventures outdoors and playing different characters,” he recalled. “I think that’s where the sort of intrigue or interest into that transportation into another [world began].”
Before Marvel fame and blockbuster premieres, Hemsworth’s first job was far less glamorous. He repaired rented breast milk pumps for appliance manufacturer Fisher & Paykel — cleaning dried milk residue and fixing broken motor belts with a toothbrush and cleaning spray.
From small Australian TV roles to “Home and Away,” and eventually global stardom as Thor beginning in 2011, Hemsworth’s career skyrocketed. Films like “The Avengers,” “Avengers: Endgame,” and “Thor: Love and Thunder” cemented his status as one of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
In 2024, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. During his speech, he paid tribute to Pataky for supporting his career.
“It doesn’t get lost on me that she put aside her own dreams in order to support mine,” he said. “None of it is special without you by my side.”
