Chris Hemsworth is on the Hollywood fast track, working alongside Academy Award winners Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins in the upcoming action adventure “Thor,” but the handsome Aussie said he nearly gave up on his showbiz dreams when his career came to a discouraging halt after his small role in 2009’s “Star Trek” reboot.
“I had a sort of nine-month period of nothing to the point where I was calling my parents. I was ready to pack it in and come home,” Chris told Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush at CinemaCon 2011 in Las Vegas on Thursday. “It was like, ‘This is killing me.’”
Fortunately, just as he was about to give it all up and head back Down Under, the 27-year-old hunk was cast in “Cabin in the Woods,” “Red Dawn” and the highly anticipated “Thor.”
“It was just sort of like, when it rains it pours,” he told Billy of his sudden success.
Now that he’s set to join the ranks of Hollywood’s big screen leading men, Chris has a bit more spending cash and has used a portion of his acting earnings to get a new ride.
“I bought a car – I bought an Acura,” he told Billy of his biggest purchase so far. “A nice sort of SUV thing.”
“Why not like a Lamborghini or something? Billy asked.
“That’s too hard to get into – I don’t fit!” Chris – how he gained 20 pounds to play the striking Norse god of comic book fame — told Billy. “I fit in this thing – put the surfboards in the back and, you know…”
Chris isn’t the only actor in his family – older brother Luke and younger brother Liam are also in the biz – and Chris said the trio is definitely competitive.
“[We’re] incredibly [competitive] in the best of ways,” Chris told Billy. “We grew up surfing and boxing and riding bikes and skateboards and whatever we did as kids.”
“Who wins in a fight? Could you take ‘em all?” Billy asked.
“These days we’re all pretty similar in size and ability so it gets pretty ugly. We’ve got to temper that,” Chris told Billy, laughing. “Back when we were younger it was whoever was biggest. And for a little while it was my older brother, and then it was me and now we’re all, as I said, around the same height.”
See Chris as “Thor” when the movie comes to theaters on May 6. Chris will also reprise his role as the arrogant warrior in “The Avengers,” slated for release on May 4, 2012.
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