Liam Hemsworth

Early life

Hemsworth was born in Melbourne, Australia, to Leonie (née van Os), an English teacher, and Craig Hemsworth, a social-services counsellor. His two older brothers are Chris and Luke Hemsworth, who also work as actors. His maternal grandfather is a Dutch immigrant, and his other ancestry is English, Irish, Scottish, and German. Hemsworth has said that though there is competition for jobs among them, it is friendly: "We are brothers and we are always competitive, but it is a good thing, it pushes us and we are always happy whenever someone books something."

When Hemsworth was in year 8, he and his family relocated to Phillip Island, a small Australian island southeast of Melbourne. Hemsworth says he spent much of his time there surfing with his brothers. In March 2009, Hemsworth moved to the United States to pursue his career there. He and his brother Chris first stayed in the guest house of Chris's manager, William Ward, before renting their own Los Angeles apartment.

2007–2010: Career beginnings

Prior to becoming an actor, Hemsworth laid floors for six months. He began to seriously consider following his elder brothers' footsteps in high school by participating in school plays. Eventually, Hemsworth retained an agent. He attended his first audition at the age of sixteen and began his career in 2007 with guest appearances on the shows Home and Away and McLeod's Daughters. The week of 8 July 2007, Hemsworth began filming episodes for Neighbours, an Australian soap opera his brother Luke had previously starred in. Hemsworth's character, Josh Taylor, was a recurring character from 2007 to 2008. In the show, Josh was an athletic paraplegic who supported and began a relationship with character Bridget Parker after she was paralysed down one side of her body in a car crash. In 2008, Hemsworth began acting on the children's television show The Elephant Princess, playing "Marcus", the lead guitarist of the protagonist's band. Hemsworth later had roles in the television series Satisfaction and starred in the British film Triangle. He also made a brief appearance as an MIT student in the film Knowing.

In 2009, Hemsworth was selected to act opposite Sylvester Stallone in Stallone's 2010 film, The Expendables, but his character was written out of the script (Hemsworth later co-starred in The Expendables 2). Hemsworth's brother, Chris, told Movieline that just a few hours after Hemsworth learned he would not appear in The Expendables, director Kenneth Branagh called to ask him to test for the lead role in the 2011 film Thor. Hemsworth moved to the States in March 2009 for screen tests. Though he eventually lost the part to Chris in May, Disney announced later the same week that Hemsworth had landed the part of Will Blakelee in the 2010 drama The Last Song, based on the Nicholas Sparks novel by the same name. Hemsworth plays the love interest of Miley Cyrus's character in the film. Nikki Finke reported that Hemsworth had been in Los Angeles for just three weeks and had not yet found an agent when he was cast. Hemsworth next appeared in the music video for Cyrus' "When I Look at You" which was recorded on 16 August 2009.

In September 2009, Hemsworth appeared at a dinner event to promote Foxtel, an Australian pay television company. In March 2010, Details magazine selected Hemsworth as one of their predictions for "The Next Generation of Hollywood's Leading Men". Later that month, it was announced that Hemsworth was in negotiations to star in Arabian Nights, a 3D action film that will be directed by Chuck Russell for Inferno Entertainment. It was later confirmed that he will be starring in the movie. He has also reportedly been offered the lead role in Northern Lights after Taylor Lautner withdrew from the David Ellison-financed project.

Hemsworth was the Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards 2010 host. He and Miley Cyrus won the "Fave Kiss" category.

Hemsworth starred in the music video for "Colder Weather" by the Zac Brown Band.

2011–present

On 4 April 2011, Lionsgate announced Hemsworth to be one of the leads, Gale Hawthorne, in The Hunger Games, which was released in 2012. In June 2011, he became attached to war drama Love and Honor which also stars Aimee Teegarden and Teresa Palmer.

In 2013, Hemsworth appeared in Empire State, with Emma Roberts, and Paranoia, co-starring Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman and Amber Heard.

He reprised his role, Gale Hawthorne, in three sequels to The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, released in November 2013, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, released in November 2014, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, released in November 2015.

On 11 June 2012, Los Angeles-based non-profit organization Australians in Film announced that Hemsworth would be honoured at an exclusive benefit dinner on 27 June 2012 in Hollywood. Hemsworth attended the invitation only event, held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City, with his then fiancée Miley Cyrus. It was their first public appearance together as an engaged couple. In 2015, Hemsworth portrayed the love interest of Kate Winslet's character in the Australian literary adaptation The Dressmaker, which was filmed in Victoria in the summer of 2014. In 2016, Hemsworth starred in director Roland Emmerich's 2016 film Independence Day: Resurgence.

Personal life

While filming The Last Song in June 2009, Hemsworth began a relationship with his co-star Miley Cyrus. After three years of having an on-again, off-again relationship, the couple announced their engagement in June 2012. They lived together in Los Angeles but ended their engagement in September 2013. In July 2014, Hemsworth noted that he and Cyrus would "always be best friends" and they had "an instantaneous and powerful connection." Rumors began in early 2016, stemming primarily from sightings of the couple together at his Malibu home and the reappearance of the engagement ring on Cyrus. Miley Cyrus confirmed in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in October 2016 that they were, once again, engaged.

Hemsworth is the ambassador of the Australian Childhood Foundation. Hemsworth talked about his association with the foundation, "I have the best parents you can have. They have worked in child protection for twenty years and have only ever given me encouragement and support. The world is a scary enough place as it is for children. It is important that home should always be a safe place for them." When asked if he believed he was a hero to children, Liam said he did not know, but that he would like to be a good role model.

Hemsworth is vegan and told Men's Fitness that he found "no negatives to eating like this. I feel nothing but positive, mentally and physically." He was named PETA's Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity of 2016.

Awards and nominations

On 27 June 2012, Liam Hemsworth was presented with the Australians in Film Breakthrough Award for international success.