Liam Hemsworth (born 13 January 1990 in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian actor.
Hemsworth got his start in Australian television, holding roles on Neighbours and The Elephant Princess, among others. He soon broke out into the American film industry, appearing in movies like Knowing and The Last Song.
He's perhaps best known as Gale Hawthorne in the Hunger Games film series, starring in all four movies of the franchise, opposite Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson. He's since appeared in other action films like The Expendables 2, Paranoia, and Independence Day: Resurgence.
His older brothers are actors Chris Hemsworth and Luke Hemsworth, and after seven years of being in an (on-and-off) relationship with Miley Cyrus, whom he met while filming The Last Song, they got married on Christmas 2018, but divorced in 2020.
Selected filmography:
- Neighbours (2007) as Josh Taylor
- The Elephant Princess (2008-09) as Marcus
- Satisfaction (2009) as Marc
- Knowing (2009) as Spencer
- Triangle (2009) as Victor
- The Last Song (2010) as Will Blakelee
- The Hunger Games (2012) as Gale Hawthorne
- The Expendables 2 (2012) as Billy "The Kid" Timmons
- Paranoia (2013) as Adam Cassidy
- Cut Bank (2014) as Dwayne McLaren
- The Dressmaker (2015) as Ted McSwiney
- The Muppets (2015) as himself
- Workaholics (2016) as Cushing Ward
- Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) as Jake Morrison
- Isn't It Romantic (2019) as Blake
- The Witcher (TBA) as Geralt of Rivia; replacing original actor Henry Cavill from the fourth season onwards
He provides examples of the following tropes:
- Advertised Extra: For The Hunger Games he was given prominent billing and usually did interviews alongside the film's two leads — Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson - despite not featuring in the film past the first act. This was because Gale becomes more prominent in the sequels, where his screen time justifies such high billing.
- Deleted Role: He was cast in The Expendables but the character was dropped from the script before filming even began. He later appeared in the second film.
- Enforced Method Acting: Jennifer Lawrence trolled him for the Mockingjay film — by eating fish and garlic before their kissing scenes to make them realistically awkward.
- Fake American: As with most Aussies who break into Hollywood, he plays this more than his own nationality.
- The Other Darrin: He replaced Henry Cavill as Geralt in The Witcher starting with the fourth season.
- Romance on the Set: He met Miley Cyrus while filming The Last Song, and has been romantically involved with her since; after breaking up and making up several times, they got married on Christmas of 2018, but separated again in August 2019 and divorced in 2020.
- Sibling Rivalry: With older brother Chris. Knives were apparently involved on several occasions, and both brothers had to be physically restrained from killing each other when their parents (who were the only ones who could handle them) went to Europe.
- Star-Making Role: Despite it being a bit part, Gale Hawthorn in the first The Hunger Games movie immediately rocketed him to household name status, coupled with his brother's own star-making role a year earlier. He received a bigger role in the sequels.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: The only one of the Hemsworth brothers to be of this trope, considering his 6'3" height and brown hair, compared to the 5'9" Luke and the blond 6'2" Chris.
- What Could Have Been: He auditioned for Thor and got as far as being screen-tested. His brother ultimately got the part.
