Liam Hemsworth
Liam Hemsworth (born 13 January 1990[1]) is an Australian actor. He played the roles of Josh Taylor in the soap opera Neighbours and Marcus in the children's television series The Elephant Princess. In American films, Hemsworth starred as Will Blakelee in The Last Song (2010), as Gale Hawthorne in The Hunger Games film series (2012–2015), and as Jake Morrison in Independence Day: Resurgence (2016).
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.[2][3][4] He has two older brothers, Chris Hemsworth and Luke Hemsworth, who are also actors.[5] His maternal grandfather is a Dutch immigrant, and his other ancestry is English, Irish, Scottish, and German.[6] 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."[7]
When Hemsworth was in year 8 high school, he and his family relocated to Phillip Island,[8] a small Australian island southeast of Melbourne where he spent much of his time there surfing with his brothers.[9] In March 2009, Hemsworth moved to the United States to pursue his acting career.[10] He and his brother Chris first stayed in the guest house of Chris's manager, William Ward,[11] before renting their own Los Angeles apartment.[7]
Career
2007–2010: Career beginnings
Prior to becoming an actor, Hemsworth laid floors for six months.[7] He began to seriously consider following his elder brothers' footsteps in high school by participating in school plays. Eventually, Hemsworth retained an agent.[9] He attended his first audition at the age of sixteen[12] and began his career in 2007 with guest appearances on the shows Home and Away and McLeod's Daughters.[13] The week of 8 July 2007, Hemsworth began filming episodes for Neighbours, an Australian soap opera his brother Luke had previously starred in.[14] 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.[15] In 2008, Hemsworth began acting on the children's television show The Elephant Princess, playing "Marcus", the lead guitarist of the protagonist's band.[13][16] Hemsworth later had roles in the television series Satisfaction and starred in the British film Triangle.[13] He also made a brief appearance as an MIT student in the film Knowing.[17]
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).[5] 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.[5] Hemsworth moved to the States in March 2009 for screen tests.[10] Though he eventually lost the role to Chris in May,[11] 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.[18] 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.[11] Hemsworth next appeared in the music video for Cyrus' "When I Look at You"[19] which was recorded on 16 August 2009.[20]
In September 2009, Hemsworth appeared at a dinner event to promote Foxtel, an Australian pay television company.[21] In March 2010, Details magazine selected Hemsworth as one of their predictions for "The Next Generation of Hollywood's Leading Men".[17] 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.[22] It was later confirmed that he will be starring in the movie.[23] He has also reportedly been offered the lead role in Northern Lights after Taylor Lautner withdrew from the David Ellison-financed project.[23]
Hemsworth was the Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards 2010 host. He and Miley Cyrus won the "Fave Kiss" category.[24]
Hemsworth starred in the music video for "Colder Weather" by the Zac Brown Band.[25]