The third Hemsworth brother finally gets his moment in the spotlight
"I'm the short, dumb brother," Luke Hemsworth (centre) has joked of his famous siblings. Photo: Getty
Hollywood has long celebrated two Hemsworth brothers, while a third, equally worthy brother has languished off-camera. Until now.
Luke Hemsworth, the 36-year-old older brother to heavyweights Liam, 27, and Chris, 33, is quietly staging a Hollywood uprising of his own after nabbing a role in hit HBO series Westworld.
The eldest son of Leonie, a teacher, and Craig, a social services counsellor, Luke was actually the first in his family to go into acting and the reason Luke and Chris decided to pursue their careers.
“I’m the short, dumb brother,” he joked in a 2015 interview with Fox News.
“In a lot of ways Chris and Liam are definitely worlds ahead of me in terms of the entertainment industry and the experience it brings, which I’m more than happy to concede to.
“I take their [Chris and Liam’s] advice, but as their older brother a part of me also says, ‘Oh, shut up.'”
While his brothers nabbed roles in international blockbusters like The Avengers and The Hunger Games, Luke stuck to smaller roles in Australian productions like Neighbours and Blue Heelers.
Although he studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Hemsworth knew he had to have a back-up plan and started his own timber-flooring business for financial security.
“I don’t think I ever saw acting as an actual career, until late,” he told The Independent.
“That’s why I went down the road of getting a trade and doing flooring and supporting myself that way, because I never really saw coming to Los Angeles as an option.”
He’s admitted to relying on the generosity of his younger brothers to get a foot in the door, crediting Chris with getting him his first Hollywood gig – as Chris’s personal trainer on the set of Thor: The Dark World.
However, his role in the critically-acclaimed Westworld means the father of four has become a household name in his own right.
Hemsworth plays Ashley Stubbs, who is a main character on the sci-fi western show about a futuristic theme park where sinister things start happening.
He holds his own alongside big name actors like Ed Harris, Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood and James Marsden.
Next up, Hemsworth plays the lead character in the film Hickok, starring alongside Bruce Dern and Kris Kristofferson as a gun-toting lawman tasked with taming an out-of-control town.
Although brother Chris has moved his young family back to Australia, taking up residence in Byron Bay, Luke is currently living in Malibu, California, with his wife Samantha and their four children.
“I live by the beach, go surfing, take walks, get coffee and do really boring stuff most of the time,” he told Entertainment Tonight.
“I’m not going out to clubs and all that. I have a routine and life that I stick to and that helps normalise it, because it’s not a normal job. And the kids are the most important thing. Nothing else matters.”
