Featured Image Credit: AFF/Alamy Stock Photo/ABC
Topics: Film and TV, Chris Hemsworth, Celebrity
Jess Hardiman
Topics: Film and TV, Chris Hemsworth, Celebrity
Chris Hemsworth may now be famous for his turn as the God of thunder, but before he was running around with a giant hammer, he also took on the equally glamorous performance of... a small town vet.
Watch him in action in the early TV role here:
Hemsworth, 39, is one of the biggest names in Hollywood when it comes to big budget action and superhero flicks, with credits in everything from Extraction and Star Trek to the Avengers franchise.
More recently, he also fronted Disney+ docu-series Limitless, exploring different ways humans can live longer and healthier lives – even making a shocking discovery about his own health in one episode.
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Earlier in his career, he rose to fame as Kim Hyde in popular Aussie soap Home and Away, which he starred in from 2004 to 2007.
But before that, he also had another little-known role on another Australian TV series, in which he played a new vet called George Whiteside.
The portrayal of the incoming animal doctor came in a 2003 episode of children’s series The Saddle Club, which was based on the books by Bonnie Bryant.
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It followed three best friends at the fictions Pine Hollow Stables, who were in training to compete in equestrian competitions.
Lara Jean Marshall, who played Lisa Atwood in the series, recently spoke out about Hemsworth’s small role on the show – remembering the lasting impression the ‘good-looking’ actor had made on her, despite only featuring in one episode.
She told Yahoo Lifestyle: “I just remember we were all just kind of in shock at how good-looking he was. He was just like, this blonde God.
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“It was only a guest star role for one episode, but he came on and he was being a vet and being caring to the horse and I think we all just kind of forgot our lines around him because he was just so gorgeous.”
She continued: “And then, of course, we'd all just be kind of drooling and he'd be like, 'I'm just getting away from you girls. Like, I need to move away from you'.”
Hemsworth recently announced he wanted to take some time off from acting after working on Limitless, having found he had two copies of the gene APOE4, which has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
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He explained that doing the series made him want to spend more time with his family, explaining: “It really triggered something in me to want to take some time off.
“And since we finished the show, I've been completing the things I was already contracted to do. Now when I finish this tour this week, I'm going home and I'm going to have a good chunk of time off and just simplify. Be with the kids, be with my wife.”
The actor said the show’s creators offered to do a version of the episode where they cut his own diagnosis, but he wanted to leave it in as a ‘motivator’ for others.