Everything to Know About Birthday Boy Chris Hemsworth

He Started on Aussie Soaps

Before moving to the U.S. and landing a role in 2009's Star Trek reboot, Australian-born Chris Hemsworth, 40 today, found fame on the Down Under show Home and Away (Isla Fisher once starred in it, too).

"I spent three-and-a-half years on the show. You shoot 20 scenes a day, five episodes a week, so you sink or swim," he told the Herald Sun. "If you can make it in that kind of environment, a movie set, where you have two or three days to do a scene and months to prepare, feels like a luxury."

He Modeled (and Babysat!) Too

Fame didn't come right away for Hemsworth once he arrived in the States; after Star Trek he was out of work for a year — during which time he babysat — before landing another role. However, his good looks kept him going, helping him land modeling gigs. As Kenneth Branagh once said, the 2014 Sexiest Man Alive is "built like a concrete shipyard and looks very fetching with his shirt off."

He Has His Brother to Thank for His Career

No, not Liam. His other brother, Luke. He was the one who got his younger sibs into the business, after landing a role on the Aussie series Neighbours.

"Until then I'd had a different idea every week [about my career]," Hemsworth told the Herald Sun. "One week I was going to be a professional boxer, the next a football player or surfer or lawyer or doctor … Then Luke was doing Neighbours and I thought, 'Yeah, that would be cool, I want to be an actor.' "

He Loves to Surf

If he's getting snapped by the paparazzi, chances are it's because he's hitting the beach. "I'd nearly always rather be surfing," the actor — who's often spotted catching waves with brother Liam — told Esquire.

He Married the Love of His Life

Though Hemsworth has a knack for keeping his private life private, his affection for his wife of 10-plus years, Spanish actress Elsa Pataky, needs no words. Even on the craziest of red carpets, their love is apparent.

He's Thor

His credits include 2013's Rush, 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman and 2016's Ghostbusters, but up to this point, the actor is most recognizable for his role as Marvel's superhuman hero Thor.

And though his on-screen persona is larger than life, "He's a great guy," costar Natalie Portman has said. "He's very easy to be around. It's definitely not something we needed to work at and I think that says so much about him."

His Brood Comes First

"Being a father is certainly a task," Hemsworth told PEOPLE in 2013. "But the best one that I could ever ask for." His taskmasters? Daughter India, 11, and twin sons Tristan and Sasha, 9 (pictured).