Honesty really does pay off.

An American teenager has been rewarded for returning Chris Hemsworth's wallet, which the Australian actor lost while he was dining with his family in a "rough" area of Los Angeles.

"I left my wallet on the table, and thought I'm never going to get it back, I'm never going to see it again," Hemsworth said on the The Ellen Show on Monday.

A photo posted by Ellen (@theellenshow) on Apr 18, 2016 at 12:17pm PDT

That forgotten wallet was a surprise discovery for 17-year-old Tristin Budzyn-Baker, who was shocked to find who it actually belonged to. "I looked up at my mom, and was like 'mom, do you know who this is?'" Budzyn-Baker said. "We found Thor's wallet."

Budzyn-Baker then wrote a letter to Hemsworth's management saying that he found the Australian actor's wallet, while sneaking in a request for tickets The Ellen Show for his mom, which Hemsworth was due to appear on shortly.

Budzyn-Baker got tickets to The Ellen Show as a reward for his honesty and was seated in the audience with his mom as Hemsworth retold the story. The teenager later joined Hemsworth on stage to receive even more of a bonus for his good deed.

"I expected [the wallet] was going to be empty, and all the cash was in there, so I want to give you the cash — there's a little extra in there," Hemsworth said, handing over a wad of cash to a thrilled Budzyn-Baker.

It didn't stop there, Hemsworth also wrote a special letter of recommendation for Budzyn-Baker, a boy scout, for his bid to earn the top scouting rank Eagle Scout. Then host Ellen DeGeneres decided to reward the grateful teenager by giving Budzyn-Baker a further US$10,000 (A$12,833).

"You're an amazing young man, and thank you for being such a honest guy," DeGeneres said. Not a bad prize pool for stumbling across a random wallet.

It's proof that honesty is the best policy.

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