When the Australian actor Chris Hemsworth—you know, Thor—first hosted Saturday Night Live in 2015, he poked fun at the "challenges" he faced early in his career: "When I got to Hollywood, they said I'd never make it as an actor…I was too tall and too blond; my muscles were too big." He was joking, of course. Which turns out to be another thing he's good at (lest you forgot last summer's Ghostbusters). Hemsworth has more than 10 million Instagram followers, and a video of him lifting weights recently notched 23,000 thirsty comments. But he remains humble, a credit to his upbringing, he says, and also no doubt due to being the middle brother between siblings Luke and Liam. (You'll recognize Liam, of course, from The Hunger Games; Luke is now a regular on Westworld.) The 34-year-old Hemsworth—raised by his English-teacher mother and social-worker father—grew up splitting his time between Melbourne and the Outback, and he hopes to re-create those bucolic beginnings for his own family. Hemsworth and his wife, Spanish actress Elsa Pataky, returned Down Under a few years ago with their daughter, age five, and twin boys, age three. Here, Hemsworth—now mugging for Hugo Boss before taking up the hammer yet again in this fall's Thor: Ragnarok—explains why.

Chris Evans told me he has to shave his chest for Captain America. Does Thor shave his chest?

That's not one of my character-preparing jobs. I've had to wear extensions in my hair. That's where my powers come from.

Do you notice signs of aging onscreen?

[Laughs] No. I see more the signs of, "We stayed out a bit late that night. Or had a bit too much to drink." [Elsa] has La Mer moisturizer. She's always like, "You gotta put this on." As she begins to look younger and I look older, I'm starting to think she's got a point.

I read that you worked as a babysitter when you first got to Hollywood. True?

I lived in my manager's guest house and I used to babysit his kids a lot. I didn't really know what I was doing.

As a babysitter or as an actor?

Both. I remember running lines while I was babysitting. One of the kids was all of four or five. He said, "Why are you talking to yourself?" I tried to explain the insanity of it to him.

Your mom was an English teacher. What's a book she gave you that made a difference?

Dr. Seuss's Oh, the Places You'll Go! She gave it to me before I went to Hollywood. It was a book that we used to read a lot as kids, and it's got a profound message about the ups and downs in life. I think she was aware of that kind of unease in me.

You're so sensitive.

Yeah, mate. I'm quite heady. I spend a lot of time overthinking things. I've always had a sort of Jekyll-and-Hyde way of thinking. One side of me is like, "We're gonna conquer this thing." And the other side is like, "You'll never work again."

Tell us something we wouldn't expect about [Thor costar] Cate Blanchett.

She calls you on your shit straightaway. Which is intimidating. You walk in and you're doing all the usual polite chats, and she's like, "Chris, what are you doing? Really, that's the story you're gonna tell?" And you're like, "Shit, I'm not going to get away with anything with this lady. I have to drop the facade."

The leading-man facade?

Kind of. You know, she's Cate Blanchett, for God's sake! There's quite a feeling of wanting to impress her. She's like, "I'm a human being. Act normal." Before you know it, you're drinking and telling stories and cracking jokes. She has a wild sense of humor.

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When was the last time you were intimidated by another man?

The first time I really met Chris Pratt—and went on set with him and the Guardians—I was weirdly shaken. [Laughs] I don't know why. He's just so charismatic. And good at what he does.

Your wife is Spanish. You've been married for nearly seven years. Is it true you still don't speak the language?

I speak some Spanish. About 15 words.

Do you ever get the sense that she's talking about you?

Yes. When I hear my wife and my mother-in-law starting to quietly mumble something, I'll be like, "Guys, guys—I understand more than you think."

But you don't.

Of course not.

You once said that Hollywood is "set up to turn you into a complete narcissist." Is that why you moved home?

Everywhere you look [in L.A.], you're reminded of what you're a part of—or what you're not a part of. And everyone you meet is talking about the same thing all the time.

The business, you mean.

It's suffocating. It was getting tricky to leave the house because of the paparazzi. I just wanted my kids to have a different life—the outdoors lifestyle and camping and surfing that we had. Not to say you can't get that in California. But I feel if you're an actor, then it's hard to escape it.

You're the face of Boss Bottled Tonic. Did you get to smell it before you signed on?

They give you a list of the high and low notes. [Laughs] None of which I'm an expert on. But the one thing they told me is that apple strudel was the inspiration. It happens to be my wife's favorite dessert. She likes the fragrance. That's always a plus.

Last question: What are you reading?

I just read a great book called The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, by Mark Manson. It's a counterintuitive approach to happiness. It rang a bell in my head. I give too many fucks about a lot of things. Have a look. [Laughs] It's a gift from me to you.

This article originally appears in the September 2017 issue of ELLE.

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