Chris Hemsworth, best known for playing Thor in the Marvel franchise, said moving his family out of Los Angeles and back to Australia was the best decision he has ever made. He made the remarks during an appearance on the SmartLess podcast hosted by Jason Bateman and Will Arnett.

The 42-year-old actor explained that he and his wife decided to relocate around the time their sons were born. Hemsworth said much of his work was no longer centered in California. “It was right around the time my boys were born, and it was just, we kind of were set up in L.A. and not enjoying it,” he said. “Nothing was shooting there. We were filming kind of everywhere else.”

California’s film and television production has declined in recent years as studios increasingly take advantage of tax incentives offered by other states and foreign countries. Hemsworth suggested this shift influenced his decision to move.

He also cited the pressures of celebrity life in Los Angeles, including constant paparazzi attention and crowded neighborhoods. “You’d come home and paparazzi and all the sort of trappings of living in that space,” Hemsworth said.

By contrast, he described life in Australia as peaceful and restorative. “You know, when you come back from work, you wanna go on a holiday? Coming home for me feels like a holiday,” he said. “We have a big farm and horses and motorbikes and surf.”

Hemsworth also credited his upbringing in Australia, surrounded by bushland and rainforest, with inspiring his interest in acting. “It was just all bushland and rainforest sort of set up around us. We would just have outdoors adventures and playing different characters. And I think that’s, to be honest, where the sort of intrigue or interest into that transportation into another,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has criticized California’s declining film production and previously threatened a 100% tariff on movies made outside the United States to bolster domestic filmmaking. “California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit!” Trump wrote in September 2025. “Therefore, in order to solve this long-time, never-ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States.”