Chris Hemsworth says leaving Los Angeles for Australia was his “greatest decision”

Mackenzie Garcia February 25, 2026

Chris Hemsworth says leaving the US was the ‘greatest decision’ he’s made (Photo by JB Lacroix/WireImage)

Chris Hemsworth has said leaving Los Angeles and returning to Australia with his family was the “greatest decision” he has made.

Speaking on Monday’s episode of the Smartless podcast, the actor reflected on his decision to move away from the United States around the time his twin sons, Sasha and Tristan, were born. Hemsworth and his wife, Elsa Pataky, also share a daughter, India Rose.

“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, you know?” he said. “Like nothing was shooting there. We were filming kind of everywhere else.”

He added: “And then… you’d come home and paparazzi and all the sort of the trappings of, you know, living in that space.”

The family relocated in 2014 to Byron Bay on the northern coast of New South Wales. They purchased a reported $7 million estate, later rebuilding it into a six-bedroom property featuring a media room, gym, spa and games room.

Hemsworth said the change in lifestyle has had a significant impact. “You know, when you come back from work, you wanna go on a holiday? Like coming home for me is — it feels like a holiday. We have a big farm and horses and motorbikes and surf,” he explained.

He also drew comparisons to his own upbringing in Melbourne alongside his brothers, Liam and Luke Hemsworth. “We lived about 20 minutes from, like, the main sort of suburban areas in Melbourne up in the hills,” he said. “And the nearest neighbor was a kilometer or two away.”

“It was just all bushland and rainforest sort of set up around us,” he added, noting that outdoor adventures helped shape his early interest in acting.

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