Liam Hemsworth

Twenty-year-old Liam Hemsworth won’t be able to get away with using the ID of his older brother, actor Chris Hemsworth, to get into Los Angeles bars anymore. At least not now that the movie adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’s novel The Last Song has landed in theaters. The younger Hemsworth moved to L.A. from his native Australia soon after landing the role of Miley Cyrus’s love interest in the tween romantic drama, but, thankfully, it’s the surf and the sea rather than the bars that have Hemsworth excited about the City of Angels. “I go down to Newport and Huntington a lot,” he says. “It’s more crowded than where I grew up on Phillip Island, but I think it’s helped me adjust to life in America—getting into the water as much as I can.” It was failure rather than success that led Hemsworth to make his big move away from Australia, where he appeared on television shows such as Neighbours and The Elephant Princess, to Hollywood. He originally came to L.A. to audition for the lead role in Thor, which ironically went to his brother Chris. But Hemsworth landed his role in The Last Song a month later when producers fell for his square jaw and washboard abs. It’s fitting that his Hollywood breakthrough was spurred on by sibling rivalry: That’s what got him into acting in the first place. “I saw my brother doing it,” he says, “and I thought I could do it better.”

Photo: Liam Hemsworth in Los Angeles, February 2010. All clothing: Calvin Klein Collection. Grooming products: Kérastase Paris, including mousse nutri-sculpt. Fragrance: Calvin Klein Man. Styling: Moses/margaret maldonado agency. Hair: Maranda for Kérastase paris/www.the MagnetAgency.com. Makeup: Darlene Jacobs/Frank Reps. Special Thanks: Siren Studios.