Chris Hemsworth did a lot of "soul searching" when he struggled to get a job.
Chris Hemsworth
The Australian actor worried things wouldn't "work out" when work dried up after his initial Hollywood breakthrough in 2009's 'Star Trek' and with every unsuccessful audition, his anxiety grew.
He said: "I got a job pretty quick when I got to Hollywood so I was very fortunate in that sense.
"Then I didn't work for a while and I started to think it might not work out...
"It was hard. I mean, I had a huge amount of anxiety when I was auditioning and that just got worse and worse the more I heard the word no.
"I did a lot of soul searching on a number of occasions, where I asked myself, 'Why am I doing this? What's my motivation to put myself through this."
But Chris - who has daughter India, seven, and twins Sasha and Tristan, five, with wife Elsa Pataky - was determined to continue so that he could provide for his family.
Asked if he found the answer to his questions, he told heat magazine: "To be honest, it was to look after my family. I love acting but I needed to make sure I was taking care of them. I kept reminding myself of that."
The 'Avengers: Endgame' actor credits surfing for helping to keep his feelings of anxiety at bay.
He said: "doing sports and workouts makes me feel more balanced and centred in life. I also love surfing, which is probably my favourite activity.
"It keeps my feet on the ground.
"Being active is a way of clearing my head of the continuous bombardment of information and the social media universe, which makes a lot of people anxious. But a good workout or a day of surfing just puts me in a different mindset."
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