Chris Hemsworth went looking for trouble. And he found it.

While working on National Geographic’s Limitless, his new docuseries about pushing back on the natural decline that comes with time and aging, the star of Thor and Extraction underwent a battery of genetic tests to see what, if anything, the future might have waiting for him, etched into his very DNA. What he discovered, he says in the show, was “my biggest fear.”

His makeup includes two copies of the gene APOE4, one from his mother, the other from his father, which studies have linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. One in four people carry a single copy of the gene, but only 2 to 3% of the population have both, according to a 2021 study by the National Institutes of Health. 

In episode five of Limitless, the 39-year-old actor confronts what this means for him and his future. It’s not a hard diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, he emphasized in a new interview with Vanity Fair, but it is cause for concern, the double occurrence of the gene placing him in a category of much higher risk for being impacted by the condition. “My concern was I just didn’t want to manipulate it and overdramatize it, and make it into some sort of hokey grab at empathy, or whatever, for entertainment,” Hemsworth says. “It’s not like I’ve been handed my resignation.” 

If anything, he talks about the finding as a blessing. Hemsworth can begin taking steps to manage the risk, maintain physical and mental health, and perhaps stave off the development of the disorder for as long as possible. He’s dealing with it a number of ways—gallows humor among them.

It’s also made him reflective. Over the past decade, he has become a global superstar, bringing to life the God of Thunder in the Marvel Studios movies. He also got married to actress Elsa Pataky and they have three children who are growing up fast.

In this exclusive interview, he tells VF about how he’s looking to the future—and how the fear of losing it makes him value it more.

Vanity Fair: In the fifth episode of the show, “Memory,” you don’t get a diagnosis, but you got…a warning? How would you characterize it?

Chris Hemsworth: Yeah, they took all my bloodwork and did a bunch of tests and the plan was to on-camera tell me all the results and then talk about how you can improve this and that. And Peter Attia, who is the longevity doctor in that episode, and overseeing a lot of the show, called [show creator] Darren [Aronofsky] and said, “I don't want to tell him this on camera. We need to have an off-side conversation and see if he even wants this to be in the show.” It was pretty shocking because he called me up and he told me.

How did that go?

It was a pretty brief conversation, all things considered. I hung up the phone and my parents were there, at the time. They were like, “What was that about?” And I told them, and then they had a bunch of questions. I had a bunch of questions, but no one answered them. I wish I'd had a more intense follow-up with it because I didn't really know what to think. I was like, “Am I supposed to be worried? Is this concerning?”

This isn’t what you expected when you started?

The show, which initially was an exploration of longevity and, of course, should be fun, became even more relevant and important for me, even more poignant than I ever thought it would be. It was a really good catalyst to dive into everything I needed to be doing in either the prevention front or the management front or however you want to classify it. It's not a pre-deterministic gene, but it is a strong indication. Ten years ago, I think it was more thought of as determinant.

In the episode, Dr. Attia says it makes you eight to 10 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s in the future.

Yeah, it's like one in a thousand people…or one in 10,000. I can't remember. But eight to 10 times more likely. Since you told me that, I feel like my memory's getting worse. It's a placebo effect—or it's taking place! [Laughs]

Anytime you forget something it’s like, “Oh no, is this it?”

Yeah, it's my excuse now. 

You say later in the episode that this test was not a total surprise because your grandfather has Alzheimer’s. He’s still living though, right?

He is, yeah. I haven't seen him in a few years, but my other family members have and there's some days where he's quite joyful and gives you a big hug. But my mum was saying he's just a really friendly guy. I'm not sure he actually remembers much anymore and he slips in and out of Dutch, which is his original language, so he'll be talking Dutch and English and then a mash-up and then maybe some other new words as well.

Even though it’s a far-off prediction, it must be unsettling for you.

Yeah, there was an intensity to navigating it. Most of us, we like to avoid speaking about death in the hope that we'll somehow avoid it. We all have this belief that we'll figure it out. Then to all of a sudden be told some big indicators are actually pointing to this as the route which is going to happen, the reality of it sinks in. Your own mortality. 

The final episode of the series is not about extending life, but facing death.

I think that's my favorite episode. That's where I worked with the death doula and people who worked in palliative care and end of life care and then spoke to a number of people who were at the end of their days or coming upon them—even younger people that were diagnosed with cancer and didn't have long to live. For me, the positive of it was like, “Right, if I didn't know this [Alzheimer's] information, I wouldn't have made the changes I made.” I just wasn't aware of any of it, so now I feel thankful that I have in my arsenal the sort of tools to best prepare myself and prevent things happening in that way.

You said your parents and you had questions. Your brothers too? I assume everybody you’re closely related to has to be like, “Is this something I have too?”

It was confronting initially, but very quickly it became a self deprecating sort of joke, if you will. It's just the way I am, my family, there's a sense of humor. And such is life, so …

Was it comforting to know? To be able to prepare and try to counter it?

Like everything in the show I went, “Okay, great. I now have to work on this more.” If you look at Alzheimer's prevention, the benefit of preventative steps is that it affects the rest of your life. When you have preposition to cardiovascular heart disease, cancer, anything—it's all about sleep management, stress management, nutrition, movement, fitness. It's all kind of the same tools that need to be applied in a consistent way.

By being public with it, does it tell other people, “These tests are out there. Maybe you’ll want to get checked?”

I was offered a version of the episode where we didn't talk about it, and for the exact reason you are mentioning now, I thought, “No, look, if this is a motivator for people to take better care of themselves and also understand that there are steps you can take—then fantastic.” My concern was I just didn't want to manipulate it and overdramatize it, and make it into some sort of hokey grab at empathy or whatever for entertainment.

You have little kids. Did you tell them about it, or do you figure that’s something to discuss when they are older?

I don't think they could have grasped the concept or have the understanding, so no. But again, like you said, it's not like I've been handed my resignation and this is what it is—and it's up in a few months. It's not quite that situation, thankfully. One day I'm sure I'll bring it up. They probably want to test themselves and [find out,] “Are you in the category that's going to be sensitive to this or not?”

One of the themes of the show is that living well, having adventures, being bold, taking chances, mixing up your life can extend the years you have. But even if it doesn’t, this is a way to make the time you do have count more.

Yeah, absolutely. Live with as big a sense of gratitude and love for life as you can.

Don’t delay that trip.

Just do it because you don't know when your time's up, you don't know what tomorrow holds, so live it to its fullest. Whether or not any of this information helps you live longer, it's about living better right now. Whatever you do right now to benefit your future self is having a huge benefit in your current self. 

It is way more widely acceptable to talk about health and wellness than it was when I was growing up, when I was in high school. There's way more science and awareness of it and there's a greater enthusiasm for it. I think far more people are healthier now than we've ever been.

Really? You think so?

There's far more attention given to it. Who was wearing an Oura Ring and talking about their sleep habits 10 years ago? Gym memberships are much higher now than they've been. I think it's from wider education about health, but maybe it's one of the benefits of how we interact constantly. We're sort of seen by more people and maybe people have felt, “Well, I want to look my best.”

I don't know. That feels like a superficial way of looking at it. But I'm trying to pull positive from any of it. Plenty of people who, due to having their social media platforms, want to show the best version of themselves, they're out training more and being healthier. If that's what it takes, then best of luck to you. And again, I'm not saying that's why you go and do it, but I feel like there's a wider conversation in the health and wellness space than there's ever been.

If you’re working out all the time, doing it for clicks, I guess you’re still getting in physical shape. But your show also seems to have a message that this device is bad for our brains. [Taps phone]

Yeah, very.

Obsessing on it and fixating on it. I’ve tried to tune out of social media myself. Just how much of my life was spent on it?

Isn't it funny the way you kind of defend it like an addict? It's like, "Oh no, but I'm only doing emails," or “I'm only checking this.” You're refreshing each feed and then looking at other bullshit and before you know it, you're down the rabbit hole of social media and then getting caught up in the random commentary and comments from the world and people's opinions. And we've never been exposed to opinions en masse before.

It’s like those horror movies where the person can read minds but they read everybody’s mind at once.

Yeah, that's right.. I'm the same. I try to limit my usage these days, but it's funny when I'm working, it's so hard to do. I go home after this, and I'm having a good chunk of downtime. I might get a new number for that period. Or just put the phone in a drawer and look at it once a day.

Did doing the show and going through these experiences focused on longevity change the way you plan your own future? 

One hundred percent. I'm just at the point of my life where I'm meeting with different directors and [people say] “Oh yeah, look, he's a mad genius. He's mad, but he's a genius and he'll make great films.” I'm like, “Is that who I want to spend my days with?” Four months, five months of shooting and then you've got press and possible reshoots and so on.

Now, if something's going to pull me away from my family and my kids, it's got to be a positive, constructive, collaborative experience. I shot with George Miller on the new prequel to Fury Road, part of the Mad Max saga, and I said to my agent said, “That's where I want to spend my work hours; with someone who is kind and collaborative and interesting.”

He is known for being kind.

And a genius—but not the mad type. One that is very aware of how his energy affects others, and how he has the power to make your day fantastic or shitty, and chooses for it to be a positive experience. The whole crew, everyone is in a better mood. It baffles me that some people in that position don't understand that.

Is the character you’re playing a secret?

Yeah. He's a very complicated, somewhat evil individual.

Is it good to be in a good mood when you’re playing evil?

Yeah, you don't believe you're evil though. I'm saying that from the outset, I found ways to defend his actions and empathize and understand him as I had to. That was my job. But yeah, there's a light and a darkness to him that I haven't played with before.

Do you find yourself working less now? Being more choosy in the roles you take?

For sure. I felt like I'd been in a sprint for 10 years, and all these moments that were dream scenarios would fly by. Moments that I should have been stepping back and going, "Wow, this is incredible," I was inundated with other kinds of requests and asks and being pulled in different directions. [I was] not really kind of enjoying what was right in front of me.

Did the show play a role in making you see this?

Doing an episode on death and facing your own mortality made me go, “Oh God, I'm not ready to go yet.” I want to sit and be in this space with a greater sense of stillness and gratitude. And then you start talking about kids and family and going, “Oh my God, they're getting older, they're growing up and I keep slapping another movie on top of another movie.” Before you know it, they're 18 and they've moved out of house, and I missed the window.

It really triggered something in me to want to take some time off. And since we finished the show, I've been completing the things I was already contracted to do. Now when I finish this tour this week, I'm going home and I'm going to have a good chunk of time off and just simplify. Be with the kids, be with my wife.

What’s home like? I read that you grew up with a lot of wilderness around. Do you still have that?

Yeah, we do. We live on about 11 acres along the coast, and then we have a big farm nearby with a bunch of horses on it. And my kids are as outdoorsy and adventurous as they come. It's about trying to keep up with them these days. We're very, very lucky.

Is it hard to keep the kids off of screens?

When my kids are home, they're still wanting to use the iPad and that's always a battle. But it's like we have a lot of things to keep them busy, motorbike riding, horse riding, surfing, skating. But when we go on a film set or we travel through Europe and we're staying in hotels and we don't have access to the wilderness, they very quickly sink into that lifestyle, which is sugar, TV, video games. How can they not? 

Professionally, what kind of things do you want to do that you haven’t done? I know you have a production company now, Wild State. You’ve produced Extraction 2, are you looking to do more producing for yourself?

Yeah, we have a set-up with National Geographic in the unscripted space and the plan is I'd like to do more in the documentary space as well. Whether I'm in front of the camera or behind, I think the collaborative experience was great. Producing and not just acting in it. but being able to contribute with the writing and the scheduling, the location sourcing and the casting, the whole thing. Even the editorial process, I love. You learn more and more with every film and I feel like I'm at a point in my life where I have a bit more to say, but I've earned that right to say it.

I looked back at your filmography and was like, “Wait, [2009’s] Star Trek was his first big screen role?”

Yeah.

I feel like you’ve been around longer than that.

No, I'd done a soap opera and a couple of TV shows.

Are there regrets? Anything you wish you hadn’t done or put time into?

I mean, there's good and bad films in my library there. There's a part of me that wants to cross some of them off the list but, none of them I regret. I say that tongue in cheek. I feel like I've learned something from each experience, whether it be: “Don't do that again," or "I had a great time on that film, but the film didn't work.” It's always a different scenario. No matter how much work you do and how much you put into it, you just never know. 

There's something comforting in that, I find. If there was a positive collaboration then, hey, if people show up that weekend or not, it'll still sting—but you did your part. I feel [in the past] like I would be concentrating too much on the things I couldn't control and the outcome of it.

You obsessed too much on that?

Oh yeah, for sure. You're watching the box office the weekend it works—or it doesn't—watching the reviews and all.

As though watching the reaction will make the box office go up.

Absolutely, trying to will it to accumulate. [Laughs] I think I'm better at letting go once I've done my part and the process is finished. 

Are there types of stories you would like to act in or produce for yourself? Sometimes people say, “I really want to do a musical, or I really want to do a Western.”

I like the intimacy of a smaller, more grounded piece. I like the fact that I'm not learning fight choreography or wearing a heavy costume which is uncomfortable and making me want to pull my hair out. But I've also been very lucky, like in Furiosa, to have a very intimate character storyline in amongst a bigger setting.

It's not so much what I want to do as much as who I want to work with. And then the joy to develop a character from nothing, and have a wealth of understanding, knowledge, and backstory. Then you get on the field and it's all instinct. That for me is the fun part. 

I'd love to do a love story, though. A drama.

Not a rom-com?

Nah, I feel like I've done that. We had a go with that. There was Love and Thunder, [laughs] a chaotic kind of film.

Is there more Thor in your future?

I don't know. I think there'd be more to say if the people want to hear me say it.

I believe Marvel promised more with the end of Love and Thunder.

Yeah, I think they always do. Look, I'm completely open to it, if there is something unique and fresh and unexpected to do with the character and the world. I've always loved the experience. I've been very thankful I've been able to do something different each time.

You're the only one of the original Avengers who got four solo movies.

Yeah, I know.

Iron Man got a conclusion. Captain America got a conclusion. Are you hoping that there'll be a conclusion for Thor?

Yeah, for sure. I feel like we'd probably have to close the book if I ever did it again, you know what I mean? I feel like it probably warrants that. I feel like it'd probably be the finale, but that's not based on anything anyone's told me or any sort of plans. You have this birth of a hero, the journey of a hero, then the death of a hero, and I don't know—am I at that stage? Who knows?

What else is on the horizon? You have the Centr wellness app, right? So you’re a tech mogul as well?

We started that about four years ago and it was birthed through just the accumulation of knowledge I had around health and fitness—and being inundated with people asking me, “How'd you get fit? How'd you do this? How'd you do that?” And I thought I could create a platform and bring aboard all of these folks that have helped me bring out the best version of myself, and share that with a large audience.

It's been really fulfilling. People say they love the films, and so on, but when someone comes up and says I've changed their life and they've lost weight they never thought they would, or got in better shape than they've ever been in, it's fantastic. Not just the physical but the emotional state dramatically changes and [people] have a better outlook on life. 

Is that a question you get all the time? “How do I get ripped like Thor?”

Yeah, or just how do I lose weight, or how do I get more muscle, or just people wanting to change.

We spoke on the set of Infinity War and I noticed, “This is the only one of the Avengers who has weights in the trailer.”

[Laughs] Yeah…

Playing the part is pretty demanding, isn’t it?

Oh, for sure. It's exhausting. You have a cheat day as far as you need time to repair. It's just as important. But then once that first meal's out of the way and you've eaten all those donuts and pizza, you feel horrendous. So, I'm a little smarter with my cheat day. It becomes a cheat meal now just because I usually don't feel great afterwards. It seems like a great idea at the time.

I think people sometimes misunderstand and see an actor who’s in peak physical condition for a movie and they think, “Well, that must be how they are all the time.”

Or it's just seen as vanity as opposed to art. If I put on a bunch of unhealthy weight [for a role] or take off a bunch of weight to an unhealthy state, there's a different sort of opinion or amount of respect that comes with it. Whereas, always playing that character, I was seen as a body builder. I felt like I've had to work harder to go, “Oh no, I'm an actor and I love the art form and it's a creative outlet,” and so on.

I probably haven't done myself any favors in that department by having a health or fitness app. I just kind of accepted that and went with it. There's a ton of injuries and just the exhaustion and so on, but I had big shoes to fill, as far as what the character looked like, and the physicality of it.

I’ve heard this from others. Hugh Jackman has talked about the challenges of playing a superhuman, and the way he had to eat and push himself. Is there a part of you that can’t wait to let yourself go? Or at least be less regimented?

The discipline to it is like—you need to be obsessive about it. And at times it breeds insanity. You're counting calories, and is there oil in that or butter? What's in there? Dressing on the side? There's a militant approach that you have. But I don't know, I feel like over the years I've gotten the swing of it.

It's become second nature now. And as I said before, every time I've got to an end of a film like, “Oh, I can't wait to do nothing,” but within three or four days, I'm sitting around, I've eaten a bunch of shitty food and I'm like, “Ugh, my back hurts and I'm tired and I've got no energy,” and I'm like, so I'm glad I know what it feels like to have a little more discipline and I know the positive effects it has on me.

Does acting still excite you? Is it the kind of thing you want to keep doing or do you see yourself thinking, Maybe I’ll open a winery?

It does excite me. I'm going to recharge now and just not be so focused on the future—and what's next? And what else is coming? And what haven't I done? I'm in a state of, not passive, but a little more surrendering to [the idea that] things are as they are. I don't mean that in a sort of apathetic way, but there's a stillness to my thinking about it all now.

I can talk to you for hours about what I want to do, but it doesn't fill my head 24/7 like it used to. That's not out of having lost any of the passion for it, it's just a sense of contentment, and with being very proud of what I've done and the experiences I've had. I welcome whatever comes next.

But it's nice to sit now without the urgency or the anxiety of: “Quick! I need a job!” Or, “What if they don't give you another opportunity? What if this is the last one?”

Is that thinking necessary to succeed?

In order to get into this business, there's a desperation to it. There are a lot of nos, the odds are against you, so you need to be obsessive about it. And then you get to a point of achieving those things and the obsessive nature is still there. That's when it gets a little troublesome. That's when I think you're running past what you've thought was the dream scenario. I think I just want to, day by day, simplify again.

Being in these epic-sized movies is still going to be hard.

Yeah, I think it's enjoyable when I'm rested and I'm prepared. When I've gone from one to another straight off the back of each one, then it's exhausting and you kind of forget why you're doing it. I'm excited to do things in a more limited sort of—not limited, what's the word? 

Curated?

Curated. In a more curated way. I felt a sense of guilt when I would say no to a film before. There was a part of me that was like, “Who do you think you are? You've never had this opportunity and here it is! You're going to let it go and pass you by?” Now I'm much more comfortable saying no and much more at ease with it all. I'm very thankful for that. I'm glad I'm not having this conversation 20 years from now and my kids have grown up and left my home.

Thinking, “I wish I'd done things differently?”

I've had older, very experienced directors go, “Don't do what I did.” They talk about their kids having grown up—and they missed it. What was interesting about it was, they were admitting the fault—but at the same time, they were still on set, still doing it. There's an addictive quality to it, I think, about being in the mix and being a part of the chase and being part of the adrenaline that comes with all of it.

People ultimately do what they want, even if later it isn't what they wish they had done.

Yeah, you can simultaneously still be doing the same thing knowing it's wrong but have no intention to change it either.  It's like, “I know it's not right, but…”

I'm not talking about retiring by any means, but like you said: it's a more curated approach to things.