Travis Fimmel

Travis Fimmel (born 15 July 1979) is an Australian actor and former model.

Fimmel began his prolific acting career by appearing in the music videos for Janet Jackson's song "Someone to Call My Lover" and "I'm Real" (original version) by Jennifer Lopez, both in 2001.

He studied under Ivana Chubbuck, the Hollywood acting coach of movie stars Brad Pitt and Jared Leto.

He took two years to pluck up the courage to audition for his first role, saying "half of acting is overcoming your fears [and] letting yourself be vulnerable in front of people".

Fimmel headed to the United States and was signed on the spot with agency LA Models in 2002 after walking into their office broke and barefoot.

Cast by Jennifer Starr, he became the first male in the world to secure a six-figure deal to model exclusively for Calvin Klein for a year, and the last to be personally contracted by the brand's eponymous designer.

He fronted CK's Crave men's fragrance campaign and modelled the brand's famous underwear.

It was reported that one of his London billboards had to be pulled down after complaints from an auto club of traffic congestion and accidents by 'rubbernecking' female drivers, but Fimmel insisted the story started with a rumour spread on the internet.

He was named one of the world's sexiest bachelors by America's People magazine in 2002 and at the time was regarded as "the most in-demand male model in the world".

It has been suggested by some journalists that Fimmel was the inspiration for Sex and the City heartthrob 'Jerry' Smith Jerrod.

Fimmel has appeared on multiple magazine covers, including Esquire, Rogue, Empire, At Large, Good Weekend, Numero Homme and America's TV Guide.

He turned down an offer from Australia's Seven Network to be a guest judge on the TV series Make Me A Supermodel.

He landed the title lead in The WB series Tarzan in 2003, described by CNN as one of the "five hottest things happening in entertainment right now", in which he did most of his own stunts.

In addition, he appeared in two television pilots: The WB's drama Rocky Point with Lauren Holly in 2005, and the Fox crime thriller Southern Comfort with Madeleine Stowe in 2006.

Fimmel has played a diverse range of characters on the small and big screens.

In 2008, he portrayed a murderer in the Australian movie Restraint and a party boy in Surfer, Dude with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.

Fimmel starred opposite Patrick Swayze in A&E's 2009 series The Beast.

He played rookie undercover FBI agent Ellis Dove partnered with a hardened veteran cop, Swayze's Charles Barker.

Production ceased after 13 episodes due to Swayze's death from pancreatic cancer.

In 2010, he portrayed a compassionate cowboy in Pure Country 2: The Gift and a forensic photographer in Australian horror film Needle, co-starring Ben Mendelsohn.

He depicted a talented classical pianist in Ivory, a "creative, edgy, out-of-the box" independent film that was an Official Selection in the 2010 Montreal World Film Festival and the Strasbourg International Film Festival.

Produced by Academy Award-winner Gray Frederickson and co-starring Martin Landau and Peter Stormare, Ivory "details the troubled lives of classical pianists at a major American conservatory as they confront personal and professional rivalry".

Fimmel played Helweg, a prison guard in the 2010 film The Experiment.

It was reported that the role originally went to Elijah Wood, who pulled out of shooting for reasons unknown, so Fimmel instead took the job.

The film is based on a real-life experiment on volunteers by Stanford University that was cut short after spinning out of control, with 'guards' exhibiting sadistic behaviour and 'prisoners' suffering depression.

He played fugitive Mason Boyle in two episodes of NBC's 2010 action-adventure Chase, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

He appeared in FX's TV pilot Outlaw Country in 2011 with Luke Grimes, described as a "modern drama set against the back drop of a southern organized crime family".

According to Variety, he plays a rugged, "hard-drinking gang member and the main character's best friend".

Fimmel played the lead in 2012's Harodim with Peter Fonda as a former intelligence officer trained in black ops tracking down the world's most wanted terrorist who is compromised by his own chain of command.

He co-starred with Billy Bob Thornton and Eva Longoria in the 2012 redneck Southern comedy flick The Baytown Outlaws, playing one of the three hapless Oodie brothers who bites off more than he can chew when he agrees to help a woman get her godson back from her deadbeat ex-husband.

Fimmel was signed as the lead character for four seasons in the critically acclaimed drama television series Vikings, co-starring Alexander Ludwig, Katheryn Winnick, Gabriel Byrne, Gustaf Skarsgard, and Linus Roache.

He is known for his role as Ragnar Lothbrok in the History Channel television series Vikings (2013–2017), and as Anduin Lothar in the live-action adaptation of Warcraft (2016).

Premiering in 2013, the show gained a cult following and chronicles "the extraordinary and ferocious world of the mighty Norsemen who raided, traded and explored during The Middle Ages."

He also starred in the HBO Max science fiction series Raised by Wolves (2020–2022).

Fimmel was born near Echuca, Victoria, Australia.

He was raised on a 5,500-acre dairy farm in Lockington.

The youngest of three brothers, he is the son of Jennie, a recreation officer for disabled people, and Chris, a cattle farmer.

Aspiring to be a professional Australian rules footballer, Fimmel moved to Melbourne to play for the St Kilda Football Club in the AFL, but a broken leg sidelined him before the season began.

He was accepted into RMIT to study commercial architecture and engineering but later deferred to travel abroad.

Fimmel's modelling career began when he was spotted working out at a gym in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn by the flatmate of Matthew Anderson, a talent scout for the Chadwick Models agency.