Travis Fimmel (born 15 July 1979) is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as Ragnar Lothbrok in the History Channel television series Vikings (2013–2017),[1][2] and as Anduin Lothar in the live-action adaptation of Warcraft (2016). He also starred as Marcus in the HBO Max science fiction series Raised by Wolves (2020–2022).
Early life and modelling
Fimmel was born near Echuca, Victoria, Australia and was raised in Lockington.[3][4] The youngest of three brothers, he is the son of Jennie, a recreation officer for disabled people, and Chris, a cattle farmer.[4] 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.[5] He was accepted into RMIT for an architecture course, but later deferred to travel abroad.[6][7]
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.[8]
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.[9] 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.[10][11] He fronted CK's Crave men's fragrance campaign and modelled the brand's famous underwear.[12] 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.[13]
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".[14][15] It has been suggested by some journalists that Fimmel was the inspiration for Sex and the City heartthrob 'Jerry' Smith Jerrod.[16]
Fimmel has appeared on multiple magazine covers, including Esquire, Rogue, Empire, At Large, Good Weekend, Numero Homme and America's TV Guide.[17] He turned down an offer from Australia's Seven Network to be a guest judge on the TV series Make Me A Supermodel.[18]
He studied under Ivana Chubbuck, the Hollywood acting coach of movie stars Brad Pitt and Jared Leto.[21] 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".[6]
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.[22][23][24] In addition, he appeared in two television pilots: The WB's drama Rocky Point with Lauren Holly in 2005,[25] and the Fox crime thriller Southern Comfort with Madeleine Stowe in 2006.[26]
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.[28] 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".[29]
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.[30] 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.[31]
Fimmel starred opposite Patrick Swayze in A&E's 2009 series The Beast.[32] 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.[33] He played fugitive Mason Boyle in two episodes of NBC's 2010 action-adventure Chase, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.[34][35]
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".[36] According to Variety, he plays a rugged, "hard-drinking gang member and the main character's best friend".[36]
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.[37]
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.[38]
2013–2019: breakthrough and film work
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.[39] 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."[40] He played a character loosely based on Ragnar Loðbrók, the legendary Viking leader who is frustrated by the unadventurous tendencies of his local chieftain and strikes out to pillage new lands.[41][42]USA Today described Fimmel's performance as "engaging", while The Huffington Post called it his "breakout role".[1][43][44]
Fimmel starred as military commander Anduin Lothar in Warcraft in 2016, a live-action film adaptation of the Warcraft video game franchise. It was reported that a horse spooked by a wind fan collapsed on Fimmel while performing one of his own stunts but he emerged unscathed.[45][46]
Named as the Actor of the Year in GQ Australia's 2017 Men of the Year Awards, Fimmel told the audience in his characteristic humorous, self-deprecating style, "I'm not sure how I got this, but I demand a recount".[49]
He co-stars as a deputy sheriff opposite fellow Australian Margot Robbie in the indie film Dreamland. Set in the 1930s Dust Bowl, the story follows a teenage boy on his quest to beat out the FBI to capture a fugitive bank robber in order to claim a bounty and save the family farm.[53][54]
2020–present: television and film balance
In 2020, Fimmel featured as a TV presenter in Here Are the Young Men, which was adapted from a novel about three Dublin high school graduates whose epic binge to mark the end of an era is blighted by catastrophe.[55]
From 2020 to 2022, he appeared in HBO Max's science fiction drama Raised by Wolves from director Ridley Scott and Scott Free Productions, which marked Fimmel's return to television.[56][57][58] It was a role that earned him a nomination for Best Actor in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Series at the Critics' Choice Super Awards.[59] The dystopian narrative depicts him as an atheist soldier with a mysterious backstory in a new society created after a war sparked by religious differences decimates Earth.[60]
In a review of his role as a killer-for-hire in the 2021 action-crime thriller Die in a Gunfight, Forbes states that Fimmel "steals every scene he’s in and has what could be the most compelling and morally tangled [character] arc of anyone in the entire story".[61]
Fimmel played a genius, reclusive and kooky inventor in the science fiction, neo-noir film Zone 414. It co-starred Guy Pearce and was set in a colony of state-of-the-art humanoid robots and drew comparisons to Blade Runner.[62]
He also appeared in indie drama Delia's Gone, co-starring Marisa Tomei, based on a short story about a black man with an intellectual disability who is accused of his sister's murder and embarks on a journey to clear his name and find out who's responsible.[63][64]
In One Way, Fimmel plays a mysterious passenger who meets a lifelong criminal played by Colson Baker, aka Machine Gun Kelly, who has stolen from the biggest mob boss in town and boards a bus to flee.[65] He also appeared in Fool's Paradise, a comedy by Charlie Day about a fool for love who becomes an accidental celebrity only to lose it all.[66][67]
Starring in the Stan Original mini-series Black Snow, Fimmel plays cold-case detective on the trail of the killer of a teenage girl from a small Australian South Sea Islander community after the opening of a time capsule unearths a secret.[71] His performance earned him a nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Drama in the 2024 AACTA Awards.[72] In March 2024, Black Snow was renewed for a second series with Fimmel reprising the role.[73][74] On 12 November it was announced that Black Snow's second season would air on New Years Day in 2025 with confirmation that Fimmel had directed an episode of the second season.[75]
Helping to bring the bestselling novel Boy Swallows Universe to Netflix, Fimmel stars as a drug-dealing stepdad.[77] A semi-autobiographical memoir by Trent Dalton, the coming-of-age drama set in suburban Brisbane, Australia, features a "captivating blend of magic and innocence intertwined with the brutal truths of the world" as a boy grapples with a lost father, a mute brother, a recovering addict mother, and the unlikely people that shape his world.[77]
He co-starred with Gerard Butler in the 2023 CIA thriller Kandahar, with a script written by a former military intelligence officer and based on his real-life experiences in Afghanistan.[78]
Cast in the controversial western film Rust, production was temporarily suspended in New Mexico when a prop gun with a live bullet allegedly fired by co-star Alec Baldwin killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and led to involuntary manslaughter charges.[79] Fimmel plays bounty hunter Fenton "Preacher" Lang who joins a US Marshal in pursuit of Baldwin's character, outlaw Harland Rust, after he helps his 13-year-old grandson break out of prison after being convicted of an accidental murder and sentenced to hang.[80]
Fimmel's favourite recreational activities include Australian rules football, fishing, camping, horse riding, surfing, riding motorbikes and going to the beach.[13][82][83][84][85]
Known for his rugged good looks, blue-eyed Fimmel has expressed a preference for being barefoot and presents as mellow in promotional interviews for his work.[87] He has also expressed a desire to return to farm life in Australia once he's finished with Hollywood.[88]
