Chris Hemsworth's appearance on Dancing With the Stars almost cost him his role as Thor.

The 42-year-old actor came fifth in the Australian version of the show in 2006 but it could have jeopardised his Hollywood career after the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) team discovered clips online following a successful audition to play the titular superhero in 2011's blockbuster Thor.

He told The Times magazine: "[Kevin Feige] said, 'I went downstairs and I showed all the staff your audition. Everyone's like, 'Great!'

"[Then someone googled me and said] 'Oh, he did Dancing with the Stars.' And Kevin said, 'Hang on, what?'

"It was early days for Marvel. [They were] so nervous. Feige had a little glitch of hesitation. And then he was like, 'No, it's fine.' "

The Australian hunk had only taken part in the show to help him take steps towards his Hollywood ambition.

He said: "I did it to make money to go to Los Angeles but I [also] thought, 'I'm sick of taking myself so seriously.' "

Chris initially found it in to settle into his new life as a Hollywood superhero.

He admitted: "Earlier in my career, I absolutely did build a persona around what I thought was appealing or what I thought they were looking for."

The Crime 101 actor took a theatre studies class towards the end of high school, but his drama teacher wasn't convinced by his ambitions.

He recalled: "I was very sporty, so I wasn't seen as a serious actor. I felt that sort of impostor thing.

"I never got any good parts. And then I said, 'I don't want to do theatre anyway. I want to make movies. I'm going to Hollywood.' And [the drama teacher would] roll her eyes, like, 'Yeah, sure. Good luck, kid.' "

Chris soon landed his role as Kim Hyde in Home and Away but continued to voice his ambition of starring in films for some time.

He admitted: "I realised I sounded like an ungrateful little twerp, you know."

The Avengers star - who has three children with wife Elsa Pataky - constantly worried about his performance on Home and Away.

He admitted: "I would beat myself up about it. I had so much anxiety."

But advice from a director on the soap, who told Chris to think of acting as being like tennis, was invaluable.

He recalled: "Once you return that serve, or that shot, you're thinking about the next one. You can't be thinking about the previous one. That really helped."