Travis Fimmel is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as Ragnar Lothbrok in the History Channel television series Vikings β Fimmel was born near Echuca , Victoria , Australia and was raised in Lockington.
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 for an architecture course, 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.
He was named one of the world's sexiest bachelors by America's People magazine in , and was highly in demand as a male model. Fimmel began his acting career by appearing in the music videos for Janet Jackson 's song " Someone to Call My Lover " [ 15 ] and " I'm Real " original version by Jennifer Lopez , both in He landed the title lead in The WB series Tarzan in , 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 , he portrayed a compassionate cowboy in Pure Country 2: The Gift and a forensic photographer in Australian horror film Needle , co-starring Ben Mendelsohn. Fimmel played Helweg, a prison guard, in the film The Experiment , in a role reportedly offered to Elijah Wood , who pulled out of shooting for reasons unknown. Production ceased after 13 episodes due to Swayze's death from pancreatic cancer. Fimmel played the lead in '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 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.
