Chris Hemsworth comes face-to-face with ‘amazing’ shark to kick off Sharkfest

Actor Chris Hemsworth took a break from being the big-time movie star that he is to host the documentary special, Shark Beach with Chris Hemsworth, to help kick off National Geographic’s Sharkfest celebration. In it he explores ways that sharks and humans can live better together without doing each other harm, after yet another deadly year for shark attacks in his native of Australia.

And in order to get up close and personal with some sharks, he teamed up and dove in the water with 85-year-old conservationist Valerie Taylor, a filmmaker who specializes in filming sharks in their natural habitats, and who helped shoot the original Jaws movie. And together they spotted a quite large grey nurse shark swimming just above them, a scene that Hemsworth described as “incredible” as it was happening.

“Coming face to face with them,” Hemsworth said. “It's hard to put into words the serene beauty of these magnificent creatures.”

Video Transcript

[SOUND EFFECT]

- Hey, [INAUDIBLE].

CHRIS HEMSWORTH: Ah, wow.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

- That's a big female.

CHRIS HEMSWORTH: Incredible.

KYLIE MAR: To help kick off National Geographic's SharkFest, Chris Hemsworth took a break from being the god of thunder to host Shark Beach. In it, he explores ways that sharks and humans can live together without doing each other harm after yet another deadly year for shark attacks in his native Australia. And in order to get up close and personal with some sharks, he teamed up with 85-year-old conservationist, Valerie Taylor, a filmmaker who specializes in filming sharks in their natural habitats, and who helped shoot the original Jaws movie. And while some viewers were quick to ship Chris and Valerie, they were all business once underwater.

CHRIS HEMSWORTH: Coming face to face with them, it's hard to put into words the serene beauty of these magnificent creatures. Up close, you see the gray nurse jaws are filled with over 100 needle-sharp teeth.

KYLIE MAR: Luckily, gray nurse sharks only eat small fish and crustaceans from the sea floor. But that didn't stop fans on Twitter from loving every second of it with comments like, "Chris Hemsworth swimming with sharks is my aesthetic. This is why he's the god of thunder. He's such an icon." And, "Bro, give whoever said Chris Hemsworth and sharks a giant raise." And the actor did eventually get to meet a great white shark as well. And while it wasn't quite face-to-face, it was still an intimate encounter.

CHRIS HEMSWORTH: Here we are about to take a anal swab from the shark. It's all for science, so let's dig in. Shall we? Where is its butt?

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