Photo: Splash News

Sam Worthington, the Australian actor who saved the human race in Clash of the Titans and rescued an alien planet in Avatar is taking a break from playing the hero in Man on a Ledge, opening nationwide this Friday. His penchant for high flying action films and his down-to-earth attitude (after saving the world he likes to go home, watch TV and do laundry) has gotten him major movie roles and the coveted title of ELLEgirl Crush of the Week. Sam is anything if not a regular guy—having said that, he started acting as a way to support his friend who was interested in theater, when they were entering college. He applied to Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art with his pal, who didn’t make it in. Life after that wasn’t all riding winged horses and extraterrestrial romance for Worthington. He didn’t make it big until 2009 and until he scored his role in Avatar, he spent two years living in his car. When it comes to picking roles, the 35-year-old actor goes for films he would see himself, which explains all the action heavy movies he’s stared in. He told Movies Online that “I…pick a movie that I would go and see, to be honest…I read it and go ‘Would I pay $16 to go and see it?’ because my responsibility to an audience is to give them their money’s worth. If I think that this is worth going to see, and if we can do the job correctly, then hopefully you’ve done your job correctly.” As long as we get to see him striking posing and battling bad guys, he’s done his job correctly. He also isn’t big on living it up outside of work, despite his major macho-guy mileage and has admitted to being a bit of a couch potato, saying “I’m a softy…That’s all I do is go home and watch TV and do my washing. In my job, I’ve got to battle aliens. I stand on the ledge of a building. I drive fast cars. But that’s my job. I go home, I’m exhausted. I just want to do normal stuff.” While we would love to “watch TV…and do normal stuff” with Sam,  the actor is sadly already taken. He introduced his girlfriend, Crystal Humphries at the Hollywood premiere of Man on a Wire over the weekend.