Chris Hemsworth Reveals the Hollywood Icon He Was ‘Intimidated’ to Work with

Chris Hemsworth is a Hollywood pro, having starred in dozens of movies — but he says his latest project gave him a case of the nerves.

While stepping out to Amazon MGM Studios’ presentation at CinemaCon 2025 in Las Vegas on April 2, Hemsworth, 41, revealed that he was “intimidated” to work with Halle Berry for the first time on their upcoming movie Crime 101.

“I’ve admired Halle’s work for many, many years. I was obviously very intimidated to sit opposite her within a scene and try and, you know, not just be in awe of what she was doing,” Hemsworth told E! News in a joint interview with Berry, 58, on the event’s red carpet.

But he said the Never Let Go actress immediately put him at ease on set.

“Certain people just bring out not just the best in you, but also sort of a comfort level where it feels like it’s a place to explore and it’s a place to examine different ideas and try different things. And that was the experience [with Berry],” Hemsworth continued, adding, “I loved every second of it.”

It seems the feeling was mutual. Berry told E! News that now that she’s had an opportunity to work alongside Hemsworth, the Thor: Love and Thunder star is officially “one of my new favorite people in the whole wide world.”

“[He’s] a stand-up guy,” she said. “I won’t go into it now but he stood up for me in a moment in our movie, and instantly I knew right then I’m gonna follow this guy, be a fan of this guy for the rest of his life because he stood up for a woman. He didn’t have to do it and he did it.”

Her praise prompted Hemsworth to reply: “Back at ya.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

In their new thriller Crime 101, an adaptation of the Don Winslow novella of the same name, Berry plays a weary insurance broker who gets involved in a multimillion-dollar heist led by a master jewel thief named Davis, portrayed by Hemsworth. The film also features Mark Ruffalo as an LAPD detective trailing Davis.

Last month, Hemsworth recounted another celebrity encounter that left him feeling a bit flustered. During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on March 26, the actor told host  Stephen Colbert that he regretted asking Billie Eilish to take a selfie at the 2025 Oscars.

“I remember thinking, ‘Ah, don’t do it, don’t do it,’ ” he recalled of snapping a photo with the “Birds of a Feather” singer, 23.

But he said he and his wife Elsa Pataky posed for the selfie anyway because he knew their children would get a kick out of their brush with Eilish.

“I was like, ‘No, my kids are going to love this.’ And then the moment I took it, I was like, ‘I went from work colleague to now like a fan,’ ” the Marvel star told Colbert, seeming to imply it made for an awkward moment for him.

“We will never be friends, never be best friends,” Hemsworth jokingly added.