2000–2008: Australian recognition Worthington played a small role alongside
Adam Garcia in the Australian dance film
Bootmen (2000). He played a lead roles in the Australian movies
Dirty Deeds (2002) and ''
Gettin' Square'' (2003). Worthington had a major role in
Somersault (2004), for which he won the AFI Award for Best Lead Actor. He was well known in Australia for his role as Howard in the acclaimed TV series
Love My Way, in which he played the female lead's main love interest. In 2006, he played the lead in a modern retelling of
Macbeth. Worthington's international film career began with a series of small roles in Hollywood production
The Great Raid (2005), which was filmed in Australia. He auditioned for the role of
James Bond in
Casino Royale but lost the role to
Daniel Craig. He starred in the Australian creature-feature film
Rogue (2007), which gained a 100% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
2009–2012: Avatar and early momentum In 2009, Worthington starred in
James Cameron-directed science-fiction film
Avatar, in which he played the role of
Jake Sully, a paraplegic former U.S. Marine who is at the centre of a war between his own species and the indigenous
Na'vi people of Pandora. The film was a success, amassing critical acclaim and several accolades. It became (and remains)
the highest-grossing film of all time, grossing more than $2.8 billion ($ billion adjusted for inflation) worldwide. It won him the Saturn Award for Best Actor and another AACTA Award. In November 2010, Worthington told
GQ Australia that when he auditioned for the role, he was not told what it was for, which annoyed him. "I was a bit pissed off, and I think that came across. I think Jim saw a spark and liked it because that's Sully's character – a guy who doesn't like to be bullied and a guy who wants to set things right." He later said that Cameron "changed his life" and he will always be grateful to him. After auditioning for Cameron, Worthington consequently landed the part in 2009's science fiction action film
Terminator Salvation, thanks to Cameron's personal recommendation to fellow filmmaker
McG. In the film, Worthington co-starred alongside
Christian Bale and played Marcus Wright, a human-terminator hybrid.
Terminator Salvation was released on May 21, 2009, grossed over $371.4 million, and received mixed reviews. In early 2010, Worthington appeared in
Clash of the Titans, an action fantasy film directed by Louis Leterrier and produced by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Worthington headlined the film. It received generally negative reviews from critics but grossed $493 million worldwide and was the 11th highest-grossing film of 2010. He provided voice work for Captain Alex Mason, the protagonist in the video game
Call of Duty: Black Ops. Some gamers criticised Worthington's inability to mask his Australian accent, as in
Avatar. In November 2010,
The Hollywood Reporter named Worthington as one of the young male actors who are "pushing – or being pushed" into taking over Hollywood. Also in 2010,
Forbes named Worthington among Hollywood's highest grossing actors. He was selected as one of the entrants to the
Who's Who in Australia 2011 edition. In 2012, Worthington starred in
Wrath of the Titans, the sequel to
Clash of the Titans. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics, and although it grossed $302 million at the box office and emerged successful, the film underperformed compared to its predecessor. He reprised his role as Alex Mason in
Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Also in 2012, Worthington starred as Nick Cassidy in
Man on a Ledge, a suspense-thriller film directed by Asger Leth. Though the film received mixed reviews from critics, Worthington's performance received praise, with
The New Zealand Herald describing him as "suitably terrified".
2013–2021: Diverse roles In 2013, Worthington worked in
Drift (2013), an Australian film about the birth of the
surf industry in the 1970s. He starred alongside
Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Hollywood action thriller film
Sabotage (2014). A loose adaptation of the
Agatha Christie novel
And Then There Were None, it received generally negative reviews and was a box office bomb. Worthington next appeared in the drama film
Cake (2014). Headlined by
Jennifer Aniston, it debuted in the Special Presentations section of the
2014 Toronto International Film Festival. In the same year, he played a supporting role in the western film
The Keeping Room. In 2015, Worthington starred in
Paper Planes, an Australian
3D children's drama film directed by
Robert Connolly. The film tells a story about Dylan, a young boy who lives in Australia, who finds out that he has a talent for making
paper planes and dreams of competing in the World Paper Plane Championships in Japan. He followed it up by playing
Willem Holleeder in
Kidnapping Freddy Heineken (2015), based on the 1983
kidnapping of Freddy Heineken. He portrayed a character in
Baltasar Kormákur's
Everest, based on the
1996 Mount Everest disaster; the film was a commercial success, grossing $203 million worldwide. In 2016, he played Captain Jack Glover, a stern army officer, in the
Mel Gibson directed biographical war film
Hacksaw Ridge. The film focuses on the
World War II experiences of
Desmond Doss, an American
pacifist combat medic who refused to carry or use a weapon or firearm of any kind.
Hacksaw Ridge was released in the United States on November 4, 2016, grossing $180.4 million worldwide, and received critical acclaim. The film was awarded several accolades. Worthington worked with
Stuart Hazeldine on
The Shack, a 2017 American
Christian drama film. Based on the 2007
novel of the same name, it opened to mixed critical reviews and was a success, as it grossed over $96 million worldwide. That year, Worthington portrayed Jim Fitzgerald in the
Discovery Channel television series
Manhunt: Unabomber. In 2018, he starred in the Netflix original
science fiction thriller film
The Titan. In 2019, Worthington starred as Ray Monroe in the
Netflix thriller film
Fractured. He followed it up by playing a supporting role in
Harvey Keitel starrer biographical crime drama
Lansky (2021), based on the life of gangster
Meyer Lansky.
Richard Roeper from
Chicago Sun Times praised the on-screen chemistry of Keital and Worthington. He earned the lead role in Tim Sutton's western
The Last Son (2021), and made an appearance on Australian
ABC TV drama
Fires.
2022–present: Avatar sequels and various projects Worthington reprised his role as Jake Sully in
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). The plot features Jake Sully’s family fleeing to the sea and joining reef clans to protect their home from returning human invaders. Much like its predecessor, it was a critical and commercial success. Upon release, it broke multiple records and grossed over $2.320 billion worldwide, making it the
highest-grossing film of 2022 and the
third-highest-grossing film of all time. The same year saw him play a role in the anticipated miniseries
Under the Banner of Heaven, which received positive reviews and high viewership ratings. The following year, he received two award nominations: Best Actor at the
51st Saturn Awards for
Avatar, and
Best Supporting Actor at the
27th Satellite Awards for the aforementioned show. 2024 was a busy year for Worthington as he had supporting roles in various projects. He first played a part in
Kevin Hart led heist comedy
Lift which was released on Netflix. He followed this up with the dystopian science fiction
Breathe,
Joshua John Miller directorial
The Exorcism alongside
Russell Crowe,
John Woo's Peacock original action film
The Killer, and
David Mackenzie's thriller
Relay. Additionally, he went onto work with
Giovanni Ribisi, his co-star from the
Avatar series, in the
Kevin Costner-directed western-drama films
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 and
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 as First Lt. Trent Gephardt. Eager to reunite with the director of his previous film,
Relay, Worthington collaborated with David Mackenzie on the 2025 thriller,
Fuze. The film centers on the discovery of an unexploded bomb at a London construction site. Worthington, who was written into the film at his own request to Mackenzie, played X, the leader of a band of criminals.
Fuze premiered at
Toronto International Film Festival and received positive reviews. Worthington returned as Jake Sully in the third film in
Avatar franchise,
Avatar: Fire and Ash. In the film, the Sullys face the Ash People, a vengeful volcanic clan allied with humans, challenging their bond with Eywa. Thomas Butt of
Collider described his performance as understated, noting that Worthington has fully matured in the role throughout the franchise. Butt specifically praised his ability to depict the internal conflict between Jake's human tendencies and his acquired Na'vi customs. Worthington will appear as
Antipater in the upcoming 2026 film
Zero A. D., a dramatization of the events around the
Massacre of the Innocents. == Personal life ==