The 22-year-old `Hunger Games` actor grew up on the waves in his native Australia, and says his career path almost followed a very different route.

He said: "I surfed competitively and made it to the state rounds where I was competing with the top surfers in Victoria. All my friends were surfers. All we wanted to do was be Kelly Slater."

But instead he chose to follow in the footsteps of older brothers Chris and Luke, and moved to Los Angeles in 2009 to pursue an acting career.

He soon landed a role as real-life girlfriend Miley Cyrus` love interest in `The Last Song`, although she was more than a little intimidated by his 6ft 4 stature.

She said: "I got a little bit nervous about how big he was, in height. I was like, `I`m going to have to stand on apple boxes or something`."

Now a fully-fledged Hollywood heavyweight thanks to his part in the forthcoming film adaptation of `The Hunger Games` book trilogy, Liam admits his life sometimes doesn`t seem real.

He told Australia`s GQ Style: "It`s hard not to think you`re dreaming in a situation like that. I kept looking around thinking, `Life is so unbelievably awesome`."
sections: Celebrities