Travis Fimmel was born in 1979 near Echuca, Victoria and worked on the family farm until being accepted at Melbourne University. He was discovered by the roommate of a Chadwick Model agency talent scout while working out at a Hawthorn gym and headed to Los Angeles to make a go at modeling and went from being totally broke to becoming the world’s first man to get a six-figure, exclusive one-year contract to model for Calvin Klein in 2002. His appearance in Calvin Klein ads reportedly caused enough commotion that a billboard in London was taken down because women drivers, who slowed down to look at it, were causing traffic accidents. Acting classes got Fimmel the lead in the Warner Brothers 2003 production of Tarzan, a television series for which he did many of his own stunts. Since then, he managed to get various roles television movies and series, but none, thus far, has been as big as his role on Vikings, a mini-series that is being shown on the History Channel and getting rave reviews.

Wearing a gnarly beard and rad hair style that straddles mullet and punk, 33-year old Fimmel plays Ragnar Lodbrok, one of the most infamous heroes of Norse history, known to be the scourge of England and France, whose story has been retold with embellishment in Nordic sagas that were based on the histories of several men. Claiming to be descended directly from Odin himself, Ragnar was amongst the first Viking warriors to raid countries to the west of Scandinavia during medieval times.

Vikings costars Canadian actress, Jessalyn Gilsig, and Irish actor, Gabriel Byrne, and was filmed in Ireland and Western Norway over a period of eighteen weeks, produced by Octagon Films and Take 5 Productions. The first of nine episodes was broadcast on March 3, 2013 and a second season with ten episodes is being planned.

Calvin Klein has just released its line of spring underwear. Do you think today’s Calvin Klein models have a shot at the kind of Vikings fame that Travis has gained?