Chris Hemsworth

Nothing like a baby girl to melt the toughest dad’s heart, even the larger-than-life hammer-wielding god Thor in The Avengers.

Chris Hemsworth, 28, confirmed to USA TODAY that he and his wife, actress Elsa Pataky, 35, had a baby girl on Friday. Her name: India.

"We love the country and love the name," says the Aussie actor, calling from England while doing press for his next summer blockbuster, Snow White & the Huntsman. This is the first child for the couple who wed in December 2010.

In the film based on the Grimm fairy tale, he plays a man of the forest who puts his ax to good use and engages in fisticuffs. But it’s Kristen Stewart’s princess who leads the charge in the climatic battle in Joan-of-Arc-armor and saves the day. He says it would be a perfect movie to inspire India someday.

"Coming from a family of three boys, my mother was very much a feminist. When we would call each other ’girls,’ she would say, ’What is wrong with a girl?’ Girls can be strong and you have to respect that. And we should encourage more strong female leads in films."