Hollywood history is littered with rags-to-riches stories, though few of them are quite as literal
as Chris Pratt's.
Now the face of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Pratt has come an incredibly
long way since he dropped out of college at 17 after just a single semester, taking the
road less traveled on his way to Tinseltown.
"I have a plan."
"You've got a plan?!"
"Yes."
After cutting his teeth playing sidekicks and funny men, the character actor was immediately
promoted to the A-list when he won the role of Marvel Studio's Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord.
Turn back the clock a few years, however, and there were definitely no red carpets or
caviar.
So how did it happen?
Let's find out how Chris Pratt went from homeless beach bum to Hollywood hotshot.
After dropping out of school, Pratt had to find ways to make ends meet, and he turned
out to be a natural at door-to-door sales.
He worked as a coupon salesman for two years, learning skills that he claimed served him
well when he finally made his dream move into acting.
His next gig was less white-collar — or actually, more no-collar.
In need of a bit of extra cash, Pratt decided to turn himself into what he described as
"a very, very low-rent Magic Mike."
"I would, just like slowly, awkwardly dance and then take -- go down to my shorts and
they'd be like, 'Ohhh…'"
With next to nothing to lose and his twenties looming, Pratt accepted an invitation from
an old friend who claimed to be living the dream in Hawaii, and wanted his buddy to join
him.
The two young men lived out of a van, which Pratt admits had its ups and downs.
On one hand, he was very free.
But on the other, he had no bathroom and the van had a bit of problem with fleas and rats…
And of course, there was also the danger of him turning into this:
"I am 35 years old, I am divorced, and I live in a van down by the river!"
One of the part-time positions Pratt picked up in the Islands of Aloha was waiting tables
at a Bubba Gump seafood restaurant.
It was while on shift at the diner that Pratt had a chance encounter with Commando actress
— and shrimp fan — Rae Dawn Chong, who was looking for actors for her comedy horror
short Cursed Part 3.
After being impressed by his enthusiasm, Chong flew Pratt to L.A. to give him a shot — and
ended up providing him with the platform he'd been waiting for.
Pratt’s next acting gig came when he landed the role of Keenan in The Extreme Team, a
2003 Gen-X spy flick about a secret group of Black Ops snowboarders.
That movie sounds ridiculous, but in the grand scheme it was just another rung in the ladder
that Pratt had to climb on his way to becoming Star-Lord.
Despite finally seeing himself as a professional actor, things didn't exactly fall into place
right away in terms of auditions.
Pratt made some cash doing commercials, but eventually his persistence paid off, landing
him the part of high school jerk Bright Abbott on the WB drama Everwood.
Apparently, Pratt didn’t even really prepare for this audition and landed the part by just
naturally being the type of character that the directors were looking for — funny how
things work out.
Pratt wasted no time getting comfortable on the set of Everwood where he would end up
portraying Bright in 89 episodes between 2002 and 2006.
When Everwood wrapped in '06, Pratt secured a recurring role on long-running Fox favorite
The O.C., appearing in nine episodes as left-wing activist — and occasional naked guitarist
— Che Cook.
After these roles, Pratt finally landed what most people consider his "big-break" with
the role of Andy Dwyer on Parks and Recreation.
"My full name is Andrew, I think.
So… no?
Wait!
Yes."
"Let’s move on."
The critically acclaimed mockumentary opened new avenues for Pratt, who attributes the
show's continued success to lead actress Amy Poehler.
Amazingly, Pratt’s character, Andy Dwyer, was only supposed to appear in five or six
episodes.
But when he turned out to be a fan-favorite, he became part of the main cast for the show’s
entire run.
"Leslie, I typed your symptoms into the thing up here and it says that you could have 'network
connectivity problems.'"
The success of Parks and Recreation and the cult following that started to build around
Pratt's character made movie studios pay attention.
In the next few years, he had roles in 2011 Best Picture nominee Moneyball, Judd Apatow's
2012 comedy The Five Year Engagement, the war drama Zero Dark Thirty and 2013’s Best
Picture nominated film, Her.
With all of these strong big-screen performances stacking up, it seemed like Pratt was poised
to shake the "funny friend" stereotype and trade it up for something much bigger...
That much bigger thing would of course be 2014’s massive hit Guardians of the Galaxy.
Director James Gunn admitted that when Pratt's name first appeared on his desk, he scoffed
at the idea of him leading the line as Star-Lord.
Gunn even said that there was no way that, quote, "The chubby guy from Parks and Rec"
was going to star in his movie.
At this point, Pratt had already been turned down for the parts of James Kirk in the Star
Trek reboot and Jake Sully in Avatar because he didn't have the "it factor," and he himself
was worried that he was "too fat to play a superhero."
But in the end both he and Gunn were wrong.
As soon as the director saw Pratt reading for the part, he was sold — and apparently
knew he had found his Star-Lord just 20 seconds into the audition.
Just like that, the part was his, though that's pretty much all Pratt knew for a good while.
The actor has explained that his contact with Marvel Studios was brief at that stage, to
the point where he wasn't even allowed to see the screenplay.
The radio silence lasted so long that Pratt still had no clue what was happening when
he met up with Gunn to discuss the movie.
Thankfully, that meeting went very well, and was enough to calm Pratt's nerves.
After that the actor was ready to become:
"Star-Lord."
"Who?"
"I'm Star-Lord, man.
Legendary outlaw?"
At that point, there was only one thing left to do.
Pratt tipped the scale at 300 pounds when he went in to audition for Guardians of the
Galaxy, and it was only after winning the role that he made a vow to shed some of it
— sixty pounds, to be exact.
The actor lost the weight over a period of six months using a workout that included running,
swimming, kickboxing and even a full triathlon.
For some reason, however, dancing wasn't part of his fitness regimen:
"Dance off, bro!
Me vs. you!"
"It's on!"
By the time the Guardians of the Galaxy shoot began, Pratt looked like genuine superhero
— with the six pack and all.
This ripped bod, coupled with his undeniably lovable personality, has helped Pratt’s
career take off, scoring him leading roles in big movies like Jurassic World, Passengers
and The Magnificent Seven.
As Pratt's movie career continues to heat up, one thing is becoming more and more clear.
The guy is a seriously ripped, seriously funny actor who isn’t going anywhere — except
right to the top of Hollywood’s A-list.
Of course, no matter how famous he gets, Pratt will always be this guy:
"Yup, yup.
S--t my pants on camera.
Check!"
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