Chris Pratt Biography

Chris Pratt

Born: June 21, 1979

Virginia, Minnesota, U.S.

Occupation: Actor

Years active: 2000–present

Christopher Michael Pratt (born June 21, 1979) is an American actor. He rose to prominence for playing Andy Dwyer in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation (2009–2015). He also appeared in The WB drama series Everwood (2002–2006) and had supporting roles in the films Wanted (2008), Jennifer's Body (2009), Moneyball (2011), Zero Dark Thirty (2013), and Her (2013).

Pratt established himself as a Hollywood leading man by starring in two lucrative film series. He played Star-Lord in superhero films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019).[2] He has also starred as Owen Grady in the adventure film Jurassic World (2015) and its sequels subtitled Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Dominion (2022).

Pratt's other starring roles were in The Magnificent Seven (2016), Passengers (2016) and The Tomorrow War (2021), and the action television series The Terminal List (2022). In 2015, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Early life

Christopher Michael Pratt was born on June 21, 1979, in Virginia, Minnesota. His mother worked at a Safeway supermarket, and his father worked in mining and later remodeling houses. Pratt's father died in 2014 from multiple sclerosis. His mother is of Norwegian descent. When Pratt was seven years old, the family moved to Lake Stevens, Washington. Pratt placed fifth in a high school state wrestling tournament; he later recalled that when his wrestling coach asked him what he wished to do with his life, he said "'I don't know, but I know I'll be famous and I know I'll make a shit ton of money.' I had no idea how. I'd done nothing proactive." He graduated from Lake Stevens High School in 1997.

Pratt dropped out of community college halfway through the first semester and, after working as a discount ticket salesman and daytime stripper, he ended up homeless in Maui, Hawaii, sleeping in a van and a tent on the beach. He told The Independent, "It's a pretty awesome place to be homeless. We just drank and smoked weed and worked minimal hours, just enough to cover gas, food, and fishing supplies." He recalled listening to the Dr. Dre album 2001 daily, to the point where he knew every lyric; years later, he rapped Eminem's verses from the song "Forgot About Dre" extemporaneously during an interview. During his time in Maui, he worked for the Christian missionary organization Jews for Jesus.

Career

Early work and breakthrough

When Pratt was age 19, he waited tables at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant in Maui when he was discovered by actress and director Rae Dawn Chong. She cast him in her directorial debut, the short horror film Cursed Part 3, which was filmed in Los Angeles. Pratt's first regular television role was as Harold Brighton "Bright" Abbott on the series Everwood. After Everwood's cancellation, he joined the cast of The O.C. for its fourth season, playing activist Winchester "Ché" Cook. He also had an appearance in the 2008 action film Wanted, where James McAvoy hits him with a keyboard.

In 2009, Pratt began playing Andy Dwyer on the NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation. Originally meant to be a temporary character, producers liked Pratt so much they asked him to become a series regular. This proved to be his breakthrough role.

Franchise work and worldwide recognition

While Pratt had been known to this point for playing supporting characters and he was best known for his portly character on Parks and Recreation, 2014 marked a turning point in his career when he headlined two major studio films: Emmet Brickowski in The Lego Movie, which grossed $469.1 million; and Peter Quill / Star-Lord in Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy, which grossed $773.3 million.

In November 2013, Pratt, an avid fan of Jurassic Park (1993) who has referred to the film as "my Star Wars", replaced Josh Brolin as the lead in Jurassic World (2015). He played Owen Grady, who works training Velociraptors. Jurassic World grossed $652.3 million in North America and $1.018 billion overseas for a worldwide total of $1.670 billion. His performance was praised, with Peter Travers of Rolling Stone stating that Pratt "ace[d] it as an action hero and invests his sexual banter with a comic flair the movie could have used more of." He reprised the role in the sequel, Jurassic World: the Fallen Kingdom, which was released on June 22, 2018. Although a commercial success, the sequel received mixed reviews, with Brian Lowry of CNN criticizing the film for "largely neutralizing Pratt's charm and comedic skills."

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