Early life

Pratt was born in Virginia, Minnesota, the son of Kathleen Louise "Kathy" (née Indahl), who worked at a Safeway supermarket, and Daniel Clifton "Dan" Pratt (died 2014), who worked in mining and later remodeling houses. His mother is of Norwegian descent, and his father was of English, German, Swiss-German and French Canadian ancestry..

Pratt was raised in Lake Stevens, Washington, where he placed fifth in a state wrestling tournament as a high school student. His wrestling coach recalled asking Pratt what he wished to do with his life. Pratt relates: "I was like, '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. It was as dumb as someone saying, 'I'll probably be an astronaut. I'm sure I'll stumble into an astronaut suit and end up in space one day.'"

Pratt dropped out of a local community college halfway through the first semester and, after working as a discount ticket salesman and a daytime stripper, he ended up homeless in Maui, sleeping in a van and in 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 word to that album". Years later, he was able to perform Eminem's vocals from the song "Forgot About Dre" during an interview.

Career

2000s

Pratt was waiting tables at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant in Maui when the 19-year-old 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.

Pratt read for the lead role of Captain James T. Kirk in the 2009 film Star Trek, and for Jake Sully in the 2009 film Avatar. The latter audition was particularly humbling for Pratt, who recalls: "They said they want somebody that has 'that thing', that 'it factor'. I walked into that room knowing that I did not have that thing, and I walked out thinking I would never have that thing, probably." Pratt resolved to rethink his career ambitions, commenting: "People have to work. I just don't want it to be at a fucking restaurant."

In 2009, Pratt began playing the dimwitted but lovable Andy Dwyer on the NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation. Originally meant to be a temporary character, Andy was so likable that producers asked Pratt back as a series regular. This led to the character being written much more sympathetically at the start of season two.

2010s

Pratt portrayed Oakland Athletics first baseman/catcher Scott Hatteberg in the 2011 film Moneyball. He was initially told that he was too fat to play Hatteberg, as he had gained 40 pounds (18 kg), which Pratt attributed to the cooking of his then-girlfriend and now-wife, actress Anna Faris. Deciding to lose weight, he worked out continuously, regularly checking to see if the part was cast, losing a total of 30 pounds (14 kg). When he felt he had lost enough, he sent a photo of himself to the casting director and won the part. Prior to the release of Moneyball, Pratt was typecast as youthful and somewhat immature characters. In Moneyball, he played a dramatic role as a father and dejected baseball player who once feared his career was over and who had the difficult task of learning an entirely new defensive position. He gained back the weight he had lost to appear in the film 10 Years, then lost it again to portray a Navy SEAL in the film Zero Dark Thirty.

In 2013, Pratt initially turned down the opportunity to play Peter Quill / Star-Lord in Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy, explaining that he did not "want another Captain Kirk or Avatar moment". The film's casting director, Sarah Finn, suggested Pratt to director James Gunn, who had struggled to cast that role and dismissed the idea. Despite this, Finn arranged for a meeting between the two, at which point Gunn was immediately convinced that Pratt was perfect for the role. Pratt also won over Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, despite having gained weight again for the comedy film Delivery Man. The role was part of a multi-film deal that Pratt signed with Marvel.

Although Pratt had been known until that point for playing supporting characters, and was best known as his portly Parks and Recreation character, that changed in 2014 when he headlined two feature films, the first of which was The Lego Movie. The film became the third-highest-grossing film of 2014 in North America. This was followed that August by Guardians of the Galaxy, which became the highest-grossing film of 2014 in North America, making Pratt the star of two of the top five highest-grossing films of that year. Pratt was the featured cover story of the July 18 Entertainment Weekly, which documented the evolution of Pratt's physique over the course of the previous 12 years, going from 220 pounds (100 kg) for his role on Everwood to 295 pounds (134 kg) for Delivery Man, to 225-230 pounds (102-104 kg) for his roles in Zero Dark Thirty and Guardians. Pratt himself poked fun at his fluctuating physique in a musical number he performed during his monologue when he hosted the September 27, 2014 episode of Saturday Night Live.

In November 2013, Pratt, an avid fan of Jurassic Park, who has referred to that film as "my Star Wars", replaced Josh Brolin as the lead in the film Jurassic World (2015). He played Owen Grady, who works training Velociraptors. He will reprise his role in a sequel, which is set for a June 22, 2018 release.

In March 2014, Pratt was awarded the CinemaCon Award for Breakthrough Performer. Also in 2014, he was ranked as #2 on People magazine's annual list of Sexiest Men Alive.

Personal life

Pratt met actress Anna Faris on the set of the film Take Me Home Tonight in 2007. They were engaged in late 2008, and were married in Bali on July 9, 2009. They live in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles, California. Their son, Jack, was born in August 2012.

Pratt is a Christian, who stated that the birth of his preterm son "restored my faith in God, not that it needed to be restored, but it really defined it", after both he and his wife "prayed a lot" as they were initially afraid of the baby's prognosis.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Cursed Part 3	Devon	Short film
2003	The Extreme Team	Keenan
2005	Strangers with Candy	Brason
2007	Walk the Talk	Cam
2008	Wieners	Bobby
2008	Wanted	Barry
2009	Bride Wars	Fletcher
2009	Deep in the Valley	Lester Watts
2009	Jennifer's Body	Roman Duda
2011	Take Me Home Tonight	Kyle Masterson
2011	Moneyball	Scott Hatteberg
2011	What's Your Number?	Disgusting Donald
2011	10 Years	Cully
2012	Five-Year Engagement, TheThe Five-Year Engagement	Alex Eilhauer
2012	Zero Dark Thirty	Justin	Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble
2013	Movie 43	Doug	Segment: "The Proposition" Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Combo (shared with Anna Faris)
2013	Mr. Payback	Darren	Short film
2013	Delivery Man	Brett
2013	Her	Paul
2014	The Lego Movie	Emmet Brickowski (voice)	Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Voice
2014	Guardians of the Galaxy	Peter Quill / Star-Lord	Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble CinemaCon Award for Breakthrough Performer of the Year Saturn Award for Best Actor Nominated—Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor in an Action Movie Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Breakthrough Artist Nominated—Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Male Action Star Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Nominated—Young Hollywood Award for Super Superhero Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Moment Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Shirtless Performance
2015	Jurassic World	Owen Grady	MTV Movie Award for Best Action Performance Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie Star: Male
2015	Jem and the Holograms	Himself	Cameo
2016	The Magnificent Seven	Josh Farraday	In post-production
2016	Passengers	Jim Preston	In post-production
2017	Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2	Peter Quill / Star-Lord	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Huntress, TheThe Huntress	Nick Owens	Episode: "Who Are You?"
2002-2006	Everwood	Harold Brighton "Bright" Abbott	89 episodes Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Sidekick
2005	Path of Destruction	Nathan McCain	Television film
2006-2007	O.C., TheThe O.C.	Winchester "Ché" Cook	9 episodes
2008	Batman, TheThe Batman	Jake (voice)	Episode: "Attack of the Terrible Trio"
2009-2015	Parks and Recreation	Andrew Maxwell "Andy" Dwyer	125 episodes; Recurring role (Season 1), Main role (Season 2-7) Nominated—Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
2010-2011	Ben 10: Ultimate Alien	Cooper Daniels (voice)	2 episodes
2014	Saturday Night Live	Himself	Episode: "Chris Pratt/Ariana Grande"

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role
2010	Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: Cosmic Destruction	Cooper Daniels
2012	Kinect Star Wars	Obi-Wan Kenobi
2014	The Lego Movie Videogame	Emmet Brickowski (archive footage)
2015	Lego Jurassic World	Owen Grady
2015	Lego Dimensions	Emmet Brickowski/Owen Grady

Charities

Chris Pratt supports the following charitable cause: ALS (amyrotrophic lateral sclerosis).

[ Source: Wikipedia ]