Chris Pratt

At age 19, Pratt was waiting 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.[3][4][15] Pratt's first regular television role was as Harold Brighton "Bright" Abbott on the series Everwood.[4][16] After Everwood's cancellation, he joined the cast of The O.C. for its fourth season, playing activist Winchester "Ché" Cook.[4] He also had an appearance in the 2008 action film Wanted, where James McAvoy hits him with a keyboard.

Pratt at the premiere of Parks and Recreation in April 2009

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.[4][17] This would become his breakout role.

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, 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 a new defensive position.[4][18]

He gained back the weight he had lost to appear in the film 10 Years (2011), then lost it again to portray a Navy SEAL in the film Zero Dark Thirty (2012).[4] He played the co-worker of Joaquin Phoenix character in Spike Jonze's sci-fi romance Her in December 2013.[19]

Although Pratt had been known to this point for playing supporting characters[4] and 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,[4][12] which grossed $469.1 million;[20] and Peter Quill / Star-Lord in Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy, which grossed $773.3 million.[21] Pratt had initially turned down the role of Peter Quill in 2013, explaining that he did not "want another Captain Kirk or Avatar moment" (after humbling auditions for both[22]). 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 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.[4][23] The role was part of a multi-film deal that Pratt signed with Marvel.[24] Bruce Diones of The New Yorker noted, "Pratt, overflowing with charisma, plays the leader of the pack of misfits, and his blissed-out space cowboy (with a love for seventies music) is so full of good will that he buoys the film and its requisite whizbang special effects."[25]

In November 2013, Pratt, an avid fan of Jurassic Park (1993), who has referred to the film as "my Star Wars",[4] replaced Josh Brolin as the lead in the film Jurassic World (2015). He played Owen Grady, who works training velociraptors.[26][27][28][29] Jurassic World grossed $652.3 million in North America and $1.018 billion overseas for a worldwide total of $1.670 billion.[30] 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."[31] He reprised the role in the sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which was released on June 22, 2018.[32] Though the sequel was a commercial success,[33] it received mixed reviews, with Brian Lowry of CNN criticizing the film for "largely neutralizing [...] Pratt's charm and comedic skills."[34]

Pratt at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con

His next film role was as Josh Faraday, a gambler, in The Magnificent Seven, a remake of the 1960 Western with the same name, in which he starred alongside Denzel Washington. The film was released on September 23, 2016.[35] Pratt's second 2016 release was Passengers, a science fiction film which opened in December, co-starring Jennifer Lawrence. Pratt played Jim Preston, "a mechanic, who wants to get off an Earth that no longer seems to value a guy who works with his hands".[36]

Pratt reprised his role as Peter Quill / Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which was released in May 2017. The film focuses on Quill's and his team's search for his father.[37] Pratt also reprised the character in Avengers: Infinity War, which was released in April 2018,[38] and in Avengers: Endgame, which was released on April 26, 2019.[39]

Additionally, Pratt reprised the voice role of Emmet in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part along with another character Rex Dangervest. In August 2017, Pratt was confirmed to star in the western drama The Kid.[40] He is also set to appear as Duncan in the action film Cowboy Ninja Viking alongside Priyanka Chopra.[41] Initially the movie was decided to be released in June 2019, however, on August 7, 2018, the film was pulled from the release list, nullifying the previous release date.[42] In March 2020, Pratt had a lead voice role in the Pixar animated film Onward, alongside Avengers: Infinity War co-star Tom Holland.[43]