He’s one of Hollywood’s most recognizable actors, having been on the big screen for years, but where did Chris Pratt grow up?
Chris Pratt was born in Virginia, Minnesota, but would move to Lake Stevens in Washington at the age of seven. He would remain in the area until he was a young adult, at which point he drifted, ending up in Hawaii.
Read on to learn more about Chris Pratt’s upbringing and early life.
Funny By Nature
When Chris Pratt was a child and teenager, he never dreamed he’d become an actor. Reportedly, he knew he’d be famous in some capacity, but he never thought it’d be on the big screen.
Growing up in Virginia, Minnesota, and then in Lake Stevens, Washington, he was a fairly regular child. He wrestled in high school, had working parents, and wasn’t overly academic. When asked by his wrestling coach about his future, Chris Pratt explained what he’d do:
“I don’t know, but I know I’ll be famous and I know I’ll make a ton of money.” Pratt later explained that he had no idea how he’d do this, and moved on to graduate with no considerable achievements.
After graduating from high school in Lake Stevens, Washington, Chris Pratt attended community college. However, he wasn’t dedicated to his education, and dropped out just a few weeks into his studies.
He drifted, moving rapidly from role to role. He worked briefly as a ticket salesman and – bizarrely – a stripper. Ultimately, his endeavours led him to Maui in Hawaii, where he became homeless. Reportedly, Pratt lived out of a van and slept in a tent on a Hawaiian beach.
In an interview with The Independent, he discussed his homeless years. He stated: “It’s a pretty awesome place to be homeless.” He explained that he always managed to find enough money to eat, buy gas and smoke weed.
When he was nineteen years old, a chance interaction would change his life forever. While working as a waiter in a seafood restaurant, he happened upon an actress and director. She was impressed by his natural confidence and humor, and cast him in the first movie she ever directed.
Getting Discovered
After relocating to Los Angeles to shoot his debut movie, things started picking up for Pratt. He found regular work on small-time television shows, and ended up on The O.C. in its fourth season.
There were small, brief appearances in movies, but nothing too groundbreaking. His breakout role would actually come almost accidentally. In 2009, Pratt made an appearance on a sitcom called Parks and Recreation.
In this show, he played a character named Andy Dwyer. Reportedly, the character was destined to be ephemeral, but the executives approved of Pratt so highly that they wrote him in as a regular appearance. In the below YouTube video, you can see Chris Pratt’s character in a compilation of his best moments.
As of 2020, Parks and Recreation was still an extremely popular show, despite having ended in early 2015. Chris Pratt and his character had unwittingly become the focus of many internet memes, years after his time on screen.
He also became a source of inspiration for fitness freaks. In Parks and Rec, and shortly after, Chris Pratt was a larger-than-average, ‘chubby’ man. However, his forays into the big screen industry pushed him to change his way of living.
Roles such as Starlord in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Owen Grady in the Jurassic movies called for a fitter physique. Chris Pratt quickly went from a flabby, fledgling actor, to a toned and muscular leading star.
His transformation, both on and off screen, was remarkable considering as a teenager he had literally no idea what he wanted from life.