He started with nothing — wearing shoes three sizes too small and growing up in a cramped trailer with his struggling family.
But through sheer determination, he went from waiting tables and taking small roles to becoming the face of some of Hollywood’s biggest film franchises.
Chris Pratt’s journey is nothing short of inspiring – let’s take a closer look at his incredible rise to fame.
Despite his immense success, the Chris Pratt remains humble — perhaps a reflection of his upbringing. He carries himself with grace, humor, and class, making him not just a great performer but an even more likable person than the characters he plays. It’s no wonder fans, including myself, have grown to love him beyond the screen. If he weren’t an actor, he could easily be a top-tier comedian.
His dad worked in the mines
Born into a working-class family in a small town, the now 45-year-old actor grew up learning the harsh realities of life. Little did he know, his natural charm, humor, and determination would one day make him one of Hollywood’s most beloved actors. From playing a Navy SEAL in The Terminal List to voicing Garfield, Pratt has proven he can do it all. His career has skyrocketed over the past decade with roles in Zero Dark Thirty (2013), the Jurassic World trilogy, and Guardians of the Galaxy, captivating audiences with his versatility.
Before he was a Hollywood A-lister, Christopher Michael Pratt was just a kid growing up in a working-class family, learning the value of a dollar the hard way.
Born on June 21, 1979, in Virginia, Minnesota, Chris was raised alongside his two older siblings, Cully and Angie. His mother worked at a Safeway supermarket, while his father was a taconite miner and later a construction worker. Despite their hard work, money was always tight.
“I remember as a kid we had so little money that if someone asked me if I read comic books, I’d be like, ‘No! Comic books are expensive.’ And they’d be like, ‘What do you mean? They are three bucks.’ But if you don’t have three bucks, then that is expensive!”
Tough times and tight shoes
When Chris was seven, the family moved to Lake Stevens, Washington, likely hoping for better financial stability. But times remained tough, and Chris quickly learned not to ask for things he knew his parents couldn’t afford.
“I know what it is like to not ask for anything. Like, just being smart enough to not even ask. What is the point? Eventually, you stop asking…”
One of the biggest struggles? Shoes.
“We always had the lamest shoes. And shoes were so important as a kid! Once I won 85 bucks playing bingo with my mom and I bought a pair of Reebok Pumps. Dude, I wore those shoes for three years. They got so small for me that I had to take a razor and cut the pump out to buy myself some more space.”
Chris Pratt may be known for his action-packed roles in Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World, but as a kid, he wasn’t exactly the most athletic. In fact, a childhood injury made running a bit of a gamble.
His leg grew a little funny
“My leg grew in a little funny. So when I run, I run a little crooked. And if I run at top speed, there’s a high likelihood I will fall down,” Pratt told AP in 2018.
He even joked that his high school football highlight reel wasn’t full of touchdowns or incredible plays — it was mostly just him taking unexpected tumbles.
“My high school football highlight tape was all just images of me falling down midfield, like I just tripped over my shoelaces or something.”
Realizing that sprinting wasn’t his strong suit, Pratt focused on wrestling in high school. The Seattle suburb of Lake Stevens, which Pratt grew to love, was crazy about wrestling — much like how football is in Texas.
Chris was also a shot putter for the track team, proving that he had both strength and determination. And while he hadn’t yet found his path, he already had a gut feeling about where life would take him.
His family lost their home
When his wrestling coach asked what he wanted to do with his life, Pratt confidently responded:
“‘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.”
Turns out, that self-belief was spot on. But he still had a long road ahead before becoming a household name on the silver screen.
Chris Pratt’s road to stardom wasn’t just about chasing a dream — it was about surviving life’s hardships. While he was still attending Lake Stevens High School, his family lost their home, forcing them into a rental. When his parents later suggested he live in a loft inside a shed next to their trailer, he chose to move in with a friend instead.
Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
As if financial struggles weren’t enough, Chris’s father’s health also began to deteriorate. After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis — a condition that ran in the family — he pulled away from life and grew even more bitter.
”He had lost interest in life,” Chris recalled. ”He refused to take any medication or do anything like physical therapy.”
The disease only hardened his father’s already tough demeanor.
”He was pretty ornery to begin with, and that just made him more ornery.”
Looking back, Chris has admitted that his relationship with his father was complicated. When his dad passed away in 2014, it left a lasting impact on him —one that he has channeled into some of his most emotional roles.
Considered joining the military
Fortunately, his father got to witness some of Chris’s success as a film star before he passed away.
”He watched a lot of TV in his final years. That’s pretty much all he did, just sat in front of a TV. So, yeah, I think it made him proud, and it was cool that I got to find some way to connect with him, because he was a hard man to connect with,” Chris told Vanity Fair.
After high school, Chris considered joining the military, but instead, he found himself waiting tables and taking classes at a local community college, including a theater course.
Chris’s decision to dive into the world of theater was largely influenced by his older brother. Having enlisted in the Army himself, his brother advised Chris against following the same path, believing he was meant for something different.
”I think he saw something in me,” Chris shared. ”I was a peculiar kid. […] I dressed funny and was comfortable in my own skin.”
Homeless on the sunny shores of Maui
Yet, college wasn’t in the cards for him. He dropped out halfway through the first semester and took on odd jobs — selling discount tickets and even working as a daytime stripper to make ends meet. It all eventually caught up with him, and Pratt ended up homeless on the sunny shores of Maui, Hawaii. He spent his nights sleeping in a van and a tent on the beach, trying to figure out his next move.
”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,” Chris told The Independent.
During this chaotic time in his life, Chris reconnected with his spiritual side, becoming a deeply faithful person. But his time in Maui wouldn’t just be life-changing on a personal level — it would also set him on the path to Hollywood.
At 19, while waiting tables at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company in Maui, fate stepped in. Actress and director Rae Dawn Chong happened to notice him and decided to cast him in her directorial debut, the short horror film Cursed Part 3, a low-budget project filmed in Los Angeles.
A dream to chase
The movie wasn’t exactly a blockbuster, but for Chris, it was a turning point. He earned $700 for the role—enough, according to him, to live on for a year. More importantly, it gave him a taste of acting, and he was hooked. With nothing to lose and a dream to chase, he packed up and moved to Los Angeles, determined to make it in Hollywood.
But breaking into the industry without connections was like searching for a needle in a haystack. While hustling for auditions, Chris kept things simple—waiting tables to pay the bills and occasionally landing tiny roles in small productions.
”I was an outsider, no connections, no nepotism, nothing. A complete foreigner to Hollywood,” he later admitted.
Little did he know, his big break was just around the corner.
Dated his on-screen sister in real-Life
Chris Pratt’s first major television role came when he landed the part of Harold Brighton ”Bright” Abbott on the drama series Everwood. The show lasted four seasons and 89 episodes, and for Pratt, it was a game-changer. He has often credited Everwood as the role that truly launched his career.
During Everwood, Chris Pratt and Emily VanCamp, who played siblings Bright and Amy Abbott, developed a real-life romance. While those close to them were happy about the relationship, outsiders often had a different reaction.
”We’ve pretty much gotten used to the response of, ‘Eww, that’s weird. That’s creepy.’ The people who know us are happy and probably expected it to happen eventually. But yeah, every once in a while, we get that one person that’s like, ‘That’s really creepy. You just kissed your sister,’’ Pratt once shared with TV Guide.
At first, even Chris and Emily found it a little strange — not because of their roles, but because they were trying to keep their relationship under wraps.
”We thought it was weird for [the first] six months, but it had more to do with just trying to hide our relationship from the set. I don’t know why, and looking back on it, it was foolish. But we were trying to stay secretive and didn’t want it to get out there. It never really weirded us out that we played brother and sister, because, you know, it’s all fiction,” he explained.
How Chris Pratt developed Andy Dwyer
Three years after Everwood ended, Chris Pratt landed the role of the lovable goofball Andy Dwyer on NBC’s Parks and Recreation. Initially, Andy was supposed to be a temporary character, but Pratt’s charm and comedic timing were so spot-on that the producers made him a series regular.
This turned out to be his true breakout role — and to this day, many fans still associate him with the hilarious, clueless, and endlessly entertaining Andy.
Chris Pratt’s portrayal of Andy Dwyer was heavily influenced by his father. His dad had a tough, no-nonsense parenting style, which Pratt described as “emotional scarification.”
”Early on, I developed humor as a self-defense mechanism — I developed Andy, really. Andy on ‘Parks and Rec’ was my clown that I had honed my entire life,” Pratt said.
The success of Parks and Recreation coincided with exciting personal milestones for Chris Pratt. In 2007, while filming Take Me Home Tonight, he met actress Anna Faris, who played his love interest in the movie. The on-screen chemistry carried over into real life, and the couple got engaged a year later. In 2009, they tied the knot in a spontaneous ceremony in Bali, Indonesia.
His premature son restored his faith in God
After settling into their home in the Hollywood Hills, the couple welcomed their son Jack in 2012. However, his birth was anything but ordinary — he arrived nine weeks premature, weighing just 3 pounds 12 ounces (1.7 kg). Pratt later shared that the experience strengthened his faith.
”It really defined my faith in God,” he said, explaining that he and Anna ”prayed a lot” during the uncertain early days. “It restored my faith in God, not that it needed to be restored, but it really redefined it,” the actor told People.
After nearly a decade together, Pratt and Faris divorced in 2017.
The following year, he found love again with author Katherine Schwarzenegger.
The two were introduced by none other than her mother, Maria Shriver, and the rest, as they say, is history. Through his marriage to Katherine Schwarzenegger in 2019, Pratt became part of the extended Kennedy family.
Chris Pratt talks about Arnold Schwarzenegger
In 2020, the couple welcomed their first daughter, Lyla, followed by their second daughter, Eloise, in 2022. When asked about his legendary father-in-law, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Pratt shared a heartwarming detail about his generous nature.
”Gift-giving is absolutely one of his love languages,” Chris told Men’s Health. ”The most thoughtful gifts you could imagine, like quilts with all of the baby’s pictures on it.”
Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger currently reside in a newly built home in Brentwood, California. In 2023, the couple purchased the architecturally significant Ellwood Zimmerman House but chose to demolish it to make way for a larger, more modern home.
Despite his fame and success, Chris Pratt has always stayed grounded, remaining deeply connected to his roots. He often reflects on his late father, who passed away in 2014, leaving a lasting impact on him.
Pratt sees pieces of his father in himself, not just in his appearance but in his mannerisms too. ”Physically, we look similar, I guess. And sometimes I hear his voice coming out of my mouth — some of the things he says, some of the things I would say,” he shared.
Returning to his roots
In 2019, Pratt returned to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant, where he had once worked as a waiter. He shared a nostalgic and reflective post on Instagram, giving fans a glimpse of his humble beginnings.
”Twenty years ago I was a waiter at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. Every time I go back I’m reminded of the thousands of shrimp I ate off of people’s plates on the way back to the kitchen. Please tip your server. Leave at least 20%. Also leave some shrimp,” he humorously captioned the photo, reminding everyone of the importance of kindness and generosity.
From his early days in a small town to his rise to fame, Pratt continues to reflect on where he came from, always remembering that success doesn’t change who you are at the core.
Whether he’s reminiscing about his father’s impact or returning to his old stomping grounds, it’s clear that Pratt values the journey over the destination.
So, the next time you’re faced with a challenge, remember Chris Pratt’s story: with faith, grit, and a bit of humor, anything is possible. Feel inspired? Share this story with someone who needs a reminder of the power of perseverance.
READ MORE
- Rachael Ray breaks silence with worrisome health update after slurred speech video
- Behind the scenes of Diana and Michael Jackson’s connection
