Christopher Michael Pratt was born on June 21, 1979, in Virginia, Minnesota, and grew up in Lake Stevens, Washington, the youngest of three children of Daniel Clifton Pratt, a remodeler, and Kathleen Louise Pratt, a Safeway supermarket employee. He attended Lake Stevens High School and dropped out of community college after one semester, living in a van in Hawaii and working as a daytime stripper and Bubba Gump Shrimp Company waiter while pursuing acting. He was discovered by director Rae Dawn Chong while working as a waiter, and she cast him in her short film Cursed Part 3, which led to his first film role in Bride of Chucky (1998) and eventually to a role in the television series Everwood (2002-2006) and then as Andy Dwyer in Parks and Recreation (2009-2015).
Chris Pratt's Andy Dwyer in Parks and Recreation — the lovable, sweet, spectacularly unintelligent shoe-shiner at the Pawnee parks department — was among the most beloved comedy characters in American television of the 2010s. His chemistry with Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope, his genuine physical comedy ability, and the sweet, uncomplicated warmth of Andy's character made him a consistent highlight of the show. His physical transformation between his Parks and Recreation years (when he was noticeably heavier, a fact that Andy's character used frequently for comedy) and his casting as Peter Quill / Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) — for which he lost approximately 60 pounds and gained significant muscle — was one of the most dramatic physical transformations associated with a superhero role and became a widely discussed cultural moment.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and its sequels transformed Pratt into one of the leading action stars in Hollywood, with his warm, funny, self-deprecating Peter Quill creating a superhero archetype that differed from the brooding seriousness of much superhero cinema. Jurassic World (2015) confirmed his box office viability beyond the Marvel universe. He also voiced Emmet in The Lego Movie (2014) and Barley Lightfoot in Soul (animated, 2020), demonstrating a voice acting range. His casting in the Amazon series The Terminal List (2022) and its prequel Dark Wolf showed continued commercial engagement with action material.
Chris Pratt's personal life has been extensively documented: his marriage to actress Anna Faris (2009-2017), with whom he has a son, Jack (born 2012, who was born nine weeks premature and has faced health challenges that Pratt has spoken about publicly); and his marriage in June 2019 to Katherine Schwarzenegger, daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, with whom he has two daughters. He has been openly Christian, publicly describing his faith as central to his life and values, and his attendance at Hillsong Church — which has been criticized for policies that many consider hostile to LGBTQ+ people — generated controversy, as did his subsequent departure from Hillsong and attendance at other churches. He is widely described by colleagues as one of the most personable and professionally collaborative actors in the MCU universe.
