Christopher Michael Pratt (born June 21, 1979) was born in Virginia Minnesota, but raised in Lake Stevens, Washington. At the age of 18, Pratt and a few friends from his hometown decided to move to Hawaii. He was working at Bubba Gump Shrimp as a waiter when he was discovered by actress/director Rae Dawn Chong, who was looking for a lead actor for her movie Cursed Part 3. Pratt was charming and very forward with his sense of humor. Chong gave him an audition and four days later, production began in Los Angeles for her directorial debut and his first acting experience, which paid $750. He used the money to buy a car and continued his acting career by booking more auditions.

The audition process lead to more work and in 2002, he became a household name when he landed a lead role as Bright Abbot on The WB’s Everwood. He then went on to star in nine episodes of The O.C. as Che, a hippy, nature-loving activist who became Summer’s friend. Since then he has gone on to star in many movies alongside A-list actors. However, he’s also well known for his gig in the comedy television series Parks and Recreation as Andy Dwyer, for which he received critical acclaim and was nominated for the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2013.

His early film career began with supporting roles in such mainstream films as Wanted, Jennifer’s Body, Moneyball, The Five-Year Engagement, Zero Dark Thirty, Delivery Man and Her.

Pratt achieved leading man status after starring in two commercially successful films in 2014: computer-animated adventure comedy The Lego Movie and Marvel Studios superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy (Portraying Star-Lord).

In 2015, he starred in Jurassic World, the fourth installment in the Jurassic Park franchise, which is his most financially successful film to date, earning $1.6 billion at the box office. Later that year, Time named Pratt one of the 100 most influential people in the world on the annual Time 100 list.

Pratt continued his leading man status with The Magnificent Seven and Passengers. He reprised his role as Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and will play the character again in Avengers: Infinity War and its untitled sequel.