Ready to dive in? Chris Pratt stripped down and took a dip in the lake for the February 2017 cover of Vanity Fair, but he told the magazine he wasn’t always considered the hunk he is today.
The Passengers actor, 37, revealed that he almost missed out on the role of Oakland A’s player Scott Hatteberg in 2011’s Moneyball because of his weight. “That was the first time I heard someone say, ‘We’re not gonna cast you — you’re too fat,'” he told Vanity Fair. “So I decided to drop the weight, like in wrestling. I couldn’t afford a trainer, so it was all running and crash-dieting and cutting alcohol.”
Growing up, before starting his successful career in Hollywood, Pratt’s older brother, Cully, inspired him to become an actor. “He was hands down the best big brother anyone could ask for — super-supportive and always helped me and loved me and took care of me,” Pratt explained. “We spent our entire childhood, eight hours a day, wrestling. One Christmas, he was in a play, a musical, and sang, and it knocked everyone’s socks off. My mom was crying. And I was like, ‘That’s what I want to do.'”
However, the road to stardom wasn’t as easy as the budding actor had hoped it would be. “I was selling coupons for things like oil changes or trips to a spa. I was great at that,” Pratt told VF. “That’s why I believe in God and the divine. I feel like it was perfectly planned. People talk about rejection in Hollywood. I’m like, ‘You’re outta your f–kin’ mind. Did you ever have someone sic their dog on you at an audition?'”
The Minnesota native also worked at Bubba Gump Shrimp in Maui, Hawaii, and lived out of a van. He eventually landed his breakout roles in WB’s Everwood and NBC’s Parks and Recreation, before starring in blockbusters such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World.
“Once you get smart about auditioning, you learn to audition before they say ‘Action,'” he said. “You walk into the room as the character. You let them think the person you are is close to the character they want. You make them think you already are that guy.”
