The good-looking goofball next door, Chris Pratt's secret weapons were his offbeat charm and innate decency, a rare combination in cutthroat Hollywood. He made his first mark as the dim-but-lovable Bright Abbott on "Everwood" (The WB, 2002-06), and followed that up as a spacey student on the last season of "The O.C." (FOX, 2003-07). On the big screen, he survived an Amy Sedaris seduction attempt in "Strangers with Candy" (2005), subtly undermined James McAvoy in "Wanted" (2008), and found himself dumped by Anne Hathaway in "Bride Wars" (2009). Fans eagerly followed his real-life romance with his "Everwood" onscreen sister Emily VanCamp and 2009 marriage to movie star Anna Faris, but his biggest success came in the breakout role of the clueless-but-cute Andy Dwyer on "Parks and Recreation" (NBC, 2009- ). While Pratt may have made his name playing charming chuckleheads, the actor seemed ready to prove that he could do much more.
Born in Virginia, MN on June 21, 1979 but raised in Lake Stevens, WA, Christopher Michael Pratt was an athlete in high school with a fondness for hunting and fishing. After graduation, he moved to Hawaii and began waiting tables at Maui's Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. Fate intervened when he waited on actress Rae Dawn Chong, charming her with his sense humor so much that she cast him in the comic horror movie she was writing-directing, "Cursed Part 3" (2000). Although the movie never quite saw the light of day, the experience convinced Pratt to stay in Los Angeles, where he bought a used car, landed an agent, and hit the audition rounds. He earned his SAG card on an episode of the Annette O'Toole bounty hunter series, "The Huntress" (USA Network, 2000-01), and then nabbed a regular series role on the Treat Williams drama "Everwood" (The WB, 2002-06).
Following the families and competing practices of two local doctors in a small Colorado town, the heartfelt show cast Pratt as Bright Abbott, an intricately wound football player who struggled to find acceptance from his doctor father. For his fan favorite-performance, Pratt received two Teen Choice Award nominations. On the show, his sister was played by Emily VanCamp, and the two actors fell in love off-screen, causing a minor scandal that bothered fans more than those who actually worked on the show. The two would break up a few years later. During the run of "Everwood," a pilot Pratt had shot in 2001 finally aired as a TV movie, "The Extreme Team" (ABC, 2003), which cast him as a snowboarder recruited as a secret agent for the U.S. government.
Alongside Danica McKellar, a bespectacled Pratt starred as a scientist intent on stopping a nanotechnology disaster in the aptly-titled "Path of Destruction" (Syfy, 2005), but fared better as the blond Brason in the big-screen version of the Comedy Central series, "Strangers with Candy" (2005), whom the grotesque Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris) tried to seduce. After "Everwood" ended, Pratt's next series television venture came with the last season of the teen drama "The O.C." (FOX, 2003-07). As the would-be protestor Winchester "Che" Cook, he had odd flirtations with both Summer (Rachel Bilson) and Seth (Adam Brody), the show's supercouple. Pratt made a strong comic impression in the massive Angelina Jolie action hit "Wanted" (2008) as James McAvoy's undermining best friend, and offered pleasant support as the underwritten fiancé of Anne Hathaway in the critically maligned but box office hit "Bride Wars" (2009).
The handsome-yet-rough-around-the-edges Pratt wrung a few laughs out of his brief appearance in Diablo Cody's comic-tinged horror movie "Jennifer's Body" (2009) as Megan Fox's small-town ex-boyfriend, but his engagement and marriage to movie star Anna Faris - in a July 9 ceremony in Bali - made more of an impression on the American public. Professionally, he broke through to his widest audience yet when he earned the role of Andy Dwyer on the Amy P hler sitcom, "Parks and Recreation" (NBC, 2009- ).
As the lovesick, bumbling ex-boyfriend of Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones), Pratt was originally intended only to be a guest star for six episodes, but his sweet, goofy performance won over critics, fans and the staff of the show, and he was promoted to a series regular. Over the course of the series, the childlike Andy provided an increasing number of the show's funniest - and most touching - moments. His budding relationship with deadpan college student April (Aubrey Plaza) surprised with its poignancy and fans rooted for the unlikely twosome to make things work. In fact, the puppyish Pratt charmed so completely that he quickly became indispensable to the show, with the actor finding himself more in demand than he had ever been before.