{"id":53249,"date":"2026-11-09T16:40:31","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T21:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=53249"},"modified":"2026-11-09T16:40:31","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T21:40:31","slug":"chris-pratt-recalls-living-in-a-van-when-a-chance-encounter-led-him-to-hollywood-stardom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/11\/chris-pratt-recalls-living-in-a-van-when-a-chance-encounter-led-him-to-hollywood-stardom.html","title":{"rendered":"Chris Pratt Recalls \u2018Living in a Van\u2019 When a Chance Encounter Led Him to Hollywood Stardom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Joe Seer \/ Shutterstock.com | Inset: @prattprattpratt \/ X<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Long before Chris Pratt became a Hollywood superstar, he was living in a van in Hawaii with little money, no acting experience and no idea that one conversation at a shrimp restaurant would change his life forever.<\/p>\n

The 47-year-old “Guardians of the Galaxy” star recently took a trip down memory lane, sharing the unlikely story of how he went from waiting tables at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company to becoming one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men.<\/p>\n

And it all started when actress and director Rae Dawn Chong walked into the restaurant.<\/p>\n

“One day, the incredible Rae Dawn Chong walked into the restaurant, and naturally, I went up to her table and said, ‘Hey, you’re a movie star! What are you doing here?'” Pratt recalled in a post on X.<\/p>\n

Chong asked whether he could act. Pratt, who had never auditioned for a movie, didn’t hesitate.<\/p>\n

“She asked if I could act, and I said, ‘F— yeah, put me in your movie!'”<\/p>\n

His bold response apparently paid off. Chong was casting a low-budget horror comedy and saw something in the young waiter.<\/p>\n

There was just one problem. Pratt didn’t even have a phone.<\/p>\n

He gave Chong his friend Mike’s number, and a few days later, she reached out. Pratt picked up the script and read all 120 pages three times.<\/p>\n

“First script I’d ever read. My character’s name was Devon, and I remember thinking, ‘Sweet! I could totally play a Devon!'”<\/p>\n

After auditioning, Pratt landed the role. But there was another obstacle. The movie was filming in Los Angeles, and he had almost no money.<\/p>\n

“I had about $60 to my name, a bag of clothes, and some rollerblades,” he recalled.<\/p>\n

When Chong offered to fly him to Los Angeles for filming, Pratt realized his life was about to take an unexpected turn.<\/p>\n

“I remember thinking right then and there, my life just changed forever. I’m going to be an actor.”<\/p>\n

That little movie, “Cursed Part 3,” became the beginning of a career that would eventually make Pratt a household name.<\/p>\n

He first won over television audiences as the lovable Andy Dwyer on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” before becoming Marvel’s Star-Lord in “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Major roles in the “Jurassic World” franchise and other blockbusters soon followed.<\/p>\n

But Pratt hasn’t forgotten the woman who took a chance on him when he had almost nothing.<\/p>\n

“I’ll forever be grateful to Rae for taking a chance on a kid working at a shrimp restaurant,” he wrote. “Everybody starts somewhere, and this is where it all began for me.”<\/p>\n

While Pratt’s career has taken him far beyond his humble beginnings, the actor has also become known for speaking openly about his Christian faith and the importance of family.<\/p>\n

The father of four has previously shared that passing his faith on to his children is one of his biggest priorities.<\/p>\n

“It’s an incredible blessing to be a father. It’s also a lot of hard work,” Pratt told Fox News Digital in October.<\/p>\n

Looking back, Pratt’s story is a reminder that life’s biggest opportunities sometimes arrive when we least expect them.<\/p>\n

For one young waiter in Hawaii, all it took was a little courage, a chance encounter and someone willing to believe in him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long before Chris Pratt became a Hollywood superstar, he was living in a van in Hawaii with little money, no acting experience and no idea that one conversation at a shrimp restaurant would change his life forever. The 47-year-old “Guardians of the Galaxy” star recently took a trip down memory lane, sharing the unlikely story…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":53252,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nChris Pratt Recalls \u2018Living in a Van\u2019 When a Chance Encounter Led Him to Hollywood Stardom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With just $60 to his name and no acting experience, Chris Pratt recalls the unlikely restaurant meeting that launched his incredible career.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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