Chris Pratt: I thought I was going to be a sidekick in Hollywood films

It’s been over two decades in Hollywood for actor Chris Pratt, but the Guardians of the Galaxy (GOTG) actor admits he is still finding a footing in the industry. Pratt rose to prominence as the mild-mannered Andy Dwyer on the mokumentary Parks and Recreation. He says that there was a time when he considered himself a “misfit” in the industry. “Many years went by when I was trying to find my footing in Hollywood, and find out what kind of an actor I was,” says the 44-year-old.

“I had ambitions to play lead roles, to be an adventurer and a hero. But it felt I wasn’t ever given those opportunities. And when I started to get those opportunities, I would blow them,” shares the Bride Wars (2009), Moneyball (2011), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), The Magnificent Seven (2016) and Passengers (2016).

Looking back, the actor, who has made a name for himself playing the superhero Star-Lord ikn GOTG, says, “I would not get callbacks, nor would I get auditions. And oftentimes, as a performer in Hollywood, I was trying to define myself by how the industry sees me, rather than what I’m trying to prove myself to the industry.”

In doing so, Pratt reveals he allowed the rejection that came his way to define who he was as an actor. “There was a time when I thought maybe I was going to be more of a sidekick funny character, which would have been perfectly fine by me,” he recalls.

And then, Pratt met director James Gunn, who he says turned around his career with GOTG franchise. “James took a chance on me to play this type of a character in this type of a universe, right around the time that I was hoping to try to do something different. I had been essentially not castable in that type of role before and it changed everything. I am really grateful for that. James found me — an outcast at the moment and made me his Star Lord,” says the actor, who has projects such as The Electric State, Cowboy Ninja Viking and Garfield up next.