Chris Pratt had about $60, a bag of clothes and a pair of rollerblades when his first movie opportunity came along. He was living in a van on Maui and waiting tables at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.
The actor, now 47, revisited those days in an October 29 Instagram post, sharing a photograph from his screen debut. His account, covered by PEOPLE, began with a restaurant customer he recognized immediately: actress Rae Dawn Chong.
Pratt approached her table and struck up a conversation. When Chong asked whether he could act, he enthusiastically volunteered to be in her movie, despite never having read a screenplay.
She asked for a phone number, but Pratt didn’t have one, so he supplied his friend Mike’s instead. A couple of days later, Mike casually mentioned that someone had called. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME, MIKE?!” Pratt wrote.
Pratt Read the Script Three Times Before His Audition
Before Hollywood, I was living in a van in Hawaii and waiting tables at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. 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?”
She asked if I could act, and I said, “Fuck yeah, put me in your movie!”
She asked for my phone number. The only problem was I didn’t have one. So I gave her my buddy Mike’s number instead. A couple days later, Mike casually mentions, “Oh, by the way, someone called you.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME, MIKE?!
I called her back, and sure enough, she was serious. I drove over to pick up the script, went back to Mike’s house, and read all 120 pages three times in a row. First script I’d ever read. My character’s name was Devon, and I remember thinking, “Sweet! I could totally play a Devon!”
I showed up to the audition with every line and inflection mapped out in pencil. Rae told me I could act and offered me the part. I asked if we were shooting in Hawaii. Nope. Los Angeles.
I had about $60 to my name, a bag of clothes, and some rollerblades.
Then Rae told me they’d fly me out. And I remember thinking right then and there, my life just changed forever. I’m going to be an actor.
That little movie was Cursed Part 3, a low-budget horror comedy that opened the door to Hollywood for me.
I’ll forever be grateful to Rae for taking a chance on a kid working at a shrimp restaurant. Everybody starts somewhere, and this is where it all began for me.
— Chris Pratt (@prattprattpratt) October 29, 2026
Pratt called Chong back, collected the script and returned to Mike’s house to read all 120 pages three times. The character was named Devon. “Sweet! I could totally play a Devon!” he recalled thinking in the post, also quoted by ComingSoon.
He prepared his lines and vocal inflections in pencil before arriving for the audition. Chong offered him the part, but when he asked whether they would be shooting in Hawaii, she told him the production was in Los Angeles. He couldn’t afford the journey.
Chong arranged his flight, allowing him to join the low-budget horror comedy Cursed Part 3. Pratt recalled deciding then that he was going to become an actor. His post thanked Chong for taking a chance on him.
His Scooby-Doo Van Appeared in a Photograph He Shared in 2014
Pratt had already given fans a look at his island life in August 2014, shortly after Guardians of the Galaxy opened in theaters. He posted a photograph on Facebook showing himself beside a white van decorated with Scooby-Doo and Shaggy, as ABC News reported at the time.
“In my hand is the script for the movie that got me out of Maui. Crazy,” he wrote in the caption. He had moved to the island at 19 after leaving college and accepting a friend’s offer of a one-way ticket. Some nights, he slept in a tent on the beach instead.
He recalled enjoying island life, telling The Independent that 15 to 20 hours’ work weekly covered gas, food and fishing supplies.
The First Movie Paid $700, and Restaurant Work Continued
During an April 2015 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Pratt said his debut role paid him $700, which he stretched over a year. Entertainment Tonight documented the interview as he was preparing for the release of Jurassic World.
A 2017 Vanity Fair profile reported that Cursed Part 3 took 10 days to shoot and had never been released. It nevertheless left Pratt with a screen credit, a manager and footage for a reel. He continued waiting tables in Los Angeles while pursuing acting jobs, with Everwood in 2002 bringing a more substantial income.
Roles on The O.C. and Parks and Recreation followed, along with film work in Moneyball and Zero Dark Thirty. By 2014, he was playing Peter Quill, also known as Star-Lord, in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
His restaurant job also supplied a name he considered using professionally. During the January 22, 2026, episode of Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, covered by Entertainment Weekly, Pratt explained that the final four letters had worn off his “Christopher” name tag, leaving “Christo.” Coworkers began calling him that, and new employees assumed it was his name. As he prepared to pursue acting, he seriously considered keeping the nickname without a surname: “Maybe I’d go as just Christo.”