Action star Chris Pratt swapped his superhero gear for a formal suit on Friday as he was awarded a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame for his contribution to cinema.
“I’m a man of faith and I believe that God works in mysterious ways, giving us signs and gifts in life. And those oftentimes come in the form of people,” he said, paying tribute to his mother. “Oftentimes, we weren’t cash-rich but we were never love-poor,” he told a crowd on Hollywood Boulevard that included Guardians co-stars Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and Michael Rooker.
The actor thanked film-maker James Gunn for casting him as Star-Lord in Guardians – a role he said had changed “so many lives,” from children in hospital to his real estate agent – and acknowledged Marvel for “taking a chance on the chubby guy from Parks and Rec.”
He also paid a lengthy tribute to his wife, the actress Anna Faris, telling her, “Without you, none of this would mean anything.”
Pratt, once a moderately successful TV actor, went to great lengths to build an action hero’s physique and was rewarded with his first major lead part in 2014’s Guardians, which went on to gross more than $770 million worldwide. The sequel, due out on May 5, is expected to do even bigger business.
Pratt also starred in 2015 monster movie reboot Jurassic World, the fourth-highest grossing film of all time, and is due to reprise the role of dinosaur trainer Owen Grady in the sequel, due out in 2018.
Raised in Lake Stevens, Washington, Pratt studied acting at a local community college for half a semester before moving to Hawaii and living in a van.
He got a job at a restaurant where he was discovered for the short horror film Cursed Part III, which never released. His other film credits include The Magnificent Seven, Passengers, Moneyball and Zero Dark Thirty.
