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    Chris Pratt Reveals He Was One Call Away From Missing Acting Big Break

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    Chris Prattalmost didn’t dial into his first acting gig. 

    The Guardians of the Galaxy star admitted that he almost missed out on what would become a life-changing role during his days working at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. in Maui simply because he was living out of a van and didn’t have a phone.

    “One day, the incredible RaeDawnChong 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 an Oct. 29 Instagram post. “She asked if I could act, and I said, ‘F–k yeah, put me in your movie!’”

    The Soul Man star—daughter of Tommy Chong—then asked for his phone number, which is when he found himself in a fishy situation.

    “The only problem was I didn’t have one,” Pratt revealed. “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?!”

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    Thankfully, he was able to salvage his big break, sharing that he quickly called the Commando actress, who assured him “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,” the 47-year-old continued. “First script I’d ever read. My character’s name was Devon, and I remember thinking, ‘Sweet! I could totally play a Devon!’”

    Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

    Still, he was shell-shocked when he was offered a part. Plus, he faced another possible roadblock over how he would get from Hawaii to Los Angeles as he “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,” he said. “That little movie was Cursed Part 3, a low-budget horror comedy that opened the door to Hollywood for me.”

    And while Pratt almost faced a less than ideal situation when it came to the 2000 flick, he would “forever be grateful to Rae for taking a chance on a kid working at a shrimp restaurant.”

    Valerie Terranova/Getty Images for Prime Video

    “Everybody starts somewhere,” he mused, “and this is where it all began for me.”

    Pratt—who shares kids Lyla, 6, Eloise, 4, and Ford, 23 months, with wifeKatherine Schwarzenegger, as well as son Jack, 14, with exAnna Faris’ son Jack, 14—has always been candid about his humble beginnings, especially the Scooby-Doo painted van he used to call home. 

    “Can’t believe I found this picture!!!” he posted to Facebook in 2014, sharing a look at the vehicle. “That is the van I lived in!!! In my hand is the script for the movie that got me out of Maui. Crazy.” 

    For a look at what more of your favorite stars were up to before they got their big breaks, keep reading. 

    Photo by Han Myung-Gu/WireImage

    Margot Robbie”I think I’ve had every kind of job,” the Barbie star said in a video for the Australian Council of Trade Unions from 2010.”Before [the long-running Australian soap opera] Neighbours, I was working at Subway. I’ve worked in restaurants behind the bar, in the kitchen. I did retail for two years. I’ve done some secretary work.”

    Jason Merritt/Getty Images

    Julia RobertsThe Oscar winner scooped ice cream at Baskin-Robbins before she delivered Mystic Pizza.

    Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock

    Brad PittOnce upon a time, he worked at an El Pollo Loco in Hollywood. “Man’s gotta eat,” Pitt said on Ellen in 2019, adding that he felt “no shame” about his days dressed as a chicken for the fast food chain.Other gigs to pay the rent included moving furniture and chauffeuring strippers around. The latter admittedly got “really, really depressing,” Pitt said during a 2007 Oscars roundtable, so he quit after only two months, “even though it was really good money I needed at the time.”But, making one last drive, he met a woman who was in an acting class he decided to check out and the rest is history. As he concluded, “Strippers changed my life.”

    Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

    George ClooneyThe Oscar-winning actor and producer didn’t go to medical school before scrubbing into E.R. in 1994, but he did sell insurance.”I had a lot of rotten jobs,” Clooney said on the Late Show With David Letterman in 2012. “I sold insurance door-to-door, but it didn’t work out well. The first day I sold one [policy] and the guy died.”

    Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

    Nicholas GalitzineThe English actor didn’t mind the idea of a day job.”I believe we’re a resilient bunch,” the Idea of You leading man said of actors in general, telling Backstage that over the years he worked at Abercrombie & Fitch (“a very low point”), took on catering jobs, coached kids’ sports, spent time as a “manny” and worked at a frozen yogurt shop with future Bridgerton star Simone Ashley.

    Andrew Lipovsky/NBC

    Jimmy FallonThe late-night host started off working in a grocery store. Which wasn’t bad, minus having to scrape gum off the welcome mats.

    Kevork Djansezian/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

    Chris HemsworthThe Thor star got his first job at 14 “cleaning breast pumps” at a pharmacy, and as he said on The Tonight Show, “repairing them as well, occasionally.””They would rent them out, the machines would come back,” he explained, “and I would have a toothbrush, a little spray and wipe…”But Hemsworth wasn’t one to nurse a grudge.

    Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

    Tom HanksWhen he was in high school, the Oscar winner sold popcorn and peanuts at Oakland Athletics games, a tear-free gig since there’s no crying in baseball.

    John Salangsang/REX/Shutterstock

    Amy AdamsBefore walking red carpets, she waited tables at Hooters. Which, she said, was a great way to earn money to buy a car.

    Charles Sykes/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock

    Oprah WinfreyAs a teenager she worked at a grocery store near her father’s barber shop in Nashville and “hated it with a passion,” she recalled during a 1992 visit filmed for The Oprah Winfrey Show. Not least because she “wasn’t allowed to talk to the customers,” she said, adding, “Can you imagine that for me?”But Winfrey diligently showed up for work without fail. “The only thing that got me out of the store,” she said, “was the fact that I got myself a job in radio broadcasting.”

    Chris Frawley/WBTV via Getty Images

    Sandra BullockWhile sharpening her acting chops at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater, the Oscar winner supported herself bartending.”I learned a lot of accents as a bartender,” Bullock told the Associated Press. “A lot of girls came in looking for rich husbands. I learned to imitate them.”

    Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

    Channing TatumArt reflects life: The Magic Mike star’s own days as a male stripper under the stage name “Chan Crawford” inspired the 2012 box office hit.

    Ben Gabbe/Getty Images

    Nicki MinajThe rapper revealed she started off waiting tables at Red Lobster restaurants: “I’ve gotten fired from all three or four of them.”

    Stephen Lovekin/REX/Shutterstock

    Mindy KalingBefore she was in front of the camera, Mindy worked behind the counter at a video store. Admitted the actress, “I think I learned nothing from it.”

    Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images

    Rachel McAdamsThe Notebook alum once worked at McDonald’s, where, she acknowledged, “I was not a great employee.”

    Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Underfashion Club

    Vivica A. FoxThe Independence Day star says she was inspired to go into the entertainment industry after seeing Diana Ross and Michael Jackson in concert, but she “never forgot” where she started: Working at a hot dog stand!

    Jason Merritt/Getty Images

    Denzel WashingtonThe actor’s first job was cleaning up at a local barbershop when he was 11 years old. While working there, he learned a lot about acting and “hustling!”

    Karwai Tang/WireImage

    Sasha ObamaThe first daughter, who graduated from university of Southern California in 2023, reportedly had a summer job waiting tables and working the takeout window at a seafood restaurant on Martha’s Vineyard when she was 15.

    John Salangsang/Variety/REX/Shutterstock

    Emma StoneBefore she was a top dog in Hollywood, Emma worked behind the counter at a dog treat bakery. Seeing puppies all day? Doesn’t sound too ruff.

    Jag Gundu/Getty Images

    Jennifer AnistonBefore her star-making role as Rachel on Friends, the actress made her allowance cleaning toilets (“I’m actually pretty good at it,” she’s said) and was later a bike messenger in NYC.

    Dario Cantatore/Getty Images

    Russell CroweAs a teenager, the actor spun tunes at an Australian nightclub under the name “Russ Le Roq” to pick up women.

    Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

    Hugh JackmanThe Wolverine actor manned the counter at a 7-Eleven in Sydney before being fired for talking to the customers too much. The manager “just wanted me to get them out,” he told Fast Company. “I said, ‘There’s no one else here and I want to chat.'”

    Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival

    Christopher WalkenThe star of The Deer Hunter and Hairspray was already a child actor—”I was in sketches with Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin,” Walken told The Guardian. “Never got paid a cent!”—when he spent a summer as a trainee lion tamer in the circus when he was 16.”Who’s going to turn that down?” he said.  “I would come into the cage and wave my whip.”The lion, Sheba, would “lazily get up and sit like a dog and maybe give a little roar,” he continued. “I like cats a lot. I’ve always liked cats. They’re great company.”

    Getty Images

    Megan FoxThe Transformers star previously worked at a smoothie shop, where once a week someone had to dress up as a piece of fruit and stand by the highway to entice customers. “I was a banana,” Fox said on Ellen in 2012, “a giant banana.”

    John Parra/Getty Images

    Kourtney KardashianThe Poosh founder’s first job was as a movie production assistant, where, she told Us Weekly, she yelled “cut” and “rolling” all day.

    DLM Press, PacificCoastNews.com

    Gerard ButlerThe Scottish actor studied law for five years and spent two working at an Edinburgh firm, where, he said on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, he became “the first trainee lawyer ever in the history of the Scottish legal system to be fired before he qualified.” Getting sacked actually took “a lot of work,” he added, sharing that he racked up 32 days of being OOTO in his first two years.”You find yourself suddenly working at a law firm,” Butler explained, “and you follow that through and you think, ‘Okay, I can see myself now in retirement age, having done something that— in truth—I don’t care about. I have no interest in this.'”

    Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

    Miley CyrusThe Hannah Montana star moonlighted as a house cleaner with Sparkles Cleaning Service before landing her life-changing Disney Channel role.”I had one normal job and I actually liked it,” Cyrus said on Tyra in 2008, noting, “I can clean toilet bowls.”

    Snappers/ZUMApress.com

    Chris RockEven before the comedian earned minimum wage busing tables at a Red Lobster in Queens, NY, he was a paper delivery assistant for the New York Daily News, working alongside his dad Julius.”I loaded trucks at the Brooklyn plant over on Pacific St.,” Rock told the publication in 2014. “I have actual fond memories of working not just with my father, but with old cats loading trucks.”As for the Red Lobster, he shared in a stand-up routine, “I used to scrape shrimp into the garbage can and then load up the dishwasher. That was my real job. I never got a raise, I never got a promotion. They kept me in the back because I had really f–ked-up teeth and they didn’t want people to think that shrimp f–cked up your teeth.”

    INFPhoto.com

    Gwen StefaniThe No Doubt singer was once just a girl working at a Dairy Queen.”When I started there, I fit in my outfit,” Stefani said of her high school-era job during a segment on The Voice in 2014. “When I ended there, I did not fit in my outfit.”But she could sample the goods all day and not gain an ounce at her next job, working the makeup counter at a department store.

    Jason Merritt/Getty Images

    Danny DeVitoIn an anecdote seemingly ripped from an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, DeVito shared on a 2022 episode of the The Always Sunny podcast that he dabbled in posthumous hairdressing for funerals.When a client passed away, her family asked if he would do her hair, the Taxi star explained, after which he styled several more corpses. “I would go to the morgue and they’re there, they’re dead, they’re done up by the mortician,” he recalled. “I would take their hair and use the dry setting lotion and curl the hair, set the hair, take it out and fluff it up a little.”

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