Here are some fun facts about the Minnesota-born former star of Parks and Recreation and the Jurassic World franchise.

Chris Pratt’s fan-favorite Parks and Rec character, dim-witted slacker Andy Dwyer, was supposed to be a season-one-only guest star.

An athlete who wrestled and played high school football, young Pratt’s dream was to be a stuntman, so he used to “practice falling down the stairs.”
As a wrestler in high school, he finished fifth in a statewide tournament.

He’s Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son-in-law through his marriage to Katherine Schwarzenegger, and the couple just had their second child together.

He’s particularly fond of one vegetable. “Show me a salad bar,” he says, “and I will clean them out of beets.”

He saw the original Jurassic Park (1993) on its opening day when he was 13—and grew up to star in three later films of the dino-dynasty franchise.

Pratt initially turned down the role of Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy back in 2013.

Pratt once worked as a stripper before his career took off.

Pratt was homeless and lived in his van before finding success as an actor.

Pratt is conversational in German, having studied the language in high school.

Pratt says his favorite way to blow off steam is to sing obnoxiously loud in the shower.

Pratt owns a ranch on Washington state’s San Juan Island named Stillwater Ranch.

He was so popular at Lake Stevens High School in Washington that he was chosen to deliver his class’s graduation speech.
Pratt’s first splurge with an acting paycheck was a trip to Amsterdam.

His favorite childhood book was Where the Red Fern Grows.

He was “discovered” waiting tables at a Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant by actress Rae Dawn Chong.

He’s gained and lost a lot of weight for his art. He weighed 220 pounds for Everwood, 295 for Delivery Man, 230 for Guardians—and dropped 30 pounds in three months to land the role of real-life baseball player Scott Hatteberg in Moneyball.