Chris Pratt reveals why he had 'pretty much given up' before Marvel

Chris Pratt is looking back at his life before joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The 47-year-old actor joined the Marvel world in 2014 as Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy film franchise.

During a recent chat with The Hollywood Reporter, Pratt expressed gratitude to the president of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, for seeing the potential in him while he was "kind of fat" before joining the franchise.

Pratt began, "It took someone with real vision to look at me and say, ‘Yeah, that’s a guy who could guard the galaxy.’ Because at that point, if anyone knew me, I was Andy Dwyer on Parks and Recreation; I was funny, sure, but I was kind of fat.

"Nobody was thinking, ‘Now there’s an action star who can carry a big-budget sci-fi film franchise.'"

The Jurassic Park star admitted that Feige has more faith in him than he had for himself.

Pratt shared, "Kevin and James [Gunn] and the team at Marvel Studios saw something in me that I desperately wanted to believe was there myself, even though I had pretty much given up on it."

For those unaware, before joining Marvel, Pratt was famous for playing the lovable goofball character Andy Dwyer on the comedy sitcom Parks and Recreation, which ran from 2009 to 2015.