The 21 best Chris Pratt roles and episodes

Long before Greg Berlanti was known for producing pretty much every DC superhero show on The CW, he created the earnest and terrific WB drama "Everwood." In "Everwood," Chris Pratt (before he, too, was known for superhero things) played Brighton “Bright” Abbott, the not-so-book-smart jock son of one of the small town’s two physicians. Pratt was, without a doubt, the comedic relief of Everwood, and like his stint on The O.C., his time on this show served as solid evidence of what he'd be able to pull off comedy-wise come Parks and Recreation.

Perhaps this is the most important "Everwood episode for Bright Abbott. Up until this point, Bright was just the jerk, jock older brother of Amy, bullying new kid Ephram for sniffing around his sister (who was also his comatose best friend’s girlfriend). But here, we get flashbacks to the night of best friend Colin’s accident, which reveal that it was a drunken Bright behind the wheel of the car that night. With this, suddenly Bright’s behavior and attitude all come into perspective as a kid who’s lashing out because of the guilt he feels. This is a necessary episode for the character and his development early on in the series — as Bright breaks down and confesses to his parents by the end of the episode — as well as early proof that Chris Pratt would have more to offer to the role and show than just “jerk bully jock older brother.”

It was bound to happen: To make Bright an even more fully fleshed-out character, the show had to address the elephant in the room when it came to his intelligence, especially as he was the “dumb one” in a family of overachievers. At the same time, this episode also proved how good of a guy Bright was, as he refused to use Colin’s death as an excuse for why he had failed his classes. Again, Pratt was tasked with playing more than just the funny, goofy side of Bright, and he got the job done. (Oh, and this is also the episode where Kristen Bell plays a high school cheerleader who ruptured her breast implants.)

Ah, the Bright/Hannah relationship. While it, unfortunately, didn’t end well — Bright definitely messed up — the buildup and the relationship itself was pretty magical and sweet. Bright was a meathead and sort of a ladies man, but it wasn’t until Hannah’s introduction in Season 3 that he got to actually have a romantic storyline (leading to Chris Pratt proving he had even more skills in his arsenal, which would, of course, come in handy in the future). And it was one borne out of forming a friendship with a character who was the complete opposite of him. While Bright was aware of Hannah’s crush on him throughout the season — and even took advantage of it at one point — by the end of it he felt the same way. Here, he had to deal with the idea that he took too long to reciprocate, as Hannah starts dating someone else.

As Amy says to Bright in this episode: “You’re finally a good enough person to actually deserve Hannah, and now you can’t have her. It’s like the ultimate revenge for women everywhere.” But then in this, the third season finale, Bright and Hannah finally kiss. (Hannah’s reaction? “I feel sweaty.” It’s cuter than it sounds.) Bright finally admits his feelings for Hannah to himself in the episode before this one, but the kiss, of course, made it official. Yes, the character who was previously all about meaningless hookups and sex finally gets the girl.

While the third season prom episode had Bright pine for Hannah, this prom episode was actually the result of Bright (romantically) throwing a prom for Hannah as, at the time, she was planning to leave Everwood. Promposals are canonically the worst — sorry, kids —but grand gestures like giving someone the prom she never had (or would otherwise miss out on, in this case) are hella romantic. (See also: "The Vampire Diaries," Lost Girl.)

Oh, Ché. A spoiled rich boy at Brown University, deep into his hippy, save-the-world phase. Perhaps the best example in the history of The O.C. of a possible romantic rival not actually being anything close to a possible romantic rival — except for when he thinks Seth might be his soulmate, I guess — Ché is one of the many reasons the fourth season of "The O.C." is as brilliant as it is. (The fourth season of "The O.C." is brilliant. Tell your friends.) And even more than in "Everwood," Pratt’s role as Ché made clear just how funny he was…which could have easily put him on Mike Schur’s radar come "Parks and Recreation." (Seriously: Schur had a bit part in an episode during this final season of the series, as his wife was a writer/producer on the show.)

You would think the fact that Ché gets Summer kicked out of Brown would make him the type of character you don’t want to see more of, but Chris Pratt was ridiculously charming (in an out of touch way) as Ché. It was pretty apparent from the moment Ché first showed up on "The O.C." that he was full of crap, and even then the ridiculous charm took the wheel.

Yes, Ché managed to find his way into Ryan and Taylor’s shared coma lite dream. Or should I say Chester? In this alt-world episode, Chester got the spot Ryan originally got at the Harbor School, and instead of becoming the hippy we all know and tolerate, he became the worst of the worst Newport dude bro. And he got engaged to an almost-as-terrible Summer, and he was cheating on her with Julie Cooper, which led to a lot of discussion about “thongs."

This is the one where Ché and Seth go on a “spiritual retreat” (for a vision quest!), and as previously mentioned, Ché has a dream that causes him to come to the conclusion that Seth is his soulmate...

...and the following episode sees Ché grapple with the idea that a man (well, Seth) could be his soulmate, only to find the true love of his life is actually a groundhog (well, a girl in a groundhog costume). A lot of things happened in the fourth season of The O.C. And I swear, it — and Chris Pratt’s presence as Ché — makes sense when you actually sit down and watch it.

Now, this was the turning point. "Parks and Recreation" was the show where Chris Pratt went from comedic relief to actual comedic actor (and despite the show not being a ratings juggernaut) got on even more people’s radar. (Because even if "Parks and Recreation" was constantly on the bubble, it was still an NBC show, ultimately reaching more viewers than The WB and the — criminally underrated and misunderstood — fourth and final season of The O.C.) As Andy Dwyer Pratt started off as the truly terrible boyfriend/ex-boyfriend of Rashida Jones’ Ann Perkins, a man who at least gave us the classic song “The Pit.” But like with most things Season 1, his characterization as The Worst was essentially non-canon, leading the way for Andy to actually be enjoyable and likable in future seasons.

I’m pretty sure Andy officially became an all-time great character on "Parks and Recreation" when he introduced his alter ego (Burt Macklin, of the “f**king FBI”) and asked if the titular Greg Pikitis would like some boiling hot coffee…in his face! That’s the exact moment.

The episode starts with Andy giving the department piggyback rides. And then it gives us April and Andy bonding for the first time — a spit-take competition, dry Marco Polo — though Andy is still reeling from his breakup with Ann. (Also, who else completely forgot Mark Brendanawicz made it all the way to the end of Season 2?) But hey, give it time.

I mean, the title kind of says it all. Andy and April have a fancy party. By this point, Chris Pratt had already proved himself as a romantic lead — again, just look back at "Everwood" — even though he’d kind of transitioned into the lovable schlub role with "Parks and Recreation." (Sure, he definitely ended up getting jacked, but it’s not like he was in schlub mode during "Everwood" or "The O.C." That came with "Parks and Recreation," as much as people seem to forget that.) The Andy and April relationship is honestly a warped combination of both of those aspects of Pratt’s abilities as an actor.

The IMDB synopsis for this episode is: “The last episode of Andy's TV show brings his friends together.” That really doesn’t say much, but I can’t imagine it would be easy to explain this particular show-within-a-show episode concept, which the episode truly commits to — as does Chris Pratt, as it should be noted that even as a movie star, he still committed 100 percent to this ridiculous grown child character.

"Take Me Home Tonight" is a perfectly pleasant movie — one of those ones that took forever to release and then just kind of came and went. It’s also the movie where Chris Pratt and Anna Faris met — this movie came out in 2011, but it was filmed in 2007 — which was cute at one point and is now just a thing you note. Pratt’s Kyle is the boyfriend to Faris’ Wendy as well as the kind of guy who pretends to support her dreams while really just wanting to have a kept woman (similar to his even worse character in "Bride Wars," which is not on this list. Because it’s Bride Wars). He’s still oddly entertaining to watch, even though he’s so clearly this kind of jerk.

In this underseen — despite the cast, which is insanely stacked — but (also) pretty pleasant film about a 10-year high school reunion, Chris Pratt plays a guy who was a bully in high school and wants to make amends… nly making matters worse as the drunken mess he is. (Fun fact: Chris Pratt’s older brother is actually named “Cully.”)

"The Five-Year Engagement" is kind of like "I Give It A Year" in terms of being a pretty unpleasant (yet oddly charming) romcom about two people who clearly just need to not be together...but at least "The Five-Year Engagement" has a better best friend character in the form of Pratt’s Alex. And his ridiculous singing moment is much better than Stephen Merchant’s best man speech in that other movie.

Oh yes, here is where the shift begins. While a relatively small role, this is Chris Pratt’s big return to serious acting while he’s on "Parks and Recreation." It’s also the start of him getting into better shape for a role outside the show...

...with "Zero Dark Thirty," of course, being the movie where he bulked up and got quite jacked outside of the show, and you know the rest. I feel obligated to mention this movie, not even so much because of Chris Pratt having a substantial role — he really doesn’t in terms of screen time, especially considering how much promotion he did for the movie — but because of where it stands as the turn for him into Hollywood A-lister, movie star Chris Pratt.

Remember how good "The Lego Movie" was? Of course you do. It was good. In terms of voice acting, that’s not exactly what you think of Chris Pratt for — but he knocked it out of the park on this one.

Now this is the culmination of pretty much everything Chris Pratt has done and learned in his acting career. While Pratt has had other leading-man roles where he gets to be the one with the zingers and the one-liners, Marvel and James Gunn seem to have found the best way to harness that power with "Guardians of the Galaxy."

Ah yes, Jason Statham’s Jason Steakums. It is absolutely no wonder this sketch was cut for time because while Pratt definitely pulled off the whole Jason Statham thing, he could also just barely get through the tongue twisters in dress rehearsal (which was, of course, the point of the sketch). It most likely would have been an absolute train wreck — but perhaps in the fun way — had it actually gone down on the live show. But at least the bald cap makeup would have been better.