Chris Pratt fought for every inch of success he has. He wasn’t discovered in a coffee shop. He wasn’t spat out by some Orlando star-making machine. He decided young that he wanted to act, then he got to work.

Pratt told Red Bulletin that he was moved to acting by watching his brother on stage, and by watching the reactions he got.

“I always wanted to do it,” he says. “When I was in pre-school, I saw my brother, who is three years older than me, performing in a school play. My mother was moved to tears by his performance and I thought to myself, ‘I can do that too.’”

Pratt headed to Hollywood. But he was not an immediate hit. There is a popular story that Chris Pratt auditioned for and did not get into the mega-hit Avatar. But Pratt laughs that off as just one in a long list.

“That’s just one of the movies I auditioned for and didn’t get. I wasn’t getting any parts. None! I tried for almost every movie you didn’t see me in.”

Chris Pratt says it took some real hanging on to get where he is now, and it took adjusting his aim.

“It was belief in myself, a capacity for enthusiasm and the thought that others were wrong if they thought I wasn’t the right person for the part. I don’t necessarily have to be the male lead. Character parts are good too.”

Nowadays, Chris Pratt seems to be the first name on anyone’s list for most things. He got the Jurassic World film. Stephen Spielberg wants him for a rumored Indiana Jones reboot.

“Just the idea that I’m even on the list of people being considered for the role at all bowls me over,” Pratt says of the possibility.

@BlackGirlNerds Big Trouble stands tall, needs no remake. But if they do, I can only imagine @prattprattpratt would be a proper Burton 2.0

— Joshua (@calabash11) May 24, 2015

But he still stays grounded.

“My heroes are people whose first impulse is to act selflessly and help others,” he says. “Russell Wilson, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback, is a hero as far as I’m concerned. And not just because he led his team to the Super Bowl two years running. He also gives a lot back to society, by visiting sick children in hospital, for example. I think that’s really cool. But most real heroes aren’t famous. It’s people who risk their asses to protect others even though they get no thanks for it.”