The hilarious first headshots of Chris Pratt and Melissa McCarthy
Before you’re wildly famous like Chris Pratt and Melissa McCarthy, you have to do some pretty ridiculous things to break into ‘the biz,’ as they call it (actually nobody calls it that anymore). One of the requirements for a newbie actor is to take some interesting professional pictures to show your “range” to casting directors.
Last week, Pratt and McCarthy were reminded of their humble beginnings during a visit to The Graham Norton Show. Norton whipped out their original headshots from waaaaay back when and hilarity ensued.
Pratt’s headshot sort of happened by accident while he was out in West Hollywood as a young 20-something. Someone approached him and asked if he had ever been “shot” before. Pratt said no, he could not remember ever being “shot.” So then he ended up at this guy’s apartment, where he was given new clothes, and posed for headshots—for free. “Look at my hair—that was guy who clearly couldn’t afford a haircut, let alone a headshot,” Pratt jokes.
McCarthy, meanwhile, thought she had the only two hard copies of her headshots EVER, so she’s really just wondering how Norton got his hands on them. She did her headshots as “Carol,” one of her Groundling characters who used to give out cheese samples at a grocery store. In her second headshot, she’s wearing a tiny little BARBIE cowboy hat, because she’s wonderful.
McCarthy says of her two shots, “I was like, ‘Nobody is going to hire those woman.’”
Thank god, was she wrong.
You can watch both amazing videos for Pratt and McCarthy before the episode airs on June 6th.
