‘He Is Everything To Me’

Chris Evans has been known for saving the day as Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2011, but these days, the actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur knows that saving the day starts at home for him beside his favorite furry friend, Dodger.

Evans, 41, is now partnering with premium dog food company Jinx to bring cleaner ingredients to the dietary and lifestyle needs of modern dogs, including his own rescue animal.

“You’re always looking for good partnerships – things that mean something to you, things you’re passionate about,” Evans tells me during our Zoom conversation. “Then meeting with the folks at Jinx – they share the passion that I feel for dogs and they explain the product and you realize that all the pieces of the puzzle were there. It just made perfect sense.”

Evans is no stranger to being in front of the camera, but within this new partnership, he gets to work alongside his real-life “man’s best friend” Dodger, who Evans adopted in 2017. From the looks of their friendship, which Evans often shares on his Instagram page, this special duo seems to have a rather inseparable bond. So, what exactly will this new Jinx partnership ultimately entail for Evans?

“Well, basically just brand awareness,” Evans continues. “I’m not trying to rock the boat too much. These [Jinx] guys know what they’re doing. Even when you sit down with them, you realize Wow, I’m jumping on a pretty fast moving train. So, we’re going to shoot a commercial and just try to bring more awareness to the brand.”

Founded in 2020, Jinx dog food products use premium proteins like real salmon and organic chicken as their main ingredients, along with more than 20 natural plant superfoods, plus a patented probiotic.

With Evans getting to work alongside his dog in this new partnership, I wondered what Dodger has meant to him over these past few years, living life together, side-by-side.

“He is everything to me. He’s the most honest, loyal, stoic teacher you could possibly ask for. He’s so reliable. We don’t deserve them, do we? They’re such good creatures. It blows my mind sometimes that they exist (laughs). I’ve had different dogs in my life, I’ve known so many, and Dodger just really stands alone. No disrespect to any other dogs, but he’s just really a perfect animal. It was kind of a no-brainer to partner up on something that would help him.”

Evans goes on to share with me that he has done “that DNA swab” test on Dodger, where he learned that his canine is part Pitbull, Boxer, Lab, and Pomeranian, which Evan says explains Dodger’s fuller-looking tail.

For the past two years, the Captain America star has brought a real-life superpower directly to the fingertips of Americans, by simplifying the mountain of information shared in the daily news cycle. What began as just an idea that came to mind for Evans in 2017 has transformed into him becoming the co-founder of A Starting Point, a bipartisan channel of communication and connectivity between Americans and their elected officials. Since launching in 2020 with the objective to bring awareness to timely topics facing our nation today, I asked Evans what his greatest hopes are with A Starting Point’s ongoing mission, as Americans consider heading to the polls to vote in the midterm elections come November.

“Just engagement – that was always the intent of the [web]site – to try and spark an interest. I think the most discouraging thing is how few people vote in this country. You’re never going to get a government that accurately reflects who we are as a people unless people vote, regardless of your political affiliation. The goal of the site was to create a civic interest, so that’s what we hope that it will continue to do.”

Over the span of his celebrated Hollywood career thus far, Evans has often played the leading man in major blockbuster films, while also working behind the camera as a producer on various film & television projects. He even made his directorial debut with the 2014 film Before We Go. Now with Evans finding interest in professional collaborations beyond Hollywood, I asked him how he has noticed his mentality and approach toward business evolving over the past decade.

“If you find something you’re passionate about, whether it’s a script or a product like this, you invest yourself from a place of passion. If business unfolds as a result of it, so be it, but I try not to look at it that way. All of sudden, it becomes dollars & cents and a little bit more dispassionate, so I just consider it a creative endeavor.”