Chris Columbus (filmmaker)

Christopher 'Chris' Columbus (born September 10 1958, Spangler, Pennsylvania) is an American filmmaker.

Film career

Start in the industry

Columbus graduated, Tisch School of the Arts. He created and wrote the first episodes of the animated series Galaxy High (1986-87).

Columbus made his directorial debut with the teen comedy Adventures in Babysitting (1987). He had huge success with the popular Home Alone film (1990) and its sequel Home Alone 2: Lost In New York starring Macaulay Culkin.

Return to prominence

In 1995, Columbus started his own production company named 1492 Pictures. This refers to Columbus's more famous namesake, Christopher Columbus.

His later directorial work includes Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Bicentennial Man (1999), the first two Harry Potter films and Rent (2005), an adaptation of the popular Broadway musical.

Commercially, he has been hugely successful, despite the occasional flop, but like his one-time mentor, Steven Spielberg, he has met with critical accusations of excessive sentimentality and catering to children, as well as being described as a "bean counter" by British film critic Mark Kermode in criticism to his bland and straight-forward direction.

Chris Columbus had been rumored to direct the sixth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince; but David Yates, the director of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, has retained the position. He had expressed interest in directing the seventh film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, however David Yates has since been chosen to direct both parts of the film.

As of August 2006, Columbus optioned the film rights to Christopher Moore's best-selling novel A Dirty Job.

Columbus lives in San Francisco, California; his daughter Eleanor appeared in the Harry Potter films as Susan Bones, a girl in Harry's year in Hufflepuff house.

Partial filmography

• The Lightning Thief (2009) (Director)
• I Love You Beth Cooper (2008) (Director, Producer)
• Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) (Executive Producer)
• Night at the Museum (2006) (producer)
• Rent (2005) (Director)
• Fantastic Four (2005) (Executive Producer)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) (producer)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) (exec. producer, director)
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) (exec. producer, director)
• Bicentennial Man (1999) (producer, director)
• Stepmom (1998) (producer, director, writer)
• Nine Months (1995) (director)
• Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) (director)
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) (director)
• Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992) (writer)
• Only the Lonely (1991) (director, writer)
• Home Alone (1990) (director)
• Heartbreak Hotel (1988) (director, writer)
• Adventures in Babysitting (1987) (director)
• Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) (writer)
• The Goonies (1985) (writer)
• Gremlins (1984) (writer)
• Reckless (1984) (writer)

Personal life

Columbus has been married to Monica Devereux since 1983. They have four children together, Eleanor, Violet, Brendan and Isabella.

His daughter Eleanor Columbus appeared as the character Susan Bones in the two Potter films he directed, making her, along with cousin Robert Ayres (Boy in Study Hall #2 in his second Potter film), the only Americans cast as students. She also had a small cameo along with her father in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

His other children, Violet and Brendan, also appeared in even more minor, unnamed cameo roles in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

His wife Monica made a small appearance in Home Alone as the red-headed flight attendant, and in Home Alone 2 as the Plaza telephone operator.

References

External links

• Chris Columbus at the Internet Movie Database
• BBC Movies article about Chris Columbus
• Chris Columbus biography from The New York Times
• Elementary, My Dear Potter - Young Sherlock Holmes / Harry Potter article