Background
Chris Columbus was born in 1959 in Spangler, Pennsylvania, United States, and raised in Champion, Ohio, United States. Son of Alex Michael Columbus and Mary Irene (maiden name: Puskar) Columbus. Columbus is of Italian and Czech descent.
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director filmmaker producer screenwriter writer
Chris Columbus was born in 1959 in Spangler, Pennsylvania, United States, and raised in Champion, Ohio, United States. Son of Alex Michael Columbus and Mary Irene (maiden name: Puskar) Columbus. Columbus is of Italian and Czech descent.
He graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio and went on to study at New York University's film school at the Tisch School of the Arts, where he was a schoolmate of writer and director Charlie Kaufman and Alec Baldwin. Although he received a scholarship, he forgot to renew it and was forced to take a factory job to pay for schooling. He graduated from New York University in 1980.
He first made his name by writing several original scripts produced by Steven Spielberg, including the back-to-back hits "Gremlins" and "The Goonies". As a director, Columbus has been at the helm of such iconic projects as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone", "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", "Home Alone", "Stepmom", and" Mrs. Doubtfire". As a producer, Columbus was also behind the hit films "Night at the Museum" and "The Help".
Columbus founded his production company named 1492 Pictures in 1995. He also co-founded a new animation studio called ZAG Animation Studios with Saban Capital Group and ZAG Entertainment. He is also a partner at production company, Ocean Blue Entertainment with 1492 Pictures cofounder Michael Barnathan and 1492 Pictures principal, Mark Radcliffe. In 2014 he formed another production company, Maiden Voyage Pictures with his daughter, Eleanor.
Columbus is as well-known for his writing as his directing. In 1990 Columbus directed Home Alone, the fourth-highest grossing picture to date. In 2003 Columbus received Mainichi Film Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2004 he won BAFTA Children's Award in the category "Best Feature Film", shared with Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman, and Mark Radcliffe. Columbus received an Academy Award nomination for producing The Help (2011). He also won AFI Award in the category "Movie of the Year", shared with Michael Barnathan and Brunson Green, in 2012. The same year he won Black Reel Award and Christopher Award.
Columbus has enjoyed success as a screenwriter and as a director but he favors directing. “It doesn’t really matter to me if I write my own script or if I direct someone else’s script as long as I’m directing a film”. He said that “writing was just a way to become a director as quickly as possible”.
Quotes from others about the person
Ty Burr: "Blessed with a golden touch and an apparently faceless style, [Chris] Columbus looks to be the Zelig of modem Hollywood directors".
Chris married Monica Devereux in 1982. She is a dancer. The couple has 4 children: Eleanor (born 1989), Brendan (born 1992), Violet (born 1994), and Isabella (born 1996). Columbus lives in San Francisco's Pacific Heights. Columbus and his wife listed their Pacific Heights home for sale in September 2013 for $12.995M. His children attended Saint Ignatius College Preparatory. He donated money to the school for a new building, and the school's "piazza" is named after him.
Many of Columbus' family members - including his children, his wife, his mother, his father-in-law, and his cousin Robert Ayres - have appeared in cameo roles in his films. Particularly, his own daughter, Eleanor, portrayed the Hogwarts student Susan Bones in the first two Harry Potter films.
