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Christopher Columbus (filmmaker)

Chris Columbus
Chris Columbus.jpg
Columbus at New York Comic Con in 2013
Born Chris Joseph Columbus
(1958-09-10) September 10, 1958 (age 58)
Spangler, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Residence Pacific Heights, San Francisco, California
Nationality American
Education John F. Kennedy High School
Alma mater New York University
Occupation Filmmaker
Years active 1984–present
Notable work Adventures in Babysitting, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Mrs. Doubtfire, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Help
Spouse(s) Monica Devereux (m. 1983)
Children 4

Chris Joseph Columbus (born September 10, 1958) is an American filmmaker. Columbus is known for directing movies such as Home Alone (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), and for writing movies such as Gremlins (1984) and The Goonies (1985).

Home Alone received a British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Film. Columbus received an Academy Award nomination for producing The Help (2011).

Columbus was born in Spangler, Pennsylvania and raised in Champion, Ohio, the son of Mary Irene (née Puskar), a factory worker, and Alex Michael Columbus, an aluminum plant worker and coal miner.

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/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.While on shifts he secretly worked on a 20-page screenplay, which one of his teachers would later use to help him get an agent. Columbus would later state the experience "saved my life" noting that he was able to experience "the terrifying reality I faced of having to live and work in that factory for the rest of my life in that town if I didn't make it".


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