Early life

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.

Career

Columbus worked as a screenwriter with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, working on Gremlins (1984), The Goonies (1985) and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985). He wrote the first episodes of the animated series Galaxy High (1986) and later made his directorial debut with the teen comedy Adventures in Babysitting (1987) and Heartbreak Hotel (1988).

His directorial work includes Home Alone (1990), Only the Lonely (1991), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Nine Months (1995), Stepmom (1998), Bicentennial Man (1999), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Rent (2005), I Love You Beth Cooper (2009), Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) and most recently Pixels (2015)

He was the producer of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), the third film in the Harry Potter film series, and received an Academy Award nomination for producing The Help (2011).

Columbus founded his production company named 1492 Pictures in 1995.

The character types preferred by Columbus are the everyday American men, women and children who struggle to uphold family traditions against a changing, sometimes intimidating society. In 1993 he said: "I can understand the validity of showing people the ugliness of the world, but I also think there is a place for movies to leave people with a sense of hope. If your film isn't going to do that, I just don't think it's worth making."

Columbus is currently writing the House of Secrets book series with Ned Vizzini and co-founded a new animation studio called ZAG Animation Studios with Saban Capital Group and ZAG Entertainment.

Personal life

In 1983 Columbus married Monica Devereux, with whom he has four children: Eleanor, Violet, Brendan, and Isabella. 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 attend or previously 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.

Filmography

Year	Title	Writer	Director	Producer	Cameo
1984	Reckless	Yes
	Gremlins	Yes
1985	The Goonies	Yes
	Young Sherlock Holmes	Yes
1987	Adventures in Babysitting		Yes
1988	Heartbreak Hotel	Yes	Yes
1989	Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland	Yes
1990	Home Alone		Yes
1991	Only the Lonely	Yes	Yes
1992	Home Alone 2: Lost in New York		Yes		Man in toy store (uncredited)
1993	Mrs. Doubtfire		Yes
1995	Nine Months	Yes	Yes	Yes
1996	Jingle All the Way			Yes
1998	Stepmom		Yes	Yes
1999	Bicentennial Man		Yes	Yes
2001	Monkeybone			Yes
	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone		Yes	Yes
2002	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets		Yes	Yes
2004	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban			Yes
	Christmas with the Kranks	Yes		Yes
2005	Fantastic Four			Yes
	Rent		Yes	Yes	Angry man in car (uncredited)
2006	Night at the Museum			Yes
2007	Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer			Yes
2009	Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian			Yes
	I Love You, Beth Cooper		Yes	Yes
2010	Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief		Yes	Yes
2011	The Help			Yes
2013	Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters			Yes
2014	Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb			Yes
2015	Pixels		Yes	Yes
	It Had to Be You			Yes
2016	The Young Messiah			Yes
	Tallulah			Yes
2017	Melody		Yes

Critical reception

Year	Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	IMDb
		Overall
1987	Adventures in Babysitting	76%	N/A	6.8
1988	Heartbreak Hotel	38%	N/A	5.7
1990	Home Alone	54%	63%	7.5
1991	Only the Lonely	62%	N/A	6.3
1992	Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	24%	N/A	6.6
1993	Mrs. Doubtfire	71%	53%	6.9
1995	Nine Months	28%	N/A	5.4
1998	Stepmom	44%	58%	6.6
1999	Bicentennial Man	37%	42%	6.8
2001	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	80%	64%	7.5
2002	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	82%	63%	7.4
2005	Rent	46%	53%	7.0
2009	I Love You, Beth Cooper	14%	32%	5.3
2010	Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief	49%	47%	5.9
2015	Pixels	17%	27%	5.7

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result
1985	Saturn Award	Best Writing	Gremlins	Nominated
1986			Young Sherlock Holmes	Nominated
2002	Amanda Award	Best Foreign Feature Film	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	Nominated
	Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film	Best Film		Nominated
	BAFTA Children's Award	Best Feature Film		Nominated
	Hugo Award	Best Dramatic Presentation		Nominated
	Saturn Award	Best Director		Nominated
2003	Amanda Award	Best Foreign Feature Film	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	Nominated
	BAFTA Children's Award	Best Feature Film		Nominated
	Hugo Award	Best Dramatic Presentation		Nominated
	Mainichi Film Award	Best Foreign Language Film		Won
	Saturn Award	Best Director		Nominated
2004	BAFTA Children's Award	Best Feature Film	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	Won
2005	Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film	Best Film		Nominated
	Satellite Award	Outstanding Director	Rent	Nominated
2012	Academy Award	Best Picture	The Help	Nominated
	AFI Award	Movie of the Year		Won
	Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film	Best Film		Nominated
	Black Reel Award	Best Film		Won
	Christopher Award	Best Feature Films		Won
	Producers Guild of America Award	Best Theatrical Motion Pictures		Nominated
2016	Golden Raspberry Award	Worst Picture	Pixels	Nominated

Cultural references

In The Big Bang Theory episode titled "The Pirate Solution', the characters celebrate Columbus Day by watching The Goonies, Gremlins and Young Sherlock Holmes because "They were all written by Chris Columbus."

[ Source: Wikipedia ]