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Chris Pine
Chris Pine (43043463084) (cropped).jpg
Pine at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con
Born
Christopher Whitelaw Pine

(1980-08-26) August 26, 1980 (age 44)
Education University of California, Berkeley (BA)
Occupation Actor
Years active 2002–present
Parents
Relatives Anne Gwynne (grandmother)

Christopher Whitelaw Pine (born August 26, 1980) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as James T. Kirk in the Star Trek reboot film series (2009–2016) and Steve Trevor in the DC Extended Universe films Wonder Woman (2017) and Wonder Woman 1984 (2020).

Pine first rose to prominence for his roles in the romantic comedies The Princess Diaries 2 (2004) and Just My Luck (2006). His roles also include Cinderella's Prince in Into the Woods (2014); Jack Ryan in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014); Bernie Webber in The Finest Hours (2016); and Robert the Bruce in Outlaw King (2018). He has also starred in Unstoppable (2010), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Hell or High Water (2016), Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) and Wish (2023). Pine made his directorial debut with Poolman (2023)

Early life

Pine was born on August 26, 1980 in Los Angeles, California. His father, Robert Pine, is an actor who co-starred on CHiPs as Sergeant Joseph Getraer, while his mother, Gwynne Gilford, is a former actress who became a psychotherapist. He has an older sister, Katherine, who has also acted. His maternal grandmother, Anne Gwynne, was a Hollywood actress. His maternal grandfather, Max M. Gilford, who came from a Russian Jewish family, was an attorney who was elected president of the Hollywood Bar Association. His uncle, Greg Max Gilford, is a former recording artist for Dunhill Records, who became a computer consultant, then later a Recovery Mentor/Support Specialist for United Healthcare.

Pine attended the Oakwood School for high school, then went on to graduate from the University of California, Berkeley in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. While in college, Pine wanted to find a "place where he'd belong", and was not interested in joining a fraternity. Instead, he began doing theater. As a member of the UC Berkeley Theater Department, Pine performed in a Caryl Churchill play at La Val's Subterranean Theater and performed Orestes and Shakespeare at Zellerbach Hall.

He was an exchange student at the University of Leeds in England for one year. After graduating from Berkeley, he attended the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and he studied at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. He was in a professional honors business fraternity called Beta Alpha Psi while at UC Berkeley.

Career

2003–2008: Early roles

Pine's first acting role was in a 2003 episode of ER; the same year, he also appeared in episodes of The Guardian and CSI: Miami.

In 2004, he appeared in Why Germany?, a short film; and in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. Pine played the part of Nicholas Devereaux, the love interest of Anne Hathaway's leading character. In 2005, Pine appeared in an episode of the series Six Feet Under, as well as in Confession, an independent film that was released directly to video, and The Bulls, another short film.

Pine appeared in the television Surrender, Dorothy which aired in early 2006. He played Jake Hardin in the American film Just My Luck, a romantic comedy in which he starred opposite Lindsay Lohan. The film was released on May 12, 2006. Later that year, Pine appeared in the comedy Blind Dating, and in the action film Smokin' Aces. Pine did the one-man play The Atheist, at Center Stage, New York, in late 2006. In 2007, he starred opposite Scott Wolf in the Los Angeles production of Neil LaBute's play Fat Pig, winning positive reviews for his depiction of a competitive, alpha-male friend. He portrayed real-life Napa Valley vintner Bo Barrett in the 2008 film Bottle Shock.

2009–2016: Star Trek and worldwide recognition

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Pine attending a screening of Star Trek in 2009

In 2007, Pine turned down a role in a film adaptation of White Jazz, to accept the part of James T. Kirk in the 2009 Star Trek film, which was released to critical and viewer acclaim in May of that year. That same month, he made a brief appearance promoting the film on Saturday Night Live, with co-stars Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy. During the rest of the summer of 2009, he appeared in the Los Angeles production of the Beau Willimon play Farragut North. Pine appeared in the Los Angeles production of The Lieutenant of Inishmore during the summer of 2010, for which he won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle's lead appearance award.

In the fall of 2009, Pine began filming the action film Unstoppable, directed by Tony Scott and written by Mark Bomback, which was released in November 2010. In the film, he played a young train conductor who helped a veteran railroad engineer (Denzel Washington) stop an unmanned, half mile long runaway freight train carrying toxic liquids and poisonous gases from wiping out a nearby city. The Hollywood Reporter named Pine as one of the young male actors who are "pushing—or being pushed" into taking over Hollywood as the new "A-List".

In 2011, Pine sat down with the actor who originated the role of Captain Kirk more than forty years earlier, William Shatner, for the feature length documentary The Captains, which Shatner wrote and directed. The film sees Shatner interview Pine about his career and how it felt to take the role of Kirk for the 2009 movie. Their interview features a scene where the pair arm wrestles; pictures of this incident "went viral" leading to Internet headlines such as "Kirk v. Kirk" and others.

Chris Pine 2, 2013
Pine at the Australian premiere of Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013

Pine filmed the romantic comedy This Means War, with Reese Witherspoon and Tom Hardy, during the fall of 2010, in Vancouver. This Means War was released in February 2012. Pine voiced the character of Jack Frost in Rise of the Guardians. Pine co-starred with Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Wilde, and Michelle Pfeiffer in the family drama People Like Us, which was filmed in early 2011 and released in June 2012. He reprised the role of Captain Kirk in the sequel to 2009's Star Trek, titled Star Trek Into Darkness, released in the US on May 15, 2013.

In 2009, Pine entered talks to play CIA analyst Jack Ryan in a reboot of Tom Clancy's novels. He starred in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, which was released in 2014. Pine was the fourth actor to play the character, after Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck. In 2014, Pine was in talks to star in a thriller about the United States Coast Guard, The Finest Hours, released in January 2016. He guest-starred in Netflix's Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp and lent his voice for SuperMansion in 2015.

In May 2015, Pine was confirmed to play one of the Howard brothers, along with Ben Foster, in Hell or High Water (originally called Comancheria). After premiering at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, the film was released in August 2016. Clayton Davis of Variety found Pine's performance in the film to be his best, writing that Pine "shows his reserved range as a leading man". Pine reprised the role of Captain Kirk in Star Trek Beyond. Filming began in June 2015 in Canada, and it was released in the US on July 22, 2016. In July 2016, he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for his work on the series SuperMansion. That same year, Pine was featured on singer Barbra Streisand's album Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway, in which the two duetted on a medley of the songs "I'll Be Seeing You" and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face".

2017–present: Wonder Woman and continued film roles

In 2015, Pine was cast as Steve Trevor, opposite Gal Gadot, in the superhero film Wonder Woman. The film was released in June 2017 to positive reviews. Also in 2017, he reprised his roles in the second season of SuperMansion and the film Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, guest-starred in the third season of Angie Tribeca (including an episode where his father was also a guest star), and narrated the season two finale episode of National Geographic's Breakthrough.

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Pine attending the premiere of Outlaw King at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival

In 2018, Pine played Dr. Alexander Murry in the fantasy film A Wrinkle in Time, based on the novel of the same name, and starred as Robert the Bruce in Outlaw King. The latter project began filming on August 21, 2017, in Scotland, and was released on Netflix on November 9, 2018. Also that year, Pine voiced a version of Peter Parker / Spider-Man in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. In August 2018, it was reported that Pine would not be reprising his role as Captain Kirk in the fourth film of the Star Trek film series after contract negotiations fell through.

In July 2017, the US cable network TNT announced Pine would play the role of Jay Singletary in a six-episode television drama, One Day She'll Darken. He also served as an executive producer alongside director Patty Jenkins and writer Sam Sheridan. The show, ultimately titled I Am the Night, began airing in January 2019. In 2020, Pine appeared as Westley in Home Movie: The Princess Bride for Quibi to raise money for World Central Kitchen. On June 13, 2018, Patty Jenkins announced that Pine would appear in the Wonder Woman sequel, titled Wonder Woman 1984, as Steve Trevor. The film was released in December 2020. After Pine became attached to star in a film adaptation of the novel All the Old Knives in 2017, Amazon Studios picked up the film in 2020, with Pine and Thandiwe Newton starring and Janus Metz Pedersen directing. Pine also executive produced the film. The film was released in limited theaters and on streaming on Amazon Prime Video on April 8, 2022.

Pine executive produced and starred in the 2022 action-thriller The Contractor, and appeared in Don't Worry Darling, a psychological thriller film directed by Olivia Wilde, released in September 2022. In December 2020, it was announced that Pine will star in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, a film based on the role-playing game of the same name. The film, released in March 2023, was a critical but not a commercial success.

Pine made his directorial debut with the noir comedy Poolman (2023) where he also starred as the lead. The film debuted at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival to negative reviews. The film is reportedly a comedic mystery in the vein of Chinatown (1974) and was co-produced by Patty Jenkins and co-starred Annette Bening, Danny DeVito and Ariana DeBose. Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote, "[the film] is not only the worst film I saw during the fall festival season but would likely be one of the worst films in any year it came out", he added "At the Toronto Film Festival showing I attended, there were a lot of walkouts." The Hollywood Reporter noted, "Given its world premiere at Toronto, where it arrived looking for distribution, this TIFF stiff will likely have a tough time finding a home based on the tepid response from the customarily effusive festival audience".

Personal life

Pine was in a relationship with South African model Dominique Piek from late 2011 to early 2013. He was in a relationship with British actress Annabelle Wallis from 2018 to early 2022.

On March 1, 2014, while filming Z for Zachariah in New Zealand, Pine was arrested by police near Methven after failing to pass a routine roadside breath alcohol test. ..... He had a clean record, and the judge said that "the incident was out of character".

Regarding his outlook on religion, Pine said "I definitely have a spiritual outlook ... I am not a religious guy, I am probably agnostic."

Chris Pine & Gal Gadot at the 2018 Comic-Con International
With Gal Gadot at 2018 San Diego ComicCon

Politically, Pine has called himself a "left-leaning liberal". He has said that both Democrats and Republicans tend to be interchangeable when it comes to certain actions, citing President Obama's strengthening of the Patriot Act.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Pine along with fellow Star Trek coworkers J. J. Abrams, John Cho, Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, George Takei, Justin Lin, Bryan Fuller, and Adam Nimoy, endorsed a movement called Trek Against Trump. The movement endorsed Hillary Clinton. On November 1, 2016, Pine, along with director Joss Whedon, released a video urging people to vote in the upcoming elections. While the video was a parody of Congress in general, certain commentators took the video to represent the Republican Congress. In 2020, Pine supported Joe Biden's presidential campaign. In October 2023, following Hamas' attack against Israel, he, among with more than 700 other Hollywood actors, signed an open letter demanding the safe return of hostages being held in Gaza.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2004 Why Germany? Chris Short film
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement Nicholas Devereaux
2005 Confession Luther Scott aka Deadly Secrets
The Bulls Jason Short film
2006 Just My Luck Jake Hardin
Blind Dating Danny Valdessecchi
Smokin' Aces Darwin Tremor
2008 Bottle Shock Bo Barrett
2009 Star Trek James T. Kirk
Carriers Brian Green
Beyond All Boundaries Hanson Baldwin / Sgt. Bill Reed Short film; voice role
2010 Small Town Saturday Night Rhett Ryan
Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey Dave Voice role
Unstoppable Will Colson
2012 Celeste and Jesse Forever Rory Shenandoah Cameo; Credited as Kris Pino
This Means War Franklin "FDR" Foster
People Like Us Sam Harper
Rise of the Guardians Jack Frost Voice role
2013 Star Trek Into Darkness James T. Kirk
2014 Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit Jack Ryan
Stretch Roger Karos Uncredited
Horrible Bosses 2 Rex Hanson
Into the Woods Cinderella's Prince
2015 Z for Zachariah Caleb
Figures of Speech Narrator Documentary
2016 The Finest Hours Bernie Webber
Hell or High Water Toby Howard
Star Trek Beyond James T. Kirk
For the Love of Spock Himself Documentary
2017 Wonder Woman Steve Trevor
2018 A Wrinkle in Time Dr. Alexander Murry
Outlaw King Robert the Bruce
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Peter Parker / Spider-Man Voice role
2019 Love, Antosha Himself Documentary
2020 Wonder Woman 1984 Steve Trevor
2022 The Contractor James Harper Also executive producer
All the Old Knives Henry Pelham Also executive producer
Doula Doctor Also producer
Don't Worry Darling Frank
2023 Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Edgin Darvis Also executive producer
Poolman Darren Barrenman Also director, co-writer and producer
Wish King Magnifico Voice role
2024 Mufasa: The Lion King Danny Voice role; Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2003 ER Levine Episode: "A Thousand Cranes"
The Guardian Lonnie Grandy Episode: "Hazel Park"
CSI: Miami Tommy Chandler Episode: "Extreme"
2004 American Dreams Joey Tremain Episode: "Tidings of Comfort and Joy"
2005 Six Feet Under Young Sam Hoviak Episode: "Dancing for Me"
2006 Surrender, Dorothy Shawn Best Television film
2009, 2017 Saturday Night Live Himself / Host 2 episodes; host in 2017
2014–2020 Robot Chicken Capt. Jake / Norman Bates / James T. Kirk Voice role; 3 episodes
2015 Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp Eric 5 episodes
2015–2018 SuperMansion Dr. Devizo / Robo-Dino Voice role; Season 1: 3 episodes;
Seasons 2–3: main role
2017 Angie Tribeca Dr. Thomas Hornbein 3 episodes
Breakthrough Narrator Episode: "Power to the People"
Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later Eric 4 episodes
2019 I Am the Night Jay Singletary 6 episodes; also executive producer
American Dad! Alistair Covax Voice role; Episode: "Rabbit Ears"
2020 Home Movie: The Princess Bride Westley Episode: "Chapter One: As You Wish"

Video games

Year Title Voice role
2013 Star Trek James T. Kirk

Music videos

Year Title Artist
2012 "All I Want" The Ivy Walls
2013 "Queenie Eye" Paul McCartney
2018 "White Ocean" The Ivy Walls

Theater

Year Title Role Theater
2006 The Atheist Augustine Early Center Stage, NY
2007 Fat Pig Carter Geffen Playhouse
2009 Farragut North Stephen Geffen Playhouse
2010 The Lieutenant of Inishmore Padraic Mark Taper Forum

Discography

Soundtracks

Year Song with Movie
2010 "Someday Came Today" Small Town Saturday Night
2014 "Agony" Billy Magnussen Into the Woods
"Any Moment" Emily Blunt
2023 “At All Costs”

“This Is The Thanks I Get?!”

Ariana DeBose Wish

Miscellaneous

Year Song Album
2016 "I'll Be Seeing You"/"I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway (Barbra Streisand)
2018 "Spidey Bells (A Hero's Lament)" A Very Spidey Christmas
"Up on the House Top"

Awards and nominations

See also

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