Chris Pine

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Chris Pine

Christopher Whitelaw Pine (born 26 August 1980; age 43), known simply as Chris Pine, is the actor who portrays James T. Kirk in the J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek and its sequel Star Trek Into Darkness.

Early life

Pine was born in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise guest star Robert Pine and actress-turned-psychotherapist Gwynne Gilford. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in English. He spent his junior year studying at the University of Leeds in West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Early acting career

Pine began his screen acting career with a role in a 2003 episode of ER. The episode, entitled "A Thousand Cranes", was co-written by VOY: "Pathfinder" scribe David Zabel. The episode also featured Brad Blaisdell, Michelle Bonilla, and Michael Buchman Silver. Pine followed his appearance on ER with guest spots on The Guardian (with Erich Anderson, Tracy Middendorf, and Christopher Neiman), CSI: Miami (with Wade Williams) and American Dreams (with Ethan Dampf).

He made his film debut as the young male lead in the 2004 sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, which co-starred John Rhys-Davies as Pine's character's uncle. Pine then had the starring role in the independent thriller Confession, opposite his father as well as Bruce Davison and Kate Vernon. Afterward, Pine was cast in the male lead opposite Lindsay Lohan in the romantic comedy film Just My Luck.

After a guest spot on Six Feet Under with Joanna Cassidy, James Cromwell, Ann Cusack, J.G. Hertzler, and Anne Ramsay, Pine played the lead role in the comedy film Blind Dating. He then appeared in the action film Smokin' Aces, in which he and Star Trek: Enterprise guest actor Maury Sterling played two of the Tremor brothers, a trio of insane hillbilly mercenaries bent on accomplishing the title goal (killing a mob snitch nicknamed "Aces", played by Jeremy Piven). Joseph Ruskin also made an appearance in this film.

In 2006, Pine starred in a thriller called Carriers, which is set to open in September 2009. He then had the lead role in the dramatic film Bottle Shock, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2008 and ran for a limited US release in August 2008.

Star Trek and beyond

Promotional poster featuring Pine as James T. Kirk.

When it was originally announced that Pine was in negotiations to play Kirk in Star Trek, he was also in talks to star with George Clooney in the film White Jazz. This project would have reunited Pine with his Smokin' Aces director Joe Carnahan. [1] It was Carnahan who first broke the news that Pine had decided to do Star Trek instead of White Jazz. [2] Trekmovie.com soon after confirmed that Pine had signed on to play Kirk. [3]

Since being cast as Kirk, Pine has acquired an increased amount of recognition. The Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly, and Variety have all named him one of the rising stars to watch in 2009.[4][5][6] He was also named the Male Star of Tomorrow at the 2009 ShoWest exhibit in Las Vegas, Nevada.[7]

After Star Trek, Pine will be seen in the dramatic film Small Town Saturday Night. In addition, Pine worked on the upcoming computer-animated feature Quantum Quest, in which he voices the protagonist, a photon named Dave. The film also features the voice of the first actor to play James T. Kirk, William Shatner, making Quantum Quest the first and thus far only project featuring performances from both Kirk actors. Other voices heard in the film will include Jason Alexander, Robert Picardo, and Brent Spiner. [8][9]

Pine was recently cast opposite Denzel Washington in the action thriller Unstoppable, in which Pine will play a "newbie" train conductor hired to replace Washington's character.[10] Pine is also currently set to re-team with Smokin' Aces director Joe Carnahan for the crime drama Killing Pablo, a film detailing the assassination of Colombian gangster Pablo Escobar. In addition to these projects, Pine is signed up to reprise his role as Kirk in the untitled Star Trek sequel, currently in development.

In October 2009, it was announced that Pine had been selected to take over the role of CIA analyst Jack Ryan in a reboot of the film franchise based on the novels by Tom Clancy. Pine will be the fourth actor to play the role, after Alec Baldwin (in The Hunt for Red October, in which Gates McFadden appeared as Ryan's wife as well as Daniel Davis, Timothy Carhart and Boris Lee Krutonog), Harrison Ford (in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, which included Raymond Cruz; both included Ellen Geer), and Ben Affleck (in Sum of All Fears, which included Bruce McGill and James Cromwell). The Jack Ryan films mark two Paramount Pictures franchises Pine will be top-lining simultaneously, as he is already starring in the new Star Trek films.[11]

On 22 January 2010, Pine participated in the fund-raising program Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief. He was among the celebrities who operated the phones for the benefit, along with his Star Trek co-stars Tyler Perry and Zoë Saldana, Star Trek: Voyager actress Jeri Ryan, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country actor Christian Slater, and Robin Williams.[12] He also attended the 82nd Annual Academy Awards in 2010 where he sat in the audience. Star Trek was nominated for four Oscars.

In 2010 Pine received two MTV Movie Award nominations in the categories Best Breakout Star and Biggest Badass Star for his work on Star Trek. [13] [14]

Pine stars in the 2012 action comedy This Means War, opposite Tom Hardy. Michael Papajohn also worked on this film and Star Trek makeup head Mindy Hall was his personal makeup artist on this film. Joey Box also worked as stunt coordinator on it and Trek stunt performers Lauro Chartrand, Zack Duhame, Terry Jackson, Chris Palermo, Susan Purkhiser, John Stoneham, Jr., Marcus Young, and Steve Kelso performed stunts. More recent projects also include Alex Kurtzman's drama People Like Us (2012, produced by Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and with makeup department head Mindy Hall) and voice work in the animated feature Rise of the Guardians (2012).

Pine is the subject of a lawsuit by his former talent agency, SBD Partners, alleging breach of contract and seeking millions of dollars in commissions in part derived from his Star Trek work they allege they have been denied. The lawsuit provides some insight into Pine's salary for the next two Star Trek movies, claiming that he will get $1.5 million plus $500,000 in backend compensation for the second movie, and $3 million plus the same $500,000 for the third movie. Additionally, they claim Pine will get 5 percent of net merchandising revenue from the use of his name and likeness. [15]

External links

• Chris Pine at Wikipedia
• Template:IMDb-link