Chris Columbus

Chris Joseph Columbus born September 10 1958 is an American filmmaker Born in Spangler Pennsylvania Columbus studied film at Tisch School of the Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking After writing screenplays for several teen comedies in the mid1980s he made his directorial debut with a teen adventure Adventures in Babysitting 1987 Columbus gained recognition soon after with the highly successful Christmas comedy Home Alone 1990 and its sequel Home Alone 2 Lost in New York 1992 The comedy Mrs Doubtfire 1993 starring Robin Williams was another box office success for Columbus He went on to direct several other films throughout the 1990s which were mostly met with lukewarm reception However he found commercial success again for directing the film adaptations of J K Rowlings novels Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone 2001 and its sequel Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 2002 which are his highestgrossing films to date In addition to directing Columbus was a producer for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2004 and the drama The Help 2011 He also directed the fantasy Percy Jackson the Olympians The Lightning Thief 2010 and the 3D action comedy Pixels 2015 Columbus is the cofounder of 1492 Pictures a film production company that has produced some of his films since 1995 More recently he cofounded another production firm with his daughter in 2014 called Maiden Voyage Pictures In 2017 he launched ZAG Animation Studios alongside Michael Barnathan Haim Saban and Jeremy Zag