Chris Columbus

Chris Columbus is an American filmmaker and screenwriter best known for directing major family blockbusters, including Home Alone and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Columbus was born in Spangler, Pennsylvania, and raised in a working-class family. He developed an interest in film at a young age and later attended Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where he studied film. While in school, he began writing screenplays that quickly attracted the entertainment industry’s attention.

His early career was defined by success as a screenwriter. Columbus wrote Gremlins (1984) and The Goonies (1985), both of which became box office hits and established him as a major creative force in Hollywood. He transitioned to directing in the late 1980s, gaining further recognition with Adventures in Babysitting (1987) before achieving massive commercial success in the 1990s.

Columbus directed Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), two of the highest-grossing comedies of their era. He later helmed Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), starring Robin Williams, and directed the first two films in the Harry Potter franchise, helping launch the globally successful series. In addition to directing, he has produced films through his company 1492 Pictures, including Night at the Museum (2006) and The Help (2011). Some of his later projects include Nosferatu (2024) and The Thursday Murder Club (2025).

Columbus married choreographer Monica Devereux in 1983. The couple share children Eleanor, Brendan, Isabella and Violet.