Chris Pine was born in Los Angeles. His parents are actors Robert Pine and Gwynne Gilford, and his maternal grandparents were Max M. Gilford, a president of the Hollywood Bar Association, and actress Anne Gwynne. His sister, Katherine Pine, has also acted. Chris's ancestry is Russian Jewish (from his maternal grandfather), English, German, Welsh, and French. Pine attended Oakwood School in the San Fernando Valley, and went on to study English at the University of California, Berkeley where he received a bachelor's degree. During this time, he spent one year studying at the University of Leeds in England. Pine also studied acting at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. After embarking on an acting career, Pine won guest roles in many television series, and made his feature film debut opposite Anne Hathaway in Un mariage de princesse (2004). Other roles in film and television followed, but he became an international star when he was cast as James T. Kirk in the hugely successful franchise reboot, Star Trek (2009). He has subsequently starred in the films Unstoppable (2010), Target (2012), Des gens comme nous (2012), and the sequel Star Trek Into Darkness (2013).
In 2014, Pine co-starred in Comment tuer son boss 2 (2014) and, as Cinderella's Prince, in the musical Into the Woods: Promenons-nous dans les bois (2014), alongside Meryl Streep and Anna Kendrick. His upcoming roles include Les Survivants (2015), The Finest Hours (2016), and the third film in the new Star Trek series.
