Pine, Chris
Los Angeles native Chris Pine, who won the role of the "alternate reality" James T. Kirk of 2009's Star Trek movie, graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in English. He went on to study acting at the American Conservatory Theater as well as the University of Leeds in the U.K. His extensive theater work includes performances in productions of Our Town, American Buffalo, No Exit, Waiting for Godot, Orestes, and The Lieutenant of Inishmore. Pine’s parents are actors Gwynne Gilford and Robert Pine, especially remembered for his work on the NBC series CHiPS; his late grandmother also was a film actress in the ‘30s and ‘40s.
Following appearances on TV series such as ER and CSI: Miami, Pine appeared in the films The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, Smokin’ Aces, and Bottle Shock. Since starring as James T. Kirk in Star Trek, he has appeared in Carriers, the WWII short Beyond All Boundaries, Small Town Saturday Night, Unstoppable, Welcome to People, This Means War, "fellow Kirk" William Shatner's The Five Captains, and lent his voice to the animated feature Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey, which also features the voice of Shatner.
