Christopher Whitelaw "Chris" Pine (born August 26, 1980) is an American actor. He has appeared in the romantic comedies The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004) and Just My Luck (2006), as well as the action films Smokin' Aces (2007) and Unstoppable (2010). In 2009, he portrayed James T. Kirk in the film Star Trek, and will reprise the role in the film's sequel.
Pine was born in Los Angeles, California. His father, Robert Pine, is an actor who appeared in CHiPs as Sergeant Joseph Getraer, and his mother, Gwynne Gilford, is a former actress who is now a practicing psychotherapist. He has an older sister, Katie. His maternal grandmother, Anne Gwynne (née Marguerite Gwynne Trice), was a Hollywood actress, and his maternal grandfather, Max M. Gilford (born Max Goldfarb), was an attorney who was elected president of the Hollywood Bar Association. Pine's ancestry includes Jewish (from his maternal grandfather), Welsh, and English He has stated, "I definitely have a spiritual outlook... I am not a religious guy, I am probably agnostic".
Pine attended Oakwood School for high school and received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley in 2002. He also studied English at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom for one year. After graduation, he studied at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.
