Christopher Whitelaw Pine was born into the family business on Aug. 26, 1980 to actors Robert Pine – then at the peak of his fame as Sgt. Joseph Getraer on the 1970s staple, “CHiPS” (NBC, 1977-1983) – and Gwynne Gilford, star of the film “Masters of the Universe” (1987). Pine was also the grandson of 1940s film siren, Anne Gwynne. Not surprisingly, the young actor and his sister Katie grew up in Los Angeles, visiting their parents on set as children. Pine would later go on to attend the University of California, Berkeley.
Shifting into the family business, Pine started acting on television, making guest appearances on a variety of popular series, including a 2003 episode of the medical drama “ER” (NBC, 2004- ), as well as episodes of “The Guardian” (CBS, 2001-04) and “CSI: Miami” (CBS, 2002- ). Expanding his resume, he starred in a short film titled “Why Germany?” (2004) and followed it with his first big screen appearance in the sequel to the popular teen movie “The Princess Diaries” (2001). Playing Nicholas Deveraux opposite Anne Hathaway in “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement” (2004), the performance made Pine an instant favorite among idolizing teenage girls.
On a roll, the up-and-comer jumped back to television that same year with an episode of the beloved but cancelled series, “American Dreams” (NBC, 2002-05). A year later, Pine began taking on more challenging roles, starting with the independent film “Confession,” a short film titled “The Bulls,” and back to television in an episode of the groundbreaking and provocative series “Six Feet Under” (HBO, 2001-05) called “Dancing for Me.”
By 2006, Pine was beginning to generate a good deal of publicity as someone to watch after enjoying moderate box office success opposite Lindsay Lohan in the film “Just My Luck.” The romantic comedy was an updated version of the classic comedy “Trading Places” (1983) that had starred Eddie Murphy and Day Aykroyd, with Pine playing a blind man who finds love in a straight-to-video film titled “Blind Dating.” Although the film was not a financial success, due to Lohan’s permanent fixture in the tabloids, it and Pine by association, received their share of buzz.
A year later, Pine joined an ensemble cast in the high-stakes, big action movie “Smoking Aces.” Considering the film boasted a cast that included Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia and Ryan Reynolds – to say nothing of the Tarantino-esque look of the movie – “Aces” surprisingly bombed at the box office. Despite another big screen disappointment Pine continued to line up work, signing on to the feature film thriller, “Carriers” (2007) alongside Piper Perabo and Christopher Meloni. Later in the year, Pine received the most scrutiny of his career thus far – most of it from the geek population collectively holding their breath for the big announcement – when it was announced that director J. J. Abrams had selected him for the highly sought role of a young Captain James T. Kirk for his new "Star Trek" film treatment.