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Christopher Joseph "Chris" Columbus (born September 10, 1958) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Columbus had his largest success with the first two films in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, along with Home Alone, the last receiving a British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Film. Columbus was born in Spangler, Pennsylvania and raised in Champion, Ohio, the son of Mary Irene (née Puskar), a factory worker, and Alex Michael Columbus, an aluminum plant worker and coal miner. Columbus is of Italian... MORE

Christopher Joseph "Chris" Columbus (born September 10, 1958) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Columbus had his largest success with the first two films in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, along with Home Alone, the last receiving a British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Film. Columbus was born in Spangler, Pennsylvania and raised in Champion, Ohio, the son of Mary Irene (née Puskar), a factory worker, and Alex Michael Columbus, an aluminum plant worker and coal miner. Columbus is of Italian and Czech descent. He graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio and from New York University's film school at the Tisch School of the Arts. There he was a schoolmate of Charlie Kaufman. Columbus worked as a screenwriter with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, working on Gremlins (1984), The Goonies (1985) and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985). He wrote the first episodes of the animated series Galaxy High (1986) and later made his directorial debut with the teen comedy Adventures in Babysitting (1987) and Heartbreak Hotel (1988). His directorial work includes Home Alone (1990), LESS