Christopher Guest
Birthday: 5 February 1948, New York City, New York, USA
Birth Name: Christopher Haden-Guest
Height: 180 cm
U.S.-born actor, director, writer, musician, and composer best known for his mockumentaries, poking fun at heavy metal music, small town theatre, dog shows, folk music and film-making itself, Christopher Haden-Guest was born February fifth, 1948, in New York City. His mother, Jean Pauline (Hindes), was a vice president of casting at CBS. His father...
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U.S.-born actor, director, writer, musician, and composer best known for his mockumentaries, poking fun at heavy metal music, small town theatre, dog shows, folk music and film-making itself, Christopher Haden-Guest was born February fifth, 1948, in New York City. His mother, Jean Pauline (Hindes), was a vice president of casting at CBS. His father, Peter Haden-Guest, was a UN diplomat who was a member of the British House of Lords, and was the fourth Baron of Saling in the County of Essex. Christopher's mother, who was American, was the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants. Christopher's father, who was British, had English and Dutch-Jewish ancestry. Christopher's paternal great-grandfather, Colonel Albert Goldsmid, was a British officer.He received his dramatic arts training at New York City's High School of Arts and Music and at Bard College, and Guest first appeared in minor film roles in a mixture of film genres including The Hot Rock (1972), Death Wish (1974), Lemmings (1973), and The Long Riders (1980). However, he was also dabbling in writing for several T.V. shows, and when filming Million Dollar Infield (1982), Guest became acquainted with writer-director Rob Reiner and the two collaborated, along with Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, to pen the script and music for the sleeper hit This Is Spinal Tap (1984).The mockumentary also starred Guest as dizzy lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel, whose most famous line is surely, "These go to eleven," when referring to the volume settings on the band's rather unique Marshall amplifiers!Guest then busied himself for several years in the 1980's as a regular performer on Saturday Night Live (1975) and, along with fellow Spinal Tap band members lead singer David St. Hubbins, aka Michael McKean; and bassist Derek Smalls, aka Harry Shearer, they regularly appeared as Spinal Tap. In 1992, they released Spinal Tap: Break Like the Wind - The Videos (1992), plus A Spinal Tap Reunion: The 25th Anniversary London Sell-Out (1992).Guest had a minor acting role in the courtroom drama of A Few Good Men (1992), before returning to poke fun at wannabe actors in the howlingly funny Waiting for Guffman (1996) with Guest taking center stage as high-strung choreographer Corky St. Clair. He made a return to heavy metal with Spinal Tap: The Final Tour (1998) and Catching Up with Marty DiBergi (2000) before turning his comedic pen to the world of championship dog shows for the sensational comedy Best in Show (2000). The latest mockumentary from Guest and co-writer-actor Eugene Levy was again met with critical praise, and movie fans just loved it, too! In 2003, Guest and Eugene Levy took aim at the folk-music world, and successfully collaborated to write the comedy A Mighty Wind (2003) about the reunion of the Folksmen, a fictional 1960s folk music group.Guest is married to well-known actress Jamie Lee Curtis with two children, Annie Guest and Thomas, plus he is the brother of actor Nicholas Guest. Show less «
The movies have a way of seeping out there over time. We don't put them in 2,000 theaters. It wouldn...Show more »
The movies have a way of seeping out there over time. We don't put them in 2,000 theaters. It wouldn't work that way. Show less «
On being banned (as a hereditary peer) from the House of Lords: There's no question that the old sys...Show more »
On being banned (as a hereditary peer) from the House of Lords: There's no question that the old system was unfair. I mean, why should you be born to this? But now it's all just sheer cronyism. The Prime Minister can put in whoever he wants and bus them in to vote. The Upper House should be an elected body, it's that simple. Show less «
Comedy is like music. You have to know the key and you have to find players with good chops.
Comedy is like music. You have to know the key and you have to find players with good chops.
"It's real acting, in a sense. You're reacting spontaneously to things you've never heard before. Yo...Show more »
"It's real acting, in a sense. You're reacting spontaneously to things you've never heard before. You can either do it or not, and if you're with a bunch of people who can, there's nothing more fun." - on improvised acting. Show less «
"Silliness framed in intelligence. Even when it's stupid, you know intelligent people are doing it a...Show more »
"Silliness framed in intelligence. Even when it's stupid, you know intelligent people are doing it and that makes it a different joke. Stupid comedy over here [in America] is just plain stupid. It's moronic and I don't find it funny at all." - when asked to define the tradition of English humor. Show less «
But I am interested in the notion that people can become so obsessed by their world that they lose s...Show more »
But I am interested in the notion that people can become so obsessed by their world that they lose sense and awareness of how they appear to other people. They're so earnest about it. But that's true of so many things. Show less «
People want me to be funny all the time. They think I'm being funny no matter what I say or do and t...Show more »
People want me to be funny all the time. They think I'm being funny no matter what I say or do and that's not the case. I rarely joke unless I'm in front of a camera. It's not what I am in real life. It's what I do for a living. Show less «
No. I don't talk about the family. This is kind of an on-going thing that gets, honestly, to be kind...Show more »
No. I don't talk about the family. This is kind of an on-going thing that gets, honestly, to be kind of tiresome, only because, you know, you meet people in Boston and they say, 'Boy, what's it like to wake up with Jamie Lee Curtis?' Well, you know what? We've been married for 12 years, and we have kids, and it's not like we're living some bizarre life here. We go home and we wear sweatpants and the baby takes a dump and we change the diaper. I don't mean to put you off here, but I just tend not to talk about it. Show less «
I spent more time in America, but I developed a very English sense of humour. I clicked into it deep...Show more »
I spent more time in America, but I developed a very English sense of humour. I clicked into it deeply with Peter Sellers, who is still probably my favourite comedian. I loved The Goons and then I got into "Beyond the Fringe" and by accident I met Jonathan Miller and those guys. And, of course, they led straight to [Monty] Python. Show less «
I don't work with high-concept things that start with a premise, "Wouldn't it be funny if there was ...Show more »
I don't work with high-concept things that start with a premise, "Wouldn't it be funny if there was this spy who met a ..." For me, it could be, "What about people who sell shoes? That must be a bizarre world ... when they meet at conventions and talk about shoes." Show less «
I liked directing The Big Picture (1989). I was happy with it, but I remembered working on "Spinal T...Show more »
I liked directing The Big Picture (1989). I was happy with it, but I remembered working on "Spinal Tap" and what a joy it was to make and how much we made each other laugh. Show less «
Christopher Guest's FILMOGRAPHY
HD
Annabelle: Creation
IMDb: 7
2017
109 min
Country: United States
Genre: Thriller, Horror, Mystery
Twelve years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into ...