Biography
Christopher John Weitz (; born November 30, 1969) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for his work with his brother Paul on the comedy films American Pie and About a Boy; the latter earned the Weitz brothers a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Among his other main works, Weitz was one of the lead actors in the Miguel Arteta-directed film Chuck & Buck, directed the film adaptation of the novel The Golden Compass and the film adaptation of New Moon from the series of Twilight books, wrote the screenplay for Disney's 2015 live-action adaptation of Cinderella, and co-wrote Rogue One with Tony Gilroy and Antz with Todd Alcott and Paul.
== Early life ==
Weitz was born in New York City, the son of actress Susan Kohner and Berlin-born novelist/menswear designer John Weitz. His brother is filmmaker Paul Weitz. Weitz is the grandson of Czech-born agent and producer Paul Kohner and actress Lupita Tovar on his maternal side. Tovar, who was from Oaxaca, Mexico, starred in Santa, Mexico's first talkie, in 1932, as well as a Spanish language version of Drácula. Weitz' paternal grandparents escaped Nazi Germany, before which his grandfather was a successful textile manufacturer, with the family being intimates of writer Christopher Isherwood and actress Marlene Dietrich.
Weitz's father and maternal grandfather were Jewish, whereas his maternal grandmother was Catholic; he was raised in a nonreligious household. He has also described himself as a "lapsed Catholic crypto-Buddhist."
As a young boy, Weitz attended Allen-Stevenson School with his brother and was a member of the Knickerbocker Greys, a long-standing New York City youth marching corps that has been in existence since 1881.