Date of Birth

14 December 1979, Hinsdale, Illinois, USA

Birth Name

Frederick Christophe Klein

Height

6' 1" (1.85 m)

Mini Biography

Chris Klein was born in Hinsdale, Illinois, on March 14, 1979, to Terese (Bergen), a kindergarten teacher, and Fred Klein, an engineer. He is of German, Irish, and English descent. After spending the first thirteen years of his life there, he moved with his family to Nebraska. It was while he was in high school that Klein was discovered by director Alexander Payne, who was busy casting his upcoming film, Election. Klein won the role of Paul Metzler in Payne's film, which opened to enthusiastic reviews. As Paul, Klein played the dim but sweet football player persuaded by Matthew Broderick's Jim McAllister to run against the unopposed Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) in the school's student council election. The film was released in April 1999 to positive reviews. Soon after, Klein found a steady amount of work in the film industry while briefly attending TCU, where he studied theater and was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He was next seen in American Pie, which opened on July 9, 1999, and was a box office success. Klein reprised his American Pie role in American Pie 2 and American Reunion. In 2002, Klein had a role in the Mel Gibson Vietnam War film, We Were Soldiers. Klein has also appeared in several teen movies, including Just Friends (2005), American Dreamz (2006). In 2014, Klein was cast as an American pilot in the Damien Lay film The Uberkanone. He co-starred in the 2014 comedy indie film Authors Anonymous with Kaley Cuoco.

Trivia

• Played linebacker in High School.
• His family moved to Omaha, Nebraska, USA at age 11.
• Was discovered in his high school by director Alexander Payne who was scouting locations for Election (1999).
• Played Tony in his high school production of West Side Story.
• Is a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.
• He was the only one of the five original boys from the series to not appear in American Wedding (2003). When queried, writer Adam Herz stated that they did not have enough for Chris to do, and that it was hard enough to fit the currently existing cast in. They were unable to do a cameo appearance because Chris was in London during filming, and the budget would not allow for the expenses of having him flown in for just a few scenes.
• Engagement to actress Katie Holmes called off in March 2005.
• Has an older sister and a younger brother.
• His mother is a teacher in Orange County, California
• Attended Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, where he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha.
• Was in a relationship with Ginnifer Goodwin for two years, until December 2008.
• Filming American Dreamz (2006). [September 2005]
• Lending his voice to The Wild Bunch. [October 2009]
• His father is of 3/4 German and 1/4 Irish descent. His mother is of Irish, as well as German and English, ancestry.
• Became a father for the 1st time at age 37 when his wife Laina-Rose Thyfault gave birth to their son Frederick Easton Klein on July 23, 2016.
• His first name and his son's name Frederick is a Germanic name meaning "peaceful ruler".
• His surname Klein means "little" in German.
• His second name Christophe is a Greek name meaning "a bearer of Christ".
• Married Laina Rose Thyfault in Big Sky, MT along the Gallatin River in a beautiful outdoor wedding ceremony during the summer of 2015.
• Graduated from Millard West High School of Omaha Nebraska.

Quotes

• I don't need food to impress, man. It's a flash of a smile and a nice conversation. And at the end of the day, she's cooking the food.
• (2012, on quitting drinking) I realized I had to get it straight and realize what the fuck was going on because the me that I knew was slipping away. At that point, fuck acting. Can I even get out of bed? I was a 31-year-old man with bills to pay, a dog to take care of, and my mother sick with worry. And I'm in jail again. How did I get here? Living with addiction is not living, it's existing and barely hanging on. I was sick and tired of feeling that way and I didn't know how to not feel that way, so I got help.
• (2012) Rollerball was definitely a dud. I was 21-years-old, working on a movie with a budget of $103 million, and working with John McTiernan, who did Die Hard, Predator, and The Hunt For Red October. I did the best I could with that project. But listen: the movie doesn't work. There's a lot of reasons for it, but it certainly wasn't for lack of effort on my part.