Personal life:Pine was born in
Los Angeles,
California to
Robert Pine and
Gwynne Gilford; he also has an older sister, Katherine. His father was an actor who appeared in
CHiPs as the sergeant Joseph Getraer. His mother was an actress and is now a practicing psychotherapist. His maternal grandparents were
Anne Gwynne, a
Hollywood actress, and Max M. Gilford, a Hollywood attorney. He has stated in an interview that he is "probably
agnostic". He is of
Welsh and
Jewish descent on his mother's side. Pine received a
bachelor's degree in English from the
University of California, Berkeley in 2002 and while he was there studied English at the
University of Leeds in
England for one year. After graduation, he studied at the
American Conservatory Theater in
San Francisco.
Career:Pine's first acting role was in a 2003 episode of
ER; the same year, he also appeared in episodes of
The Guardian and
CSI: Miami. In 2004, he appeared in
Why Germany?, a short film, and in
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.
Pine appeared in the
made-for-television film
Surrender, Dorothy which aired in early 2006. He also played Jake Hardin in the American film
Just My Luck (2006), a romantic comedy in which he starred opposite
Lindsay Lohan who played Ashley Albright. Later
that year Pine appeared in the comedy
Blind Dating and in the action film
Smokin' Aces. In 2007 he starred opposite
Scott Wolf in the Los Angeles production of
Neil LaBute's play "Fat Pig" and won raves for his depiction of a competitive, alpha-male friend.
For his portrayal of real-life Napa Valley vintner
Bo Barrett in the 2008 film
Bottle Shock, Pine sported hippie-length blond locks.
In 2007, Pine turned down a role in a
film adaptation of White Jazz, under production but unreleased as of late 2009, in order to accept the part of
James T. Kirk in the 2009
Star Trek, which was released to critical and viewer acclaim in May of that year. That same month, he made a brief appearance promoting the film on
Saturday Night Live with co-stars
Zachary Quinto and
Leonard Nimoy.
