Spotlight on actor Chris Pine
The Star Trek actor returns in the fantasy adventure A Wrinkle in Time
Hero mode Chris (37) is no stranger to fantasy/sci-fi or action roles – he’s best known for playing iconic Captain James T Kirk in the long-running Star Trek franchise and was recently seen opposite Gal Gadot in superhero flick Wonder Woman, in which he played a gun-slinging soldier. But in Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time he plays a thinking man’s hero whose mind is his greatest weapon. “I think he’s a real, pure intellect,” says Chris of his character, Dr Alex Murray. “He’s one of those people I’ve always looked up to whose mind works incredibly quickly.” Acting is in his blood He comes from a family of thespians – his father, Robert Pine, starred in the ’70s TV show Chips. His grandmother, Anne Gwynne, and mom, Gwynne Gilford, were also actresses. Gwynne eventually left acting to become a psychotherapist. Chris graduated with a degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley, where he got involved with the varsity’s theatre department. His first role was playing a drunk patient in a 2003 episode of the TV series ER. Down-to-earth dude Despite his status as a Hollywood leading man, Chris has no time for the trappings of fame. “Hollywood is like living in a weird bubble,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “A bunch of people take care of you and get you stuff, and you’re the centre of that little microcosmic world. You start believing it’s real and you deserve it.” Unlike many other celebs he shuns social media. “No, f**k, no. What am I going to tweet about? My sneakers? Or, ‘I have 140 000 friends on Facebook’. What does that even mean? I find it to be a waste of time. The internet is so caustic; just a place where people spew nonsense and bulls**t.”