Chris Klein

Chris Klein

Possessing the sort of apple-cheeked, translucent-skinned All-American wholesomeness that has made him a natural for the pretty-boy jock roles which began his career, Chris Klein started a minor sensation after appearing in only two films. The actor, who is a testament to both good PR and the American appetite for all that is young, athletic, and bearing no discernible acne scars, was born in Hinsdale (Chicago), Illinois on March 14, 1979. After spending the first 13 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 (1999). 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. Klein played a similar character in his next film, the 1999 summer smash American Pie. As Chris "Oz" Ostreicher, Klein was again seen as a sweetly dim high-school jock, who, rather than wanting to win an election, channeled his energies toward losing his virginity. The success of the film was great enough to lead Klein to drop out of Texas Christian University (where he had been a freshman) to follow an acting career that had certainly gotten off to a serendipitous beginning. His days as a youthful and fresh-faced gentle jock numbered, 2002 found Klein substantially roughing it up with his action debut in director John McTiernan's much delayed and critically panned Rollerball. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide