Stephen Chbosky is a screenwriter, novelist, and film director who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on January 25, 1970. He attended the University of Southern California where he graduated from their screenwriting program in 1992. Chbosky then launched a successful career as both a novelist and a screenwriter before also becoming a director. He is best-known for writing the novel ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and for writing the screenplay and directing the movie of the same name. Other movies for which he has written the screenplay include ‘Rent’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and ‘Jericho’.
Here are five more things you didn’t know about Stephen Chbosky.
1. Stewart Stern is One of His Major Influences
Stephen Chbosky has credited many talented screenwriters with being major influences that have helped him to become successful. One of these is Stewart Stern who he met in 1988 when he graduated from Upper St. Clair High School. Stewart Stern is the screenwriter of the 1955 film ‘Rebel Without a Cause’. Chbosky and Stewart became good friends and Stewart acted as Chbosky’s mentor. Other factors that have inspired Chbosky’s work include the novel ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ written by J.D. Salinger and the work of novelists Tennessee Williams and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
2. His Brother-in-Law is John Erick Dowdle
Stephen Chbosky has one sister, Stacy Chbosky, and she is married to screenwriter and director John Erick Dowdle. This makes Dowdle Chbosky’s brother-in-law. He is best-known for writing and directing movies in the horror genre and often works alongside his brother Drew Dowdle who is a screenwriter and producer. Some of the films for which he is best-known include ‘Quarantine’, ‘No Escape’, ‘As Above, So Below’, and ‘Devil’.
3. His First Work was ‘The Four Corners of Nowhere’
After graduating from university, Chbosky started to create his first work ‘The Four Corners of Nowhere’. He wrote, directed and acted in this 1995 independent film. Following this, he got his first agent. The film was also accepted by the Sundance Film Festival and was shown on the Sundance Channel.
4. ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ is a Best-Seller
The novel for which Chbosky is best-known is ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’. The title was a sentence he wrote in another screenplay and he realized that it described elements of his youth and decided to write a novel loosely based on his experiences. MTV Books published this novel in 1999 and it was an instant success. By 2013, over two million of this book had been sold, it had been published in 31 languages, and had spent over a year in the New York Times Bestseller List.
5. He is Directing ‘Wonder’
Stephen Chbosky has become increasingly well-known within the film industry. Most recently, he has worked on the movie ‘Wonder’. He co-wrote this film with Steve Conrad and Jack Throne and is also the film’s director. It is based on R.J. Palacio’s novel of the same name and stars Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, and Jacob Trembly. ‘Wonder’ is scheduled for release on November 17, 2017.
