Christopher Guest - Early Years

Early Years

Guest was born in New York City, the son of Peter Haden-Guest, a British United Nations diplomat who later became The 4th Baron Haden-Guest, and his second wife, Jean Pauline Hindes, a former vice president of casting at CBS. Guest's paternal grandfather, Leslie, Baron Haden-Guest, was a Labour Party politician who was a convert to Judaism, and Guest's paternal grandmother's father was Colonel Albert Goldsmid, a British officer who founded the Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade and the Maccabaeans. Guest's maternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. Both of Guest's parents had become atheists, and Guest had no religious upbringing. Nearly a decade before he was born his uncle, David Guest, a lecturer and Communist Party member, was killed in the Spanish Civil War fighting in the International Brigades.

Guest spent parts of his childhood in his father's native United Kingdom. He attended The High School of Music & Art (New York City), studying classical music (clarinet). He later took up the mandolin, became interested in country music, and played guitar with Arlo Guthrie. Guest later began performing with bluegrass bands until he took up rock and roll.

Guest studied acting at New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 1971.