- Born
- Height5′ 9″ (1.75 m)
- Christopher Downie was born on the 3rd March in Edinburgh, Scotland to Elizabeth, an Occupational Therapist and Gord, a fishmonger.
It was apparent from an early age that Chris had a very creative imagination. One of his nursery teachers commented that she could envisage him having a life connected to the arts or theatre. He excelled at art at school and mastered the complexities of early computing. Chris was also involved in amateur theatre productions during his early years at school.
Chris's love of film began at a very early age. His mother encouraged him to watch current and classic films and he spent many happy hours in front of the TV. This love of cinema only grew and inspired Chris to explore the possibilities of film-making. He started with small projects, making shorts with friends using a borrowed hi 8 camcorder.
In the mid 2000's he attended Edinburgh College, where he studied film production. Unfortunately, he did not enjoy the academic side of the course and so decided to drop out and continue developing his craft.He would eventually return to higher education in the 2010s when he attended Abertay University as a computer arts student. During this time Chris caught the attention of New Jersey filmmaker Kevin Smith, after producing a series of biopic shorts about his life and work. This would eventually lead to the production of his first feature length film about Kevin's early career, entitled 'Shooting Clerks'.
Production of Shooting Clerks began as Chris was in his final year at university, which was as much of a challenge as it was a blessing. He qualified with a BA honors degree and completed most of the principle photography on his Smith biopic. With Shooting Clerks set for release in August 2023, Chris is also preparing for his next feature - a Scottish exploitation comedy about two pest controllers, battling mutated bugs, rats and other vermin. The aptly named 'Buggers' is set to start filming in early 2024.
- IMDb mini biography by: Betty Gibb
- The number 13.
- Scottish actors, locations or pop culture references.
- Often uses the De Wolfe song 'The Gonk' in his work
- Often casts friend Mark Frost.
- Has been a die hard fan of filmmaker Kevin Smith since purchasing a rental copy of 'Dogma' from a friend in 1999.
- Originally worked as a one man crew, writing, directing, producing and shooting as well as scoring, editing and title design. To this day he still maintains a high level of control over his projects and continues to multitask during a production.
- During the early stages of production on his Kevin Smith biopic, Shooting Clerks, Downie attended a screening of Jay and Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie, along with a large majority of the cast. After the show, they were all invited back stage to meet both Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes. As they climbed the stairs, producer Brett Murray, who knew how important the moment was for Downie, insisted that everyone hold back and allow him to enter first so he would be the first face Smith saw. Downie likens it to a trip to Santa's grotto whereby the eager child (Downie), is lead by a friendly elf (Jason Mewes' wife Jordan Monsanto), through the grotto door, past Mrs. Claus (Smith's wife Jennifer Schwalbach) and into the grotto itself. Smith bypassed a hand shake and gathered up Downie, and later the entire cast in a bear hug. The meeting ended with both parties trading posters for their respective movies.
- Worked as a background artist prior to becoming a filmmaker.
- Co-founded multimedia production company Auld Reekie Media with his Shooting Clerks producer, Brett Murray.
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