Chris Gardner Keynote Speaker

  • #1 best-selling author, "The Pursuit of Happyness" (2006)
  • Inspiration for the acclaimed movie, “The Pursuit of Happyness”
  • Leading motivational speaker on overcoming adversity

Chris Gardner's Biography

Chris Gardner is an entrepreneur, author and philanthropist.  Chris Gardner is an inspirational keynote speaker and addresses audiences on how to overcome obstacles and break cycles.

Chris is the author of the New York Times and Washington Post #1 best-selling autobiography, “The Pursuit of Happyness” (2006), which has been translated into over forty languages. Chris is also the inspiration for the acclaimed movie “The Pursuit of Happyness” for which Will Smith, starring as Chris, received Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award nominations for his performance. Chris’ second best-selling book, “Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be”, was published in May 2009.

In the fall of 2010, Chris was named the Ambassador of Pursuit and Happyness for AARP, a US-based NGO which has nearly 40 million members worldwide.

Always hard working and tenacious, a series of adverse circumstances in the early 1980’s left Chris homeless in San Francisco and the sole guardian of his toddler son. Unwilling to give up Chris Jr. or his dreams of success, Chris climbed the financial industry ladder from the very bottom. He worked at Dean Witter Reynolds and Bear Stearns & Co before founding the brokerage firm Gardner Rich in Chicago in 1987.

Chris Gardner’s aim, through his speaking engagements and media projects, is to help others achieve their full potential. He is a passionate philanthropist committed to organisations combating violence against women, homelessness, financial illiteracy and providing access to medical care and treatment; issues of the utmost importance to Chris.

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Videos of Chris Gardner

Life Reimagined (2012)
On the Pursuit of Happiness (2014)

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