Christopher Cross "Chris" Griffin is a fictional character from the animated series Family Guy. He is the oldest son of Peter and Lois Griffin, brother of Stewie and Meg Griffin. Chris is voiced by Seth Green.

Character personality

Though Chris is not the brightest one in the family, he is particularly coherent and makes good points when talking about movies. Chris deals with the problems that most pubescent boys face: acne, girls, and school. He is 14 years old and is enrolled at James Woods Regional High School. Chris has been known to feel self-conscious about himself, especially his weight. In fact, on the Volume 1 DVD Boxset, it stated that Chris "wouldn't hurt a fly, unless it landed on his hot dog". He was referred to as an "Elephant Child" when he was born. Chris is also willing to do something as drastic as to convert to Judaism order to do better in school, specifically math. He once believed his low grades in mathematics were caused by himself when he tickled his brain by sticking an army man's rifle into his nose and accidentally puncturing a lobe. Chris enjoys drawing and once almost managed to become a famous artist in New York, but failed. Chris also has an apparent physical attraction to his mother, Lois, which was noted in the commentary of Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. It is also seen in "E. Peterbus Unum" (where he hands Meg a note that reads "I think Mrs. Griffin is hot") and in "Model Misbehavior" (where he says that he'll masturbate to pictures of her). Chris—like his father—is obese, has a low IQ and no common sense; however in the episode "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High", Brian refers to Chris's class as intelligent before going to teach remedial English. Also, various storylines give him autistic savant talents, such as artistic ability, and detailed knowledge of film and TV actors. Both he and Peter have also demonstrated profiency in the use of American Sign Language. Occasionally he exhibits unexpected, uncharacteristic insights, such as when he gives Peter and Lois a detailed and articulate lecture on the effects and disadvantages of marijuana. He has also demonstrated an ability to quickly adapt to new cultural surroundings. For example, when the family moved to London, England in "Patriot Games", Chris was the only member of the family who was able to quickly learn and speak cockney English.

Chris is usually depicted as naive to the point of blamelessness. However, when Peter and Lois were having a fist fight, Chris cheered for Peter, telling him to "kick her ass!" Also, in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, when Lois and Peter are trying to make out, the children mistake it for a fight and Chris says "I don't know what they're fighting about, but I think Dad's winning. Go Dad!"

Evil Monkey

In a running gag, starting in the episode "Dammit Janet!", Chris is regularly tormented by an evil monkey who lives in his closet, though whenever he complains about it to anyone, they don't believe him and often laugh him off instead, after which the monkey appears with a malevolent grimace and points at Chris in a threatening manner. However, in "Hannah Banana", Chris finally manages to prove the monkey's existence to the family, and even ends up becoming friends with him after the monkey (who appears not to be evil at all, but just a poor creature who was depressed after his wife cheated with another monkey) helps him write out a book report and pass. They hang out each other in fun places, and the monkey helps Chris in his studies in school, something in which Peter doesn't do. This, however, caused a rift between Chris and Peter when Chris realized that the monkey cares more for him than his father. Eventually the monkey helped the two patch things up, especially after Peter saved the monkey from Miley Cyrus (who is depicted as a gynoid) who had kidnapped him á la King Kong. After that, the monkey happily moved out of Chris' closet to live in the closet of Tom Tucker's son Jake, where the cycle will start in a new beginning, as Jake's having a bad time with his father.

Character origins

Chris' character resembles Milt, the son of the main character Larry Cummings in The Life of Larry, one of the animated short films created by Seth MacFarlane at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1995 that led to the development of Family Guy.

Chris was originally given a "punk" image, according to creator Seth MacFarlane's DVD commentary tracks. He wore earrings, and his painful awkwardness was not as emphasized as it is later in the series.

Chris' voice was based on Ted Levine's performance as James/Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb in The Silence of the Lambs. In the commentary for Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, Green reveals that he based his voice for Chris on what "Buffalo Bill" would sound like if he were working at a drive-thru in a McDonald's (speaking through a PA system); the result being a pre-Chris Griffin voice. Chris later parodied a scene from the movie where Buffalo Bill dances in front of a mirror in the same fashion.