他生长于新泽西州的普林斯顿,曾入读West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South,当时与布莱恩·辛格(导演)、伊桑·霍克(演员)和詹姆斯·墨菲(音乐人)是同学[2]。他曾在新泽西州的侦探事务所工作四年。1992年进入纽约市警察局工作。后来,得到好友辛格的邀请为辛格的首部电影《媒体风云》编写剧本,这为他赢得了1993年圣丹斯电影节评审团奖。
^Miller, Lynn. "More West Windsor Filmmaking Stars on the Horizon" (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆), West Windsor & Plainsboro News, December 15, 2007. Accessed December 15, 2007. "Two West Windsor-Plainsboro High School graduates are following in the footsteps of two other filmmakers from West Windsor, Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie. Singer, Class of 1984, and McQuarrie, Class of 1986, have recently joined together for the filming of “Valkyrie,” a controversial film about Colonel Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, the German Army officer who tried to do away with Hitler during World War II."