Christopher Guest

Actor and director Christopher Guest portrays guitarist Nigel Tufnel in Rob Reiner's classic heavy metal satire This is Spinal Tap. Guest has since directed a number of other "mockumentary" films, including Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show.

Guest started his career in comedy as a contributor to The National Lampoon Radio Hour and an actor in the theatrical show National Lampoon's Lemmings, along with future Saturday Night Live players John Belushi and Chevy Chase.

Guest would himself appear on SNL, but only for one season, from 1984 to 1985, the same year in which Spinal Tap was released. Guest would play another memorable role for director Rob Reiner a few years later, as the Six-Fingered Man in 1987's The Princess Bride.

In 1996, Guest produced and directed the mockumentary Waiting for Guffman. Three more mockumentaries have followed, starring many of the same actors and all done in a similar style: 2000's Best in Show, 2003's A Mighty Wind (in which the members of Spinal Tap reunited as The Folksmen) and the 2006 show business parody For Your Consideration. Guest has played a role himself in each of the films.

Actors frequently appearing in Guest films include:

• Bob Balaban
• Ed Begley Jr.
• Jennifer Coolidge
• John Michael Higgins
• Eugene Levy
• Jane Lynch
• Catherine O'Hara
• Michael McKean
• Parker Posey
• Harry Shearer
• Fred Willard

• Note: The majority of the links in this timeline are to IMDb, which has pop-ups

• February 5, 1948: Born

• 1973: Lemmings

• 1984: This Is Spinal Tap

• 1984-1985: Saturday Night Live

• 1986: Little Shop of Horrors

• 1987: The Princess Bride

• 1992: A Few Good Men

• 1996: Waiting for Guffman

• 1998: Small Soldiers

• 2000: Best in Show

• 2003: A Mighty Wind

• 2006: For Your Consideration