Christopher McGinnis Piano Prodigy Personified!

Born September 15, 1997, multi-talented thirteen year old Christopher McGinnis is already an exciting entertainer.  With deeply rooted musical influences, he began formal training with his father at the young age of five years old.  Since then, Christopher has studied privately at the Julliard School, and had formal training by many different and diverse teachers. He performed his first concert on Celebrity Cruise Line, which led to his performance at the historic Paramount Theatre in Westchester at the age of ten. Continuing to capture a live audience, he performs at the International Mamapalooza Momedy Comedy Festival at the Broadway Comedy Club  in NYC.

Christopher  is a prolific songwriter.  He has three original Pop tunes, “Dreams Are Made Of”, Time Waits For No One”, and “The War Song an American Hero” which are available on I-Tunes and Amazon.

Listen to them here then go purchase them at one of the links above;

No venue is two large for Christopher, having played Madison Square Garden for the NY Knicks halftime show twice in 2009 and returning again in 2010.

Christopher is the youngest featured pianist with the Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra at the Jazz Standard in NYC.  He performed on piano and vocals in an outdoor concert in Central Park for the Make Music NY festival 2010,  Macys Herald Square, and Times Square.

Christopher appeared in national network television commercials for JVC Camcorders, Super Fresh, and Grandparents.com.  He portrayed Young Indiana Jones with Harrison Ford for the Crystal Skull/Papa John advertisements. One of his favorite radio campaigns was with Jane Curits for the Council Against Substance Abuse. Subsequently, he was cast in two films.

Jeff Goldblum & Christopher McGinnis

Christopher landed a lead in the independent NYU film, Hide & Seek .  He’s been cast as a supporting actor in the short Independent film Strawberry-Banana which won the Warner Brothers Film Award in ‘09.   He also became the featured pianist for a documentary called Kids Talk Politics.  Christopher made his television drama debut in Law & Order Criminal Intent’s 2009 season playing opposite Jeff Goldblum and Julianne Nicholson. You can see him in an episode of Will Farrels’ new sitcom Big Lake in August 2010 on Comedy Central. He will also appear in the 2011 season opener for the Electric Company.

Continuing to strive for greatness, Christopher constantly exudes all facets of his personality and gives his all to everything he does.  He is a great athlete.  He is soulful, charismatic, and has an insatiable appetite for knowledge.  Christopher is genuinely entertaining.

On a personal side note, Christopher is a very interesting young man with little time to spare. He is an excellent scholar and an A student. He is also extremely athletic, and excels in just about every sport he plays.  I was amazed when I found out that Christopher played on the Traveling Soccer Team, Track Team, Town Football, Cross Country (always placing in the top 3), Little League Baseball (pitcher), Golf, Swimming, Parasailing, Snowboarding………. And the list goes on!!!!!!   He is currently enjoying basketball being his favorite.

Chris on Beach

He owns a jet ski and is constantly riding it in the summer, taking full advantage of his families River Front property.  Christopher and his friends are always in the water jumping off their dock, making a float out of wood or just having a game of tag in the water.  He has even tried surfing and loves it.   Since Christopher was a little boy he has loved to read about boats and yachts and like most 13 year old boys enjoys playing Xbox live with his on line friends.

His favorite animal is a whale.  In fact, his family adopted one and contributes money to help care for it.  He loves his 105 lb dog Opie which is a Labrador/Shepherd hound mix but looks just like a lab.  Opie was even in a movie with Christopher called Hide & Seek.  You can see Opie on the trailer on Christophers website .  There is another short clip of Opie on his YouTube Channel.

I asked Christopher what some of his most memorable moments in film making and performing were and he replied saying;

Christopher McGinnis as Indiana Jones

“My favorite shoot was portraying Young Indiana Jones.  I really enjoyed swinging high in the air on the tree rope and sliding across the floor, jumping over the dog house and eating 16 slices of Pizza!!!  I was issued a really cool outfit that looked just like Indians Jones.” His mom told me; “The Director Jim Collins was also a fisherman which won Christopher over from the minute he found out.  Christopher actually had a feeling he liked the water and asked him “Are you a fisherman?”

His most exciting performance was the first time he played LIVE at Madison Square Garden for the NY Knicks halftime show.   There were about 25 thousand people there.  Christopher does NOT get stage fright and had a blast playing for the huge crowd.  When walking out of the Garden he told his Mother “I can’t wait to go back there and play again”. Sure enough he got called in one month later to play as guest organist and then 5 months later to play for the NY Liberty girls basketball halftime show.

One of Christopher’s favorite movies is the Titanic.  In fact, he would love to meet or work with Leonardo DiCaprio in the future since he one of his favorite actors.
He also likes Forrest Gump and Tom Hanks and lists his animation favorites as Stuart Little, Shrek, Brother Bear,  and Up to name a few!

Christopher’s daily morning ritual is to stop at his favorite place and eat his favorite breakfast which consists of scrambled eggs and cheese on a Portuguese roll.  Not to worry, Mom said’ “his cholesterol level is just fine!”

They shared something very special with me!

Christopher’s Dad Chris Sr. is also a musician with his main instrument being drums.  Although Christopher has many different piano teachers, Dad is his number 1 mentor. Chris Sr. started him on piano when he was just 5 years old and immediately recognized the special gift young Christopher had.  Christopher and his Dad will jam together daily, which is really amazing to have those moments with your Dad.  Chris Sr. on drums and Christopher on piano.  They also reverse rolls and Christopher hops on the drums while Chris senior holds his own on the piano.  Mom exclaimed “I usually just dance around and have fun shaking the tambourine.” The family hosts some fun parties in the summertime with all their friends in attendance.  In most cases it turns into some kind of musical jam with a bunch of people.

Christopher sites Bill Evan, Chic Chorea, Michel Camilo, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and Sting as his musical influences.

What to watch for from Christopher:

Christopher will be on The Electric Company’s season opener which airs Monday Feb 7th at 5pm (7pm EST) on PBS.  He will be in a scene where he is in a playground with a few other kids and they call them the Basketball dancers because they do a little street dancing.  In addition Christopher will be playing at the Sugar Bar in NYC in February; the date will be posted on his website.

To learn more about Christopher and see his complete resume which I believe to be one of the most impressive I have seen to date, visit his

Domain Site, and his YouTube Channel.

To book Chris for a show or event contact:

Angela Fasciana Management – (914) 494-9304