Christopher Paul Gardner, Sr. (born February 9, 1954) is an American businessman and motivational speaker. He became a stockbroker in the mid-1980s and eventually founded his own brokerage firm, Gardner Rich & Co, in 1987. In 2006, Gardner sold his minority stake in the firm and published a memoir. The book was later made into the motion picture The Pursuit of Happyness. Early years Gardner was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on February 9, 1954, to Bettye Jean Gardner and Thomas Turner. He was the second child and the only boy born to Bettye Jean. His older half-sister, Ophelia, is from a previous union. His younger sisters, Sharon and Kimberly, are children from his mother's marriage to Freddie Triplett. Gardner did not have many positive male role models as a child, as his father was living in Louisiana during his birth, and his stepfather was physically abusive to both his mother...