In 1991, he played as Joseph in the
Barney and the Backyard Gang video
Rock With Barney. In 1995, he made a brief appearance on
Saturday Night Live, season 21, episode 4. The 11-year-old Marquette played a trick-or-treater in the opening Halloween sketch. He forgot his line and whispered "damn" under his breath, before
Norm Macdonald helped him out. He also provided the voice of Spencer Lionheart in the "MGM Sing-Alongs" Videos back in 1997. However, his acting debut was in 1998 with the musical drama film
The Tic Code. In 2000, he appeared in the Disney Channel movie
Up, Up and Away. From 2000 to 2005, he had a supporting role in Lifetime TV's
Strong Medicine, playing Marc Delgado, the tween-to-teen son of the series' lead character, Luisa Delgado. In 2004, he starred in
The Girl Next Door. The same year, he became a series regular on the
CBS show
Joan of Arcadia opposite
Amber Tamblyn and
Jason Ritter (whom Marquette co-starred with in the
2003 slasher film
Freddy vs. Jason) before
Joan of Arcadia cancellation in early 2005. Marquette was also given a supporting role in
Just Friends with
Ryan Reynolds,
Amy Smart,
Anna Faris and
Chris Klein. In 2006's
Alpha Dog, Marquette portrays Keith Stratten alongside
Emile Hirsch,
Justin Timberlake and
Ben Foster. He played the best friend of main character Nick Powell in the thriller
The Invisible, a remake of a Swedish film, which starred
Justin Chatwin and
Marcia Gay Harden and was released on April 27, 2007. He has also had supporting/minor roles in the films
61* with
Barry Pepper and
Thomas Jane, and the
Disney Channel original TV movie
Up, Up and Away! with
Robert Townsend. Among Marquette's movies is
Fanboys, in which he plays obsessed
Star Wars fan Linus Poonwah.
Fanboys was shot in spring 2006 in
New Mexico, and also stars
Sam Huntington,
Dan Fogler,
Jay Baruchel and
Veronica Mars Kristen Bell. Another of his acting projects is an independent movie called
The Education of Charlie Banks, which was directed by
Limp Bizkit's
Fred Durst. Whether on purpose or not, Chris frequently appears in movies with a group of actors including
Emile Hirsch,
Paul Dano,
Amanda Seyfried and
Nikki Reed. In
Infestation, an action comedy by
Kyle Rankin that was shot in summer 2007 in Bulgaria, he plays the lead role—a young man named Cooper who has to fight for survival against giant alien insects that have taken over the world. One of his latest projects was
Race to Witch Mountain, a modern-day reimagining of Disney's 1975 film
Escape to Witch Mountain in which Marquette played the character of Pope—a computer specialist out of
MIT, helping the bad guys. Marquette starred alongside
Dwayne Johnson,
Tom Everett Scott and
Ciarán Hinds; the film was released March 2009. Marquette has also been seen as a guest star on several TV shows, such as
ER,
Touched by an Angel,
7th Heaven,
Miracles,
Boston Public and
Judging Amy. The latest guest roles include the Showtime TV series
Huff; Christopher played James, a friend of Byrd's (
Anton Yelchin, whom he also played alongside in
Alpha Dog), in the 2006 episodes "Sweet Release", "Bethless", and "Tapping the Squid". As Christopher Marquette, he returned on-screen, in late 2010, with fellow Joan of Arcadia actor
Michael Welch as two friends who murder together in the
Criminal Minds episode entitled "JJ". In 2011 he appeared as Danny, a young homeless patient who is later revealed to be a cannibalistic serial killer in the award-winning medical drama
House. ==Philanthropy==