Chris Witaske

Last updated

Chris Witaske
Born
OccupationActor
Years active2014–present

Chris Witaske is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Chris Czajkowski in the Netflix romantic comedy Love , and Pete in the Emmy Awards-winning FX on Hulu comedy series The Bear .

Contents

Life and career

Witaske was born in St. Charles, Illinois. [1] He began taking classes at Second City in Chicago as a teenager and also performed as a birthday party magician before focusing mainly on comedy and acting. Witaske attended St. Charles High School and after graduation, he commenced his studies at the University of Iowa where he majored in Theater Arts. He then moved to Chicago and worked at comedy venues including the Second City, iO, and Annoyance Theaters before moving to Los Angeles. [2] [3] [4] In 2013, he and his Second City castmates made an appearance on stage at a Phish concert at FirstMerit Bank Pavilion. [5] [6]

In 2014, Witaske made his television acting debut in the Fox comedy-drama series New Girl . Following on from his first role, Witaske won other roles on a variety of TV shows and films including The Comeback , Teachers , Drunk History , Lady Bird , Unicorn Store , What Men Want , Arrested Development , Weird City , The Wrong Missy , and The Bear .

In 2016, Witaske was cast as Chris Czajkowski in the Netflix romantic comedy Love [7] and was promoted to a series regular role the following year. [8]

In July 2021, it was announced that Netflix had greenlit the adult animated series Chicago Party Aunt , created by Witaske with Jon Barinholtz and Katie Rich and based on the Twitter account Witaske created of the same name. [9] The series started airing on September 21, 2021.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2017 Lady Bird James
Unicorn Store Matt
2019 What Men Want Eddie
2020 The Wrong Missy Rich
2022 The Bubble Josh
2024 Omni Loop Morris
2025 Holland Holland cop

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2014 New Girl BradleyEpisode: "Dice"
The Comeback KevinEpisode: "Valerie Gets What She Really Wants"
2015 W/ Bob & David SalesmanEpisode: "1.04"
2016–2018 Love Chris Czajkowski17 episodes
Recurring (season 1–2); Main (season 3)
2017 Drunk History Alexander Hamilton Episode: "Drunk History Christmas Special"
Teachers Mr. SchmidtEpisode: "Passive Eggressive"
2018 Arrested Development InstructorEpisode: "Sinking Feelings"
Alone Together JasonEpisode: "Crypto"
2019 Fresh Off the Boat KenEpisode: "Just the Two of Us"
Weird City BoojEpisode: "The One"
Sunnyside TannerEpisode: "Skirt-Skirt!"
2021 Curb Your Enthusiasm DekeEpisode: "Igor, Gregor, & Timor"
2021–present Chicago Party Aunt Kurt (voice)Also series co-creator
2022–present The Bear Pete7 episodes
2022–2024 Is It Cake? Himself / Judge4 episodes

References

  1. "Biography". Archived from the original on April 15, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  2. Casey, Chris (February 25, 2016). "St. Charles grad Chris Witaske stars in new Netflix original series". Kane County Chronicle. Archived from the original on October 20, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  3. McCarthy, Anne (November 23, 2016). "12 Questions with Comedian Chris Witaske". Medium. Archived from the original on April 14, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  4. Switall, Rachel. "Q&A with Chris Witaske". West Suburban Living. Archived from the original on April 14, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  5. "Jul 21, 2013 Setlist - Phish.net". phish.net. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
  6. shinepigeon (July 22, 2013). PHISH : Harpua : {1080p HD} : Northerly Island : Chicago, IL : 7/21/2013 . Retrieved June 28, 2025 via YouTube.
  7. Tasha, Robinson (February 17, 2016). "On Netflix's Love, crummy people still can't fix each other". The Verge. Archived from the original on July 8, 2017. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  8. Strause, Jackie (February 15, 2017). "Netflix's 'Love' Promotes Chris Witaske to Series Regular for Season 3 (Exclusive)". Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 14, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  9. "Chicago Party Aunt Twitter Account Inspires New Netflix Animated Series". CBS 2 Chicago. July 27, 2021. Archived from the original on July 28, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.