Stephen Chbosky is an American novelist, screenwriter, filmmaker and producer who is best known for penning the novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower and directing its eponymous 2012 film adaptation. He debuted as a writer-director in 1995 with the comedy film The Four Corners of Nowhere, which he also produced. In 1999, Chbosky published the acclaimed coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which he subsequently made into a film 13 years later, in 2012. The movie was a critical and commercial success, and earned Chbosky the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature that year. In 2017, Chbosky`s third directorial venture Wonder, which starred Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay in lead roles, opened to near-universal critical acclaim. The movie is based on the 2012 novel of the same name by R.J. Palacio. Other notable film credits as a screenwriter include the musical drama Rent (2005) and the musical romantic fantasy Beauty and the Beast (2017).