Stephen Chbosky (born January 25, 1970) is an American novelist, screenwriter, and film director best-known for writing The New York Times bestselling coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999), as well as for writing and directing the film version of the same book, starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, and Ezra Miller. He also wrote the screenplay for the 2005 film Rent and Disney's 2017 live action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, alongside Evan Spiliotopoulos, and was co-creator, executive producer, and writer of the CBS television series Jericho, which aired from 2006 to 2008. Most recently, he directed the 2017 drama Wonder, starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, and Jacob Tremblay. His next novel, Imaginary Friend, was published in October 2019.