Chris Redfield[a] is a character in Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan), a survival horror series created by the Japanese company Capcom.

He was introduced as one of the two playable characters of the original Resident Evil (1996), alongside his partner Jill Valentine, as a member of the Raccoon Police Department's Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.)

Chris was introduced as one of the two playable protagonists, alongside his partner Jill Valentine, in Capcom's 1996 survival horror video game Resident Evil.

[23] Of white American descent,[19] Chris served in the United States Air Force[24] and later joined the Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.

[27] In Resident Evil 5 (2009), modeler Yosuke Yamagata said that they "made a new design that retained their signature color—green for Chris, blue for Jill—to carry over the same look from the past".

The character's facial features are mainly based on the visuals in the 2002 remake of Resident Evil, with various details added to arrive at a "realistic structure".

[29] Resident Evil 5's producer Jun Takeuchi said that the series' fans want a video game featuring both Leon S. Kennedy and Chris as the protagonists at the same time, due to their popularity.

Takeuchi opined that it would be "pretty dramatic" if the two characters never met before the series ended;[30] the meeting happened in Resident Evil 6 (2012),[31] where Chris has a slightly disheveled look due to his alcoholism and post-traumatic amnesia.

[38] Chris' actions served as a major mystery to the game before its release, which director Morimasa Sato felt was an opportunity to showcase the character's progression to fans who were already familiar with him.

[4] Every game in the series is set in the fictional American metropolitan area of Raccoon City until its destruction at the end of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.

[40] Subsequent games featuring Chris take place on an international scale, namely in Russia,[40] Antarctica,[40] China,[41] Louisiana,[41] Romania,[42] Africa,[43] and the Mediterranean Sea.

[44] The original game is set in July 1998 in a mansion on the outskirts of Raccoon City,[45] which Chris and his team enter while searching for lost colleagues.

member Rebecca Chambers, Chris discovers the property is a façade for a biological warfare laboratory operated by the Umbrella Corporation, and its undead occupants are the scientists who developed the T-virus mutagen.

[47] Chris did not appear in Resident Evil 2 (1998), as the production team used new protagonists (Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield) to preserve the original game's horror elements.

[41] Upon discovering she is in Antarctica, Chris is briefly confronted by Wesker, who is revealed to have survived the events of the first game and also to have gained enhanced strength, speed, and agility.

[40] In Revelations – set two years later – Jill and her new partner Parker Luciani are sent on a mission to rescue Chris, who is allegedly being held hostage on a ghost ship in the Mediterranean.

Working together, the two manage to find and free Jill, and ultimately defeat and destroy Wesker, who was planning to spread the Uroboros virus across the world.

[41] In Resident Evil 6 (2012), Chris leads a squad of BSAA soldiers to investigate a bioterrorism attack in Edonia,[55][56] a fictional country in Eastern Europe.

[41][31] While attempting to work with Jake Muller, the illegitimate son of Albert Wesker, who possesses the antibodies needed to stop the outbreak, Chris and Piers encounter Haos, a powerful bioweapon.

During the events of Village, Chris and his Hound Wolf squad learn that antagonist Mother Miranda is capable of shape-shifting and had posed as Mia.

[55] After revealing the nature of his mission to Ethan, Chris saves the real Mia, learns Miranda's connection to the late Oswell E. Spencer – the founder of the Umbrella Corporation – and helps plant a bomb to destroy the infested village.

In the rejected Resident Evil film script written by George A. Romero in 1998, Chris is a Native American civilian and ultimately one of the few survivors.

[63] Wentworth Miller said that he requested that the filmmakers put together a montage of noteworthy video-game scenes that elaborated on Chris' experiences and background, as this would help him understand the character.

[98] Noting previous criticism for being a "one-dimensional" character, PC Gamer's Andy Kelly praised Chris as "finally a person" in Village, opining that, as a result of the game's design, he has been "given some depth".

[103][104][105] Wes Fenlon of PC Gamer said that Chris punching a boulder inside an active volcano "gave us what is truly one of the greatest moments in the history of video games" and "as a quick time event.