[4] He is the son of Lea (née Meyer), a tax preparer, and Fred G. Chbosky, a steel company executive and consultant to CFOs.

"[11] He was heavily influenced by J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye and the writing of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Tennessee Williams.

[11] Chbosky graduated from Upper St. Clair High School in 1988, around which time he met Stewart Stern, screenwriter of the 1955 James Dean film Rebel Without a Cause.

[6] In the late 1990s, Chbosky wrote several unproduced screenplays, including ones titled Audrey Hepburn's Neck and Schoolhouse Rock.

In July 2013, The Perks of Being a Wallflower had spent over a year on the New York Times Bestseller list, and was published in 31 languages.

The same year, he worked with director Jon Sherman on a film adaptation of Michael Chabon's novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh,[6] though the project fell apart by August 2000.

[20] Chbosky wrote the screenplay for the 2005 film adaptation of the Broadway rock musical Rent, which received mixed reviews.

The series revolves around the inhabitants of the fictional small town of Jericho, Kansas in the aftermath of several nuclear attacks.

The film starred Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, and Jacob Tremblay,[28] and was released on November 17, 2017.

On November 29, 2018, Universal Pictures announced that Chbosky was in talks to direct the film adaptation of Steven Levenson and Pasek & Paul's Tony Award-winning musical, Dear Evan Hansen.

[30][31] It stars Ben Platt in the title role, which he originated on Broadway, along with Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Nik Dodani, Colton Ryan, Amy Adams, Danny Pino and Julianne Moore.