Haren was born in San Bernardino County, California. He attended school and colleges in San Bernardino. In his 20s he served in the United States Army during the 1950s.^[1]

In the 1960s Haren received a studio contract from MGM and starred in Vincente Minnelli's Bells Are Ringing, Otto Preminger's In Harm's Way (a Paramount Pictures film), and Billy Rose's Jumbo. He starred on Broadway in the Bertolt Brecht play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, produced by Tony Richardson.^[1]

He is best remembered for playing the role of the Marlboro Man in print advertisements in the early 1960s, and appearing in print ads for Budweiser Beer.^[2]

Haren was openly gay, and was the proprietor of the popular Palm Springs gay bar CC Construction Co. in later years. In 1985, he was diagnosed with AIDS and became active in AIDS prevention education. He started "The Wedge", a "safe sex" AIDS prevention organization for teens in San Francisco.^[3][4] After living with the disease for over a decade, Haren died in 1996. Five well-known Marlboro men died of smoking related illnesses. Haren and Darrell Winfield (21 years as the Marlboro Man) were the two best known of all of men who portrayed the Marlboro Man, but who did not suffer ill effects from smoking.

Haren died in 1996 in San Francisco, California, of complications from AIDS, at the age of 61.^[5]

His life was the subject of the 1998 documentary short Castro Cowboy.^{[citation needed]}

• Christian Haren at IMDb
• San Francisco Chronicle obituary
• LA Times obituary