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Sean Astin (born February 25, 1971) is an American film actor, director, and Oscar-nominated producer best known for his film roles as Mikey Walsh in The Goonies, the title character of Rudy, and Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In television, he guest starred as Lynn McGill on the fifth season of 24. Astin was born Sean Patrick Duke in Santa Monica, California. He is the son of actors Patty Duke and John Astin, although his biological father is Michael Tell, a music promoter and writer whose marriage to Patty Duke was annulled shortly before her marriage to Astin. At the time of his birth, it was widely assumed that his biological father was Desi Arnaz, Jr., although this was later proven false. Astin is the older brother of Mackenzie Astin, also an actor (in The Facts of Life). He graduated with honors from UCLA with B.A.s in history and English (American literature and culture). He is an alumnus of and now serves on the Board of Directors of the Patrons Association and the Arts Council for Los Angeles Valley College. He also attended St. Paul the Apostle Elementary School and the Crossroads High School for the Arts and participated in master classes at the Stella Adler Conservatory in Los Angeles. He is also a vegetarian. This son of actors John Astin and Patty Duke grew up in the limelight of his famous parents and was portrayed as a character in the TV-movie "Call Me Anna" (ABC, 1990), based on his mother's autobiographical account of her victory over manic depression. Compact and good-looking, Sean Astin made his first significant appearance in front of the cameras alongside his mother, portraying a battered child in the "Please Don't Hit Me, Mom", a 1981 "ABC Afterschool Special". He segued to the big screen four years later playing one of the treasure-hunting kids in "The Goonies" (1985) and went on to play the son of divorcing parents (Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner) in "The War of the Roses" (1989). Astin also was featured as a ball-turret gunner in "Memphis Belle" (1990) before starring as a misfit who saves the day when terrorists take over a posh private school in the silly "Toy Soldiers" (1991). The surprisingly successful "Encino Man" (1992) did not represent a noticeable upgrade in quality, but "Rudy" (1993), a fact-based sports story about a "little quarterback who could", seemed a rather more appealing showcase for the talented player. At age thirteen, he debuted on the silver screen as Mikey in The Goonies (1985). He had a small role in 1989’s The War of the Roses and in 1990 he appeared in the WWII film Memphis Belle. In 1993 he received a memorable part as the title character in Rudy and in 1998 starred in the romantic comedy Boy Meets Girl. Astin recently played Samwise Gamgee in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. He was Frodo's loyal companion on his quest to destroy the ring. He also played the brother of Lucy (Drew Barrymore) in the Adam Sandler film 50 First Dates. Astin provided the voice for Balto’s son, Kodi, in the second direct-to-video sequel of Balto. In 1994, he directed and co-produced the Academy Awards nominated short film, Kangaroo Court, with his wife, Christine. In 1995, he starred in the Showtime sci-fi film, Harrison Bergeron, an adaptation of the short story by Kurt Vonnegut. In this futuristic film, the world focuses on the belief that “All men are not created equal. It is the purpose of the Government to make them so.” The titular character, Harrison, is smarter than his peers and is unaffected by the standard technology used to handicap all Americans so that everyone is of equal ability. In the early 90s, Astin formed a production company, Lava Entertainment, and branched out into filmmaking with the affecting short "On My Honor". One of his efforts, "Kangaroo Court" (1994) which examined race relations amid a legal backdrop, received an Academy Award nomination as Best Short Subject. (Interestingly, Astin's father was nominated in the same category for 1968's "Prelude".) He also directed himself in an episode of the HBO fantasy series "Perversions of Science" in 1997. Despite branching out into behind-the-scenes work, Astin has remained fairly busy in front of the cameras as well. He garnered critical praise for his turn as an intelligent and rebellious teen in a repressive society in the 1995 Showtime adaptation of "Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron" and was also quite good as a gung ho soldier in "Courage Under Fire" (1996). Astin was fine as a C-SPAN employee in the political comedy "Bulworth" (1998) and proved effective as a redneck stranded in a snowbound diner with the US President during a crisis in the heavy-handed if intriguing "Deterrence" (2000). Following a nice turn as an ambitious screenwriter in "The Last Producer" (USA Network, 2001), the actor was cast in what was his highest profile role to date, that of Samwise 'Sam' Gangee in Peter Jackson's highly-anticipated tripartite screen version of the J.R.R. Tolkein classic "The Lord of the Rings" (filmed in 1999-2000). Released over a three-year period, Astin would grace movie screens each December beginning in 2001 with "The Fellowship of the Ring" and continuing with "The Two Towers" (2002) and "The Return of the King" (2003). Astin received much praise for playing Sam, widely considered the heart and soul of the film, and achieved an increased star stature in the wake of the films. While working on The Two Towers, he persuaded a number of fellow cast and crew members, including director Peter Jackson, to act in or work as crew on his short film, The Long and Short of It (2003), which takes place on a street in Wellington, New Zealand. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, 2003, and appears on the “standard edition” DVD of The Two Towers as an extra feature together with a “making of” video. He next played Doug, Drew Barrymore's lisping, wannabe bodybuilder brother who tries to maintain the illusion that each day is Oct. 13 in the romantic comedy "50 First Dates" (2004). After a string of smaller profile films Astin became a familiar face to TV viewers as part of the ensemble of the popular Steven Spielberg-produced Western miniseries "Into the West" (2005) and joined the cast of the hit Fox drama "24" for its fifth season, airing in 2006. Astin guest starred as Lynn McGill in the fifth season of the FOX drama 24. He also appeared in the first season of the NBC Show Las Vegas as a gambler who wins one million dollars and his wife and best friend want to take it away from him. He also had a role in Adam Sandler’s 2006 film Click. Astin has also appeared as a wealthy maor-owner though to have killed his faher in the dramedy Monk on the USA Network owned by television conglomerate NBC Astin is the narrator of the US version of Meerkat Manor, shown on the Discovery Channel-owned cable TV channel Animal Planet. He most recently appeared as a sales clerk in an episode of the TV series, My Name Is Earl, in which he, along with co-stars Charles S. Dutton and Chelcie Ross, parodied their hit movie, Rudy. Scenes included a motivational speech by Dutton after Earl fails his chance at becoming a sales rep, and all the dock workers turning in their credit cards to Ross. Both of these are representations of famous “Rudy” scenes. He substituted for Tate Donovan in voicing Hercules in the first Kingdom Hearts game for Playstation 2. In Easter 2008 he appeared on British television channel Sky One in a TV adaptation of Terry Pratchett's novel The Colour of Magic along with British actors Sir David Jason, Tim Curry, Jeremy Irons and Christopher Lee. Astin married Christine Harrell on July 11, 1992. They have three daughters: Alexandra (born November 27, 1996), Elizabeth (born August 6, 2002), and Isabella (born July 22, 2005), all with the same middle name of Louise. His wife held the Miss Indiana Teen USA title in 1984. His book, There and Back Again: An Actor’s Tale (2004, ISBN 0-312-33146-0), co-written by Joe Layden, is an account of his experiences before, during and after filming the Lord of the Rings movies. The title is derived from the subtitle of The Hobbit by Lord of the Rings author J. R. R. Tolkien. He jumped at the chance to work in New Zealand again in 2004, as the mythical “Linus”, tutor of Hercules, in Robert Halmi, Sr.’s Hallmark-sponsored remake. Astin has a tattoo of the Elvish word for "nine", a reference to his involvement in the Lord of the Rings and the fact that his character was one of the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring. The other actors of "The Fellowship" (Elijah Wood, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, and Orlando Bloom) got the same tattoo with the exception of John Rhys-Davies whose stunt double got the tattoo instead. Astin has lent his support to Senator Hillary Clinton for the 2008 Presidential Elections, and joined Clinton's daughter Chelsea Clinton for the first stop of her Indiana tour on March 24, 2008, at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He also joined Chelsea Clinton at Ball State University on March 25, 2008. |
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