Sean Astin
Astin at UIUC, 2009
Born	Sean Patrick Duke February 25, 1971 (1971-02-25) (age 38) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, director, producer
Years active	since 1985
Spouse(s)	Christine Harrell (since 1992)
Official website

Sean Astin (born February 25, 1971) is an American film actor, director, and 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 appeared as Lynn McGill in the fifth season of 24. Most recently, he provided the voice for the title character in Disney's Special Agent Oso.

Early life and education

Astin was born Sean Patrick Duke in Santa Monica, California, the son of actress Patty Duke.¹ At the time, it was reported that Desi Arnaz, Jr. was his biological father; in 1994, he discovered that he was fathered by Michael Tell, a music promoter and writer who edits and publishes the Jewish newspaper The Las Vegas Israelite.²³⁴ Tell's marriage to Patty Duke was annulled shortly before her marriage in 1972 to actor John Astin, who adopted Sean. Although Patty Duke and John Astin divorced in 1982, Sean Astin has written as an adult that he has always considered John his "real" father and continues to do so. In 1973, Duke gave birth to Astin's half-brother Mackenzie Astin, also an actor.

Astin graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in History and English (American literature and culture). He is an alumnus of Los Angeles Valley College and now serves on the school's Board of Directors of the Patrons Association and the Arts Council. He attended St. Paul the Apostle Elementary School, Bellagio Road Elementary, and the Crossroads High School for the Arts, and participated in master classes at the Stella Adler Conservatory in Los Angeles.

Career

Early career

Astin's first acting role was in a 1981 television movie titled Please Don't Hit Me, Mom, in which he played a child with an abusive mother (portrayed by his real-life mother Patty Duke). He made his silver screen debut at age 13 as Mikey in The Goonies (1985).

Following The Goonies, Sean Astin appeared in several more films, including Like Father Like Son (1987), The War of the Roses (1989), the World War II film Memphis Belle (1990), Toy Soldiers (1990), Encino Man (1992) and the college football biopic Rudy (1993), about the life changing struggles and rewards of the titular character, Daniel Ruettiger.

In 1994, Astin directed and co-produced (with his wife, Christine Astin) the short film Kangaroo Court, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. Astin continued to appear in films throughout the 1990s, including the Showtime science fiction film Harrison Bergeron (1995), the Gulf War film Courage Under Fire (1996), and the Warren Beatty political satire Bulworth (1998).

Lord of the Rings

In the early 2000s, Astin experienced a career breakthrough with his role as Samwise Gamgee in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, released in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Along with the many awards bestowed upon the trilogy, particularly its final installment The Return of the King (winner of eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture), Astin received many award nominations for his own performance in Return of the King, taking home the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor and awards from the Las Vegas Film Critics Society, the Seattle Film Critics, the Utah Film Critics Association, and the Phoenix Film Critics Society. As an ensemble, the Return of the King cast received awards from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures and the Screen Actors Guild.

While working on Lord of the Rings, Astin persuaded a number of fellow cast and crew members, including director Peter Jackson, to assist him in making his second short film, The Long and Short of It. The film takes place on a street in Wellington, New Zealand. The Long and Short of It premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and appears on the DVD for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, along with a "making of" video.

In 2004, Astin released There and Back Again (ISBN 0-312-33146-0), a memoir (co-written with Joe Layden) of his film career with emphasis on his experiences with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The title is derived from the subtitle of The Hobbit, by Lord of the Rings author J. R. R. Tolkien; the title also appears in the film Return of the King.

Post-LOTR career

Since Lord of the Rings, Astin has continued to work in film and television. His film roles have included the Adam Sandler comedies 50 First Dates and Click.

In television, Astin guest-starred as Lynn McGill throughout the fifth season of the Fox drama 24. He also appeared in the made-for-TV films Hercules and The Colour of Magic and in episodes of Monk, Las Vegas, My Name is Earl (in which he parodied his 1993 film Rudy with co-stars Charles S. Dutton and Chelcie Ross), and Law & Order, among other shows. He directed a 2003 episode of the TV series Angel, titled "Soulless".

Astin's career has also expanded to include voice-over roles. He narrated the American version of the Animal Planet series Meerkat Manor, and voices the title character in the animated Disney Channel series Special Agent Oso.⁵ His other voice work includes Balto III: Wings of Change and the video game Kingdom Hearts.

Personal life

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 middle name Louise. His wife held the Miss Indiana Teen USA title in 1984.

Astin has a tattoo on his ankle of the Elvish word for "nine," commemorating his Lord of the Rings involvement and his character's membership in the Fellowship of the Ring. Of the other Fellowship actors (Elijah Wood, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, and John Rhys-Davies), all have the same tattoo except Rhys-Davies, whose stunt double was tattooed instead.⁶

During the 2004 United States presidential election, Astin backed Senator John Kerry and participated in Kerry's campaign rally in Portland, Oregon, as the opening speaker.⁷ In the 2008 presidential election, Astin lent his support to Senator Hillary Clinton and made multiple campaign appearances on her behalf, including joining Clinton's daughter Chelsea Clinton at some stops.⁸

Astin is a vegetarian.⁹

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sean Astin

• Sean Astin at the Internet Movie Database
• Sean Astin at Allmovie
• Official website