Christopher Shannon "Chris" Penn (October 10, 1965 – January 24, 2006) was an
American film and
television actor known for his roles in such films as
Reservoir Dogs,
Footloose and
True Romance.
Biography
Personal life
Penn was born in
Los Angeles,
California, the son of
Leo Penn, an actor and director, and
Eileen Ryan (née Annucci), an actress. His paternal grandparents were
Jewish immigrants from
Lithuania and
Russia,
[Jews Flop in Big Oscar Award Wins. Jewish Journal.com. March 5, 2004.][Sean Penn Genealogy.] and his mother was a
Roman Catholic of
Italian and
Irish descent.
[Kelly, Richard T. Sean Penn: His Life and Times. Canongate U.S. 2004. ISBN 1841956236.] According to Penn's mother, Leo Penn may have had distant
Spanish ancestry, as the family's surname was originally "Piñón".
He had two older brothers, actor
Sean Penn, and musician
Michael Penn. From 1993 to 1999, Penn dated and lived with
Filipino-American model
Steffiana de la Cruz.
Career
Penn started acting at the age of 12 at the Loft Studio and made his film debut in 1979’s
Charlie and the Talking Buzzard starring Christopher Hanks. In 1983, he was featured in
Francis Ford Coppola’s youth drama
Rumble Fish and appeared in the high school football drama
All the Right Moves as the best friend of
Tom Cruise and a soon-to-be father. He also appeared in the hit dance movie
Footloose in
1984, played a villain in the
Clint Eastwood western Pale Rider (
1985), and co-starred with his brother, Sean Penn, and mother Eileen Ryan in
At Close Range (
1986).
