Sean Astin Sean Astin is an American film actor, director,
voice artist, and producer best known for his film roles as Samwise Gamgee in the Lord
of the Rings trilogy, Mikey Walsh in The Goonies, and the title character of Rudy. In television,
he appeared as Lynn McGill in the fifth season of 24 and currently voices Raphael in the
2012 Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series and Oso in the Disney Junior show
Special Agent Oso. Astin also served as the campaign manager for his friend, Democrat
Dan Adler, a businessman in the entertainment industry, for California's 36th congressional
district special election, 2011. Early life and education
Astin was born Sean Patrick Duke in Santa Monica, California, the son of actress Patty
Duke. At the time, it was reported that entertainer Desi Arnaz, Jr. was his biological father.
In 1994 Astin discovered that his biological father is actually Michael Tell, a music promoter
and writer, and publisher of the newspaper The Las Vegas Israelite; Tell was married
to Patty Duke for several weeks in 1970. In 1972, Patty Duke married actor John Astin,
who then adopted Sean. In 1973, Duke gave birth to Astin's half-brother Mackenzie Astin,
who also became an actor. Although Patty Duke and John Astin divorced in 1985, Astin has
written that he has always considered John his "real" father.
He attended the Crossroads High School for the Arts and master classes at the Stella
Adler Conservatory in Los Angeles. Astin graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in History and English
(American literature and culture). An alumnus of Los Angeles Valley College, he serves on
the school's board of directors of the Patrons Association and the Arts Council.
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 film debut at age 13 as Mikey in The Goonies (1985).
After The Goonies, Astin appeared in several more films, including the Disney made-for-TV
movie, The B.R.A.T. Patrol, opposite Nia Long, Tim Thomerson and Brian Keith; Like Father
Like Son (1987); White Water Summer with Kevin Bacon (1987), The War of the Roses (1989);
the World War II film Memphis Belle (1990); Toy Soldiers (1991); 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). The 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.
He and other cast members became very close and very good friends through the filming
process. He became particularly good friends with Elijah Wood.
Astin's daughter, Alexandra, can be seen in Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
She plays his onscreen daughter, Elanor Gamgee, who runs out to him as he returns from saying
goodbye to Frodo, Bilbo, and Gandalf. 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 Fellowship of the Ring and Return of the King.
Post-Lord of the Rings 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. Astin played the role of Malibu High School principal Mike Matthews
in the movie Smile. 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". He played the enigmatic Mr. Smith on the second season of the Showtime
series Jeremiah. 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. His other voice work includes Balto III: Wings of Change and the video game Kingdom
Hearts, in the latter of which he provided the voice of Hercules, replacing actor Tate
Donovan, who was unavailable but would return for Kingdom Hearts II. Astin is currently
the voice of Raphael in the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series on Nickelodeon,
which premiered on September 29, 2012. In 2010, he joined the Stella Adler Los Angeles
Theatre Collective acting company. He and his wife, Christine, are making a movie based
on Lois Lowry's Newbery Medal-winning novel Number the Stars.
Astin portrays the role of Matthew in The Truth & Life Dramatized audio New Testament
Bible, a 22-hour, celebrity-voiced, fully dramatized audio version of the New Testament,
which uses the RSV-CE. In March 2012, Astin played a cosmetic surgeon
named Takin Mastuhmik in a fake movie trailer entitled Boobathon which appeared on Funny
or Die. Personal life
Astin married Christine Louise 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 word
"nine" written with the Tengwar script, commemorating his Lord of the Rings involvement and his
character's membership in the Fellowship of the Ring. Seven of the eight other Fellowship
actors (Elijah Wood, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen
and Orlando Bloom) all have the same tattoo. John Rhys-Davies' stunt double has the tattoo
as well. 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. 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.
Astin is a vegetarian. He attended Catholic school and is currently a Protestant Christian,
attending a Presbyterian church in Bel Air, California, US. Astin studied Nichiren Buddhism,
John Astin's faith, for a time. Sean's mother, of German and Irish ancestry, is Catholic,
and Sean's biological father, Michael Tell, is of Austrian Jewish descent.
Filmography