Chris Penn Movies and Career Information

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 The Wild Life, Reservoir Dogs, Footloose, True Romance, All the Right Moves and Pale Rider. 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, and his mother was a Roman Catholic of Italian and Irish descent. 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. Penn never married, but from 1993 to 1999 he dated and lived with Filipino-American model Steffiana de la Cruz. 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 a soon-to-be high school father and the best friend of Tom Cruise's character. He