Chris Penn: Encyclopedia II - Chris Penn - Career

Chris Penn - Career

Born in Los Angeles, California, 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. In 1983, he was featured in Francis Ford Coppola's youth drama Rumble Fish and appeared in a small role in the high school football drama All the Right Moves starring Tom Cruise. He also appeared in the hit dance musical Footloose in 1984, played a villain in the Clint Eastwood western Pale Rider (1985), and co-starred with his brother, Sean, and mother Eileen Ryan in At Close Range (1986).

Penn was typically cast as a supporting actor, featured as a villain or a working-class lug, or in a comic role. Two of his more memorable performances came in Reservoir Dogs and True Romance. In 1996 he won the best supporting actor at the Venice Film Festival for The Funeral. In Robert Altman's ensemble film Short Cuts, Penn played a troubled pool cleaner who is disturbed by his wife's profession; she is a telephone sex worker who takes calls from clients at home, which Penn's character is obliged to listen to. The dramatic ending of the film features the climactic response of Penn's character to this pent-up sexual frustration and feeling of powerlessness.

Penn was featured on Law and Order: Criminal Intent during the 2004-2005 season. During that time, he was featured on the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as the voice of Officer Eddie Pulaski and played himself on a 2005 episode of Entourage. He also appeared in The Darwin Awards, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival one day after his death.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Career", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki