Biography
Chris Penn was an American actor. Born Christopher Shannon Penn in Los Angeles in 1965, he was the son of director and actor Leo Penn and actress Eileen Ryan, and the brother of actor Sean Penn and musician Michael Penn. He began acting as a teenager and made his film debut in the late 1970s.
Penn appeared in films including Footloose (1984), Pale Rider (1985) and At Close Range (1986). He played Nice Guy Eddie Cabot in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Nicky Dimes in True Romance (1993). Other credits include Short Cuts (1993) and Rush Hour (1998). In 1996 he won the Volpi Cup for Best Supporting Actor at the Venice Film Festival for The Funeral.
Penn died in Santa Monica, California, in 2006 at the age of 40.
