Christopher Shannon Penn (Chris Penn) was an American actor and the brother of actor Sean Penn and musician Michael Penn. He was born on October 10, 1965 and passed away on January 24, 2006 at age 40.
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Chris was found dead in his apartment and the subsequent autopsy revealed the primary cause for his death was “nonspecific cardiomyopathy” (heart disease).
Did Chris Penn know martial arts? Chris who had a black belt in karate, appeared in the 1989 motion picture Best of the Best as Travis Brickley, a cocky member of the U.S. Taekwondo team taking on the team from Korea.
The film also starred James Earl Jones, Sally Kirkland, Eric Roberts, Phillip Rhee, and Simon Rhee. He reprised his role in 1993’s Best of the Best 2.
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Chris was a very talented actor and was often cast as a tough character, featured as a villain or a working-class thug, or in a comic role and was known for his roles in such films as;
- Rush Hour,
- Corky Romano,
- True Romance,
- Beethoven’s 2nd,
- Short Cuts,
- The Boys Club,
- All the Right Moves,
- At Close Range,
- Pale Rider,
- Starsky & Hutch,
- The Wild Life,
- Reservoir Dogs,
- The Funeral and
- Footloose.
During his remarkable but short career, he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his performance in The Funeral.
He also provided the voice of the corrupt, ruthless cop Edward “Eddie” Pulaski in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
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