Christopher Shannon Penn was born on October 10, 1965, in Los Angeles, California, to actress Eileen Ryan and director Leo Penn. His parents were of Lithuanian Jewish/Russian Jewish and half-Italian and half-Irish descent.
Penn started acting at the age of twelve in the Loft Studio, and he and his brother Sean made several shorts with their classmates, including Emilio Estevez and Rob Lowe. He made his on-screen debut in the 1979 film Charlie and the Talking Buzzard.
Penn caught the eye of Francis Ford Coppola, who cast him in a supporting role in the 1983 teen drama Rumble Fish. He also acted in All the Right Moves (1983) and Footloose (1984),a high school drama film starring Tom Cruise.
In the late 1980s, Penn acted in several smaller productions, including Clint Eastwood's Pale Rider (1985) and the crime movie At Close Range (1986),starring Christopher Walken. He also appeared in the sports drama Best of the Best (1989) and the Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs (1992),in which he played the role of Nice Guy Eddie.
Penn continued to work in film throughout the 1990s, appearing in True Romance (1993),Short Cuts (1993),and Mulholland Falls (1996). He also gave a critically acclaimed performance in the Abel Ferrara crime drama The Funeral (1996),for which he won the Best Supporting Actor award at the Venice Film Festival.
In the 2000s, Penn appeared in a number of films, including The Florentine (1999),Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2001),and Murder by Numbers (2002). He also acted in the box office failure Masked and Anonymous (2003),starring Bob Dylan.
Penn's career was marked by a mix of small, independent productions and well-known films. He worked with several esteemed directors and fellow actors, and although he never received as much attention or as many awards as his brother Sean, he will always be remembered for his contributions to the film industry.
Sadly, Penn's life was cut short when he died of heart disease and multiple drug use on January 24, 2006, at the age of 40.
