Sean Astin
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Actor
Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Biography:
Sean Astin is an American actor, voice actor, screenwriter, director, producer, family man, author, marathon runner, political activist and philanthropist who is well known for his film debut portraying Mikey in Steven Spielberg's The Goonies (1985), for playing the title role in the critically acclaimed Rudy (1993), and for his role as the beloved Samwise Gamgee in the Academy Award winning trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
Astin was born to actress Patty Duke in Santa Monica, CA. At age nine, Sean starred with his mother in the after-school special Please Don't Hit Me, Mom (1981). This was followed by Sean's feature debut The Goonies (1985) and since then, he has had a steady stream of roles. Starring in Toy Soldiers (1991), Where the Day Takes You (1992), Rudy (1993) and Harrison Bergeron (1995). He directed and co-produced the short film Kangaroo Court (1994), which was nominated in the best short film category at The 67th Annual Academy Awards (1995). Sean's adoptive father John Astin was nominated for the same award in 1969.
Sean experienced another career breakthrough with his role as the epitome of loyal sidekicks, Samwise Gamgee, in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, released in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Along with the many awards bestowed upon the trilogy (particularly its final installment The Return of the King), Sean received nominations for his own performance. He took home the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor, and awards from the Las Vegas Film Critics Society, the Seattle Film Critics, the Utah Film Critics Association, and the Phoenix Film Critics Society. As an ensemble, the Return of the King cast received awards from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures and the Screen Actors Guild. In 2004, Sean authored the NY Times best seller "There and Back Again: An Actor's Tale," chronicling his acting career with emphasis on his experiences filming the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Sean has served as a philanthropist on the board of several non-profit organizations, including the Creative Coalition, National Center for Family Literacy, and Los Angeles Valley College's Patrons Association and Arts Council. He is a vocal advocate on many issues including literacy, mental health awareness and civic engagement. After the passing of his mother in late March 2016, Sean began fund-raising to create a foundation to carry on her life's work as an advocate for mental health.
In addition to acting in live action films and television, Sean is also an accomplished voice actor. He has voiced several different characters in animated series, cartoons, animated movies, anime dubs and video games. His voice is also familiar to many. He narrated the Animal Planet series "Meerkat Manor" (2006-2007), and voiced the title characters in the animated Disney Channel series "Special Agent Oso" (2009-2012) and the animated feature film "Ribbit" (2014). He was the voice of Raphael in Nickelodeon's popular "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (2012-2017) as well as it's video games. He voiced the paranoid Siamese cat Chester in "Bunnicula" (2016-2018), a Warner Brothers produced series based on children's books by James Howe and narrates "The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants" (2018-2019) a series on Netflix, based on the Dav Pilkey's children's books. He can be heard in a plethora of other animated shows, anime dubs, video games, audio dramas and narrations.
After four decades in front of camera or microphone, Sean has ventured in front of a theater audience, first as Joseph Stalin in a multimedia stage production of "Shostakovich and the Black Monk: A Fantasy," (2018-2019) and then as Dr. Moricet in "Bang Bang!" (2018), John Cleese's adaptation of a 19th century French farce. He was most recently seen on Broadway as Santa Claus in a limited-run production of "Elf: The Musical."
Anime Convention Guest Appearances
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2024
- Fan Expo Cleveland 2024 - April 12-14, 2024 in Cleveland, OH, USA
- Collective Con 2024 - March 8-10, 2024 in Jacksonville, FL, USA
Fan Expo New Orleans 2024 - January 5-7, 2024 in New Orleans, LA, USACancelled Appearance 2023- Fan Expo San Francisco 2023 - November 24-26, 2023 in San Francisco, CA, USA
- Dragon Con 2023 - August 31 - September 4, 2023 in Atlanta, GA, USA
- Montreal Comiccon 2023 - July 14-16, 2023 in Montreal, QC
- Fan Expo Philadelphia 2023 - June 2-4, 2023 in Philadelphia, PA, USA
Collective Con 2023 - March 17-19, 2023 in Jacksonville, FL, USACancelled Appearance- Fan Expo Vancouver 2023 - February 18-20, 2023 in Vancouver, BC
- Fan Expo New Orleans 2023 - January 6-8, 2023 in New Orleans, LA, USA 2022
- Fan Expo Canada 2022 - August 25-28, 2022 in Toronto, ON
- Fan Expo Boston 2022 - August 12-14, 2022 in Boston, MA, USA
- Fan Expo Chicago 2022 - July 7-10, 2022 in Rosemont, IL, USA
- Fan Expo Denver 2022 - July 1-3, 2022 in Denver, CO, USA
- Fan Expo Dallas 2022 - June 17-19, 2022 in Dallas, TX, USA
- MegaCon Orlando 2022 - May 19-22, 2022 in Orlando, FL, USA
- Calgary Expo 2022 - April 21-24, 2022 in Calgary, AB 2021
Fan Expo Dallas 2021 - September 17-19, 2021 in Dallas, TX, USACancelled AppearanceMegaCon Orlando 2021 - August 12-15, 2021 in Orlando, FL, USACancelled Appearance 2020FanExpo Canada 2020 - August 27-30, 2020 in Toronto, ONConvention CancelledFan Expo Boston 2020 - August 7-9, 2020 in Boston, MA, USAConvention CancelledFan Expo Dallas 2020 - June 19-21, 2020 in Dallas, TX, USAConvention CancelledMegaCon Orlando 2020 - April 16-19, 2020 in Orlando, FL, USAConvention PostponedFan Expo Dallas 2020 - March 27-29, 2020 in Dallas, TX, USAConvention Postponed 2019- New York Comic Con 2019 - October 3-6, 2019 in New York, NY, USA
- FanExpo Canada 2019 - August 22-25, 2019 in Toronto, ON
- Fan Expo Boston 2019 - August 16-18, 2019 in Boston, MA, USA
- MegaCon Orlando 2019 - May 16-19, 2019 in Orlando, FL, USA
- Fan Expo Dallas 2019 - May 3-5, 2019 in Dallas, TX, USA 2017
- BoroughCon 2017 - May 26-29, 2017 in Jamaica, NY, USA
- Paris Manga & Sci-Fi Show 2017 - March 25-26, 2017 in Paris, France
- Pensacon 2017 - February 17-19, 2017 in Pensacola, FL, USA 2016
- F.A.C.T.S. 2016 - October 22-23, 2016 in Ghent, Belgium
- Windsor ComiCon 2016 - October 15-16, 2016 in Windsor, ON
- ConnectiCon 2016 - July 7-10, 2016 in Hartford, CT, USA
- Supanova Pop Culture Expo - Perth 2016 - June 24-26, 2016 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- Supanova Pop Culture Expo - Sydney 2016 - June 17-19, 2016 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Phoenix Comicon 2016 - June 2-5, 2016 in Phoenix, AZ, USA
- FanExpo Regina 2016 - April 23-24, 2016 in Regina, SK 2013
- FanExpo Vancouver 2013 - April 20-21, 2013 in Vancouver, BC 2012
- New York Comic Con 2012 - October 11-14, 2012 in New York, NY, USA
- Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo 2012 - April 13-15, 2012 in Chicago, IL, USA 2010
- Dragon*Con 2010 - September 3-6, 2010 in Atlanta, GA, USA 2004
- Supanova Pop Culture Expo - Brisbane 2004 - September 18-19, 2004 in Brisbane, Australia
35 confirmed guest appearances
View Sean Astin on FanCons.com for 112 additional guest appearances