It couldn't have been easy being the younger brother of Sean Penn, one of this generation's most acclaimed and award-winning thespians. For Chris Penn, choosing to be an actor meant he had to truly deliver the goods, because he lacked his brother's charisma and lithe physique. Fortunately, that's just what Chris did. Over the last 20 years, he offered solid performances in both comedy and drama, and proved to be adept as either an offbeat good guy or insidious villian. Sadly, Penn died on January 24 in Santa Monica, of unknown causes. Although his career has been tragically cut short at the tender age of 40, he left behind a body of film work that was often challenging as it was stunning.

He was born on October 10, 1965 in Los Angeles to Leo Penn, a noted television director, and Eileen Ryan, an actress. Naturally, his love of acting came at a young age. When he was just 12, he trained at the Loft Studio in Los Angeles under acting teacher Peggy Feury. He was barely out of high school when he landed some substantial parts in a good line of popular youth films: Francis Coppola's Rumble Fish; the Tom Cruise vehicle All the Right Moves (both 1983); Willard, the flat-footed hayseed Kevin Bacon teaches to dance in Footloose (1984); and a young thug that makes the mistake of crossing Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider (1985).

Penn's arrival as an actor of striking depth came when he played Tommy, an artless punk in the searing drama At Close Range (1986) that co-starred his brother Sean and Christopher Walken. Few could forget that gripping scene when Tommy (Penn) is pleading for his life in a field, about to be killed by his father (Walken):

Tommy: Daddy, daddy, please don't shoot me!

In a performance that was both tearful and haunting, Penn held his own against his brother and Walken, and his career took some positive turns from that point forward.

In the '90s, Penn put on some considerable weight, yet his portly stature still garnered him some juicy roles, the best of which are still favorites among film buffs: nice guy Eddie Cabot in Quentin Tarantino's thrilling Reservoir Dogs (1992); Nicky, the cut-up federal agent in True Romance (1993); the homophobic Sheriff Dollard in the transgender dramedy To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar(1995); a troubled mobster in Abel Ferrara's deglamorized study of gangster life in The Funeral (Best Supporting Actor, Venice Film Festival, 1996); and as a wounded felon on the run who befriends some youngsters in the excellent Canadian indie flick The Boys Club (1997).

Even when he played in low-brow comedies such as Jackie Chan'sRush Hour (1998); Chris Kattan's Corky Romano (2001); or Ben Stiller's Starsky and Hutch (2004); Penn's good-natured enthusiasm was so engaging that you're compelled to watch, even if the material wasn't stellar - always a telling sign of a good actor. His most recent film, The Darwin Awards (2006) was just screened at this month's Sundance Festival, and two more films, King of Sorrow and Aftermath are currently in post-production and are due out later this year. Penn is survived by his mother, Eileen; brothers, Michael and Sean; niece, Dylan Francis; and nephew, Hopper Jack.

by Michael T. Toole