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Astin has gained much of his acting fame from several major roles. At age 13, he debuted on the silver screen as Mikey in The Goonies (1985). Then he got the memorable part as the title character in Rudy (1993). Astin most recently played Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings movies.
Films Sean Astin acted in:
While working on The Two Towers he persuaded a number of fellow cast and crew members, including director Peter Jackson, to act in or work as crew on his short film, The Long and Short of It (2003), which takes place on a street in Wellington, New Zealand. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, 2003, and appears on the "standard edition" DVD of The Two Towers as an extra feature together with a "making of" video.
Astin has developed a controverisal reputation in Hollywood for being an extremely opinionated, talkative and, in the words of one co-star, "annoying" individual. During the full-length running commentary on the DVD release of "The Goonies" Astin continually attempted to tell personal, long-winded stories of his memory of the filming process. He was teased and interrupted by his castmates so extensively that he walked out halfway through the filming of the commentary and did not return. (Many have noted he gives a similar type of commentary in the "Lord of the Rings" DVDs.) In February 2004 he, in what seemed to be implicitly against the wishes of his castmates, took control of the microphone at the SAG Awards when Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won an award for best ensemble cast.