There and Back AGAIN...

"I am RUDY, i was the last guy picked on the baseball team, i was the slowest runner on the cross country team, i was always determined.... not to let... limitations , not by other people but by circumstance by faith or genetics, limitations that just seem to crowd you i just want to push thru"

-Sean Astin

On February 25th 1971 Sean Patrick Duke was born. Son of child star Patty Duke ( who played Helen Keller in the 1962 movie The Miracle Helper), and raised by his stepfather John Astin (TV´s Gomez Addams from the Addams Family)

Sean took his last name from him and became an actor since 1985 with his film debut in "The GOONIES". To me a good actor is the one who sells the part instantly, who is the perfect cast. But a legendary actor is the one who does that in every single performance. To me one of those actors is Sean Astin. Here are three of his most famous roles and how they relate to myself. 

The kid.

If you were like me, growing up as a kid in the 80´s the worst thing that can happen was a rainy afternoon, because you couldn´t go play outside.  The best movie to watch when that happened was "The GOONIES". That movie  marked a whole generation of 80´s kids, as Sean Astin played  Michael "Mikey" Walsh who had all his friends come over and listened to "ONE EYED WILLIE´s " pirate story. 

When i was 9 i saw the movie and all i wanted was to be chased, grab my bike and my walkman ,listen to Cindy Lauper´s " The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" and discover pirate treasures in my street! whats cooler than that?? One of the first movies i really loved and that let my imagination fly.

The underdog.

As i was growing up , another of my dreams was to play football , when i had the chance at 16, i was being beaten from monday to saturday by the other players at training camp. The oldest or strongest were the ones that knew how to hurt you. After i saw RUDY, whenever i trained or played i felt really close to what Sean Astin did playing Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger. 

A little fella, all alone in the football field,  who doesn´t know how to do it, but wants to succeed. As many of us who were doubtful teenagers, feeling lost and pressured by many things. Either our parents or school or the future...whatever may come. Rudy marked me in the way that deep inside yourself you know what you love the most. And you must fight for it and work hard to get it. Success is not being carried in arms but being happy doing what we love!

The friend.

As Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of The Rings Trilogy

making one of the greatest supporting roles ever. Sean Astin delivered not only purity , loyalty or friendship. To me he trully was in the Fellowship for FRODO. Protecting him from everything and everyone. Not just GOLLUM or GOBLINS, but from himself and the ONE RING. Sean played the one friend that doesn´t give up on you. The guy that is always there to listen and to see if you´ve eaten even if you are lost going in circles. 

To me more than just a child actor or a known face. Sean Astin is someone we grew with. We might not know him personally, but in his work we find ourselves. He has lifted us up and given us that pad in the back when we must needed it. He deserves our admiration and respect for being there with us. Sean Astin will be forever...There and BACK again.

My favorite line from the trilogy is:

"I wonder if people will ever say, 

'Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring."

-Samwise Gamgee L.O.T.R.