Kanan, Sean 1966-

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KANAN, Sean 1966-

PERSONAL: Born Sean Perelman, November 2, 1966, in Cleveland, OH; son of Dale (a jewelry chain-store owner) and Michele (a real-estate agent) Perelman; married Athena Ubach, September 26, 1999. Education: Attended Boston University; University of California—Los Angeles, B.A.

ADDRESSES: Office—c/o The Bold and the Beautiful, 7800 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036. Agent—Independent Management Group, 6380 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1010, Los Angeles, CA 90048.

CAREER: Actor, producer, and screenwriter. Owner of Kanan/Hammerschlag Productions. Actor in films, including (as John Robbins) Hide and Go Shriek, New Star Entertainment, 1988; (as Mike Barnes) The Karate Kid III, Columbia, 1989; (as Jeffrey) Rich Girl, Studio Three Film Corp., 1990; (and producer) Oasis Café (short film), 1994; The Fear: Halloween Night, 1999; (as Jay) The Chaos Factor, PM Entertainment Group, Inc., 2000; Chump Change, 2000; (as Don) Crash Point Zero (also known as Extreme Limits), New City Releasing, 2000; (as Julian March; and producer) March, 2001; (as Alex Patterson; and executive producer) Chasing Holden, Christopher Eberts Productions, 2001; and (as Craig) Ten Attitudes, 2001.

Actor in television series, including (as Gregg Parker) The Outsiders, Fox, 1990; Wild Palms (miniseries), 1993; (as Alan "A. J." Quartermain, Jr. #7) General Hospital, American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), 1993-97; (as Jude Cavanaugh) Sunset Beach, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 1999; and (as Deacon Sharp) The Bold and the Beautiful, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 2000—. Actor in made-for-television movies, including (as Jeff Sorrento) Perry Mason: The Cast of the Maligned Mobster, NBC, 1991; and (as Mark Stratton) Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss, 1993. Celebrity contestant on two Cancun-based episodes of Search Party, E! Network, 2000; guest star on numerous television series. Actor in stage productions, including Irish Coffee, Burbage Theater, Los Angeles, CA, and (as Austin; and producer) True West, Zephyr Theater, Los Angeles. Also does stand-up comedy; Father's (bar), Boston, MA, bouncer.

AWARDS, HONORS: Golden Boomerang award for best couple in daytime television (with Adrienne Frantz), for The Bold and the Beautiful.

WRITINGS:

(With others; and producer) Oasis Café (short film), 1994.

(And co-executive producer) Chasing Holden (screenplay), Christopher Eberts Productions, 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Sean Kanan, screenwriter for the film Chasing Holden, got his first big break as an actor when he was cast as the villain in the 1989 film Karate Kid III. Although the role nearly killed him—he developed severe internal bleeding after performing twenty takes of a stunt that required him to land hard on his stomach—it helped to propel him into long-term roles on the popular soap operas General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful.

In addition to acting, Kanan has been involved in writing and producing films since 1994, when the short film Oasis Café was released. Kanan's first feature-length film, Chasing Holden, was released in 2001. This film, which is loosely based on Kanan's own experiences in boarding school, is about the teenage son of the governor of New York. The boy, Neil, is sent to a boarding school by his father because the man is too busy running New York to take proper care of his troubled son. At the school, Neil meets a young woman named T. J., with whom he runs away to New York to try to meet J. D. Salinger, the author of the novel Catcher in the Rye. Neil wants to meet Salinger because he sees strong parallels between his own life and the life of Holden Caulfield, the runaway teenage protagonist of Catcher in the Rye, but as the movie progresses the audience is forced to wonder if Neil's interest in Salinger and Catcher in the Rye is a healthy way of searching for meaning in his own life, or if it is a dangerous obsession.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, Volume 38, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2002.

PERIODICALS

Entertainment Weekly, October 21, 1994, Alan Carter, interview with Kanan, p. 54.

Interview, July, 1989, Firooz Zahedi, "Reel Villains," pp. 62-65.

People, July 17, 1989, Margot Dougherty, "Critically Injured in Filming, Karate Kid Bad Boy Sean Kanan Rallies to Fight to the Finish," pp. 51-52.

Soap Opera Digest, August 31, 1993; October 24, 2000.

Soap Opera Magazine, December 28, 1993.

Soap Opera Update, April 20, 1993.

Soap Opera Weekly, September 28, 1993; August 24, 1999.

Soap World, May, 2001.

Teen Magazine, July, 1989, Michele Schooler, "Teens They're Talking About," pp. 42-43; September, 1990, "Kids with a Cause: A Look at Some Young Stars Making a Difference in the World Today," pp. 84-85; May, 1991, review of Rich Girl, pp. 62-63.

TV Guide, June 21, 1997, Michael Logan, "Shake-up at the Hospital,"p.34.

Variety, June 10, 1991, review of Rich Girl, p. 61.