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Francesco Quinn

Francesco Daniele Quinn (born March 22, 1962) is an American actor. The son of Oscar winner Anthony Quinn, Francesco is perhaps best known in the breakout role as Rhah in Oliver Stone’s Academy Award-winning Platoon (1986).

Early life

Francesco Quinn was born in Rome, Italy, the son of Anthony Quinn and second wife Iolanda Quinn, a noted costume designer to whom Anthony Quinn would remain married for 31 years. Quinn has Mexican, Aztec, Irish, and Italian ancestry.

Acting career

Following in the footsteps of his father, who had appeared in more than 200 pictures, Francesco Quinn has displayed both acting range and a specialization in moody, dangerous characters with an edge; some of the more recent examples being “Dracula” himself in the alt-historical thriller Vlad, and wandering warrior Thane Le Mal in the short film The Gnostic. In 2007 he stepped it up even further, getting rave reviews for a starring performance "with little ego yet much presence" in the Academy Award-nominated short The Tonto Woman, adapted from the Elmore Leonard short story.

Straight historical drama has been one of the younger Quinn’s strengths, playing roles such as that of Latino Captain Salamanca in Steven Spielberg’s mini-series Into the West (2005) and a lead role in TNT's Rough Riders (1997) (TV). One of Quinn’s earliest roles was as Marcus Vinicius in the 1985 mini-series Quo Vadis?.

Francesco has appeared in 23 feature films including the New York Independent Film Festival winner Placebo Effect. He starred with his famous father in several films, including A Star For Two with Lauren Bacall. One of their most poignant performances together was in The Old Man and the Sea, playing Santiago as a young man opposite his father as the elder version. More recent examples displaying his acting range have also been Park, which won the coveted audience award at 2007 CineVegas, and the poignant short film Muertas, starring America Ferrera.

Meanwhile, some of Francesco Quinn’s most extensive and effective work has been in television guest star roles in crime and thriller dramas. He was lead guest star in an episode of JAG (1995) that won the show a 29 share (the highest rating in its history). On CBS’s The Fugitive, Quinn played Victor Gutierrez, a DEA agent with an edge, and he has played recurrent villain Syed Ali on Fox’s series 24. Other TV guest starring roles have occurred in Criminal Minds, ER, , Navy NCIS, Alias, Crossing Jordan, In the Heat of the Night, Miami Vice, Red Shoe Diaries, The Handler, Soldier of Fortune, Good vs. Evil, Vengeance Unlimited, and The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.

Francesco was a longtime fixture on CBS's hottest soap, Young and the Restless and was nominated for an ALMA Award as Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Soap Opera for his work as Tomas Del Cerro, an aloof writer from New York.

Quinn was one of the earlier working actors to branch out into contributing to video games with his role as a main character in Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun (1999).

Family

Francesco Quinn has four siblings: Lorenzo Quinn, Valentina Quinn, Alex A. Quinn and Danny Quinn.

He has been married to Irish American Julie McCann, who is the niece of the Belfast Snooker legend Alex Higgins, since 1992, whom he refers to as the "love of his life and soul mate". They reside in Sherman Oaks, California with his twin children Max and Michela, who were baptized by the late Pope John Paul II.

Athletic pursuits

Francesco Quinn enjoys extreme sports such as skiing, snowboarding, windsurfing, and free diving; and in the words of friends and associates "You’ll never see him without a bike". He road cycles at least 300 miles a week, mountain biking, and actively races motorcross and street bikes. Quinn also is an avid motorcycler, and is a spokesperson for The Motorcycle Industry Council and Honda. An accomplished world traveler, he is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Italian.

Quinn was a contestant on Ty Murray’s Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge on CMT, until he was sidelined with a broken rib after being stomped on by a Level 2 bull.