It wasn’t Sean Astin’s first time in Washington.
“As a C-SPAN junkie and a guy who loved ‘West Wing,’ I’ve always just felt a reverence for this place,” the actor says.
Between roles in “The Goonies,” “Rudy” and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, he managed to fit in a stint as civilian aide to the secretary of the Army. Just a couple years ago, he earned a master’s degree in public administration and policy at American University.
But his latest part to play — as president of SAG-AFTRA — brought him to D.C. this summer on a different mission, as he pushes for change on behalf of the union representing roughly 160,000 actors, dancers, DJs, stunt performers and other media professionals.
He wants to expand a tax deduction for performing artists’ expenses, create a federal tax incentive to lure productions back from filming abroad, and counter deepfakes by defining intellectual property rights in voice and likeness.
