Kanan's first notable role was in Academy Award-winning director John Avildsen's 1989 film The Karate Kid Part III. The following year, he starred on the Fox television series The Outsiders. In 1993, Kanan joined the ABCsoap operaGeneral Hospital as A. J. Quartermaine and was nominated for an award in the Outstanding Newcomer category by Soap Opera Digest. He left the series in 1997 with rumors, sparked by his storyline, that he struggled with alcoholism. In 1999, Kanan joined the cast of the NBC soap opera Sunset Beach as Jude Cavanaugh and remained with the show until its cancellation later that year. He wrote and executive-produced Chasing Holden, distributed by Lionsgate, which starred DJ Qualls. In November 2000, he joined the cast of the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful as Deacon Sharpe, playing a character that was originally conceived as a short-term villain. In 2002, rumors surfaced that the actor had been fired, but he remained with the show until early 2005 when he opted to go on a recurring status, and he last appeared February 22, 2005. Upon his departure from The Bold and the Beautiful, Kanan starred in several feature films and competed in the third season of the Italian version of Dancing with the Stars in 2006. On July 10, 2009, Kanan reprised his role as Deacon Sharpe on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. While appearing on The Young and the Restless, he starred in the 2009 Indie film Abracadabra, which was directed by Julie Pacino and was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. In May 2010, Kanan appeared in My Trip to the Dark Side, written and directed by Shane Stanley. He later starred in the 2011 sequel My Trip Back to the Dark Side. That same year, Kanan wrote "The Modern Gentleman; Cooking and Entertaining with Sean Kanan", published by Dunham Books. Upon leaving The Young and the Restless in January 2012, Kanan reprised his role as Deacon Sharpe on The Bold and the Beautiful. He appeared on and off from May until September 2012. Following his departure from the show, Kanan was reported to be returning to General Hospital. On October 29, 2012, Kanan returned to the role of A. J. Quartermaine on General Hospital after a 15-year absence. The actor was excited to work with new leadership, Frank Valentini. He left in early 2014, and expressed disappointment in what the writing team had come up with for his character since he was looking forward to a Quartermaine brother reunion with long-time friend Steve Burton. The actor then returned to The Bold and the Beautiful as Deacon Sharpe, first airing June 13, 2014. Upon being rehired, Kanan noted that Deacon is his favorite of all the characters he has played due to the writing of Bradley Bell. In 2016, Kanan received the 400th star on the Walk of Fame in Palm Springs dedicated by his wife to honor his illustrious long standing career. 2019 was a big year for Kanan with creating the hit Emmy-nominated series “Studio City” and the co-compilation of a new book, Success Factor x published by Plain Sight Publishing. It rapidly became a best seller on Amazon and launched Kanan's inspirational speaking tour.
''Studio City''
Kanan created the digital drama Studio City, directed by Timothy Woodward, Jr, as a somewhat autobiographical love letter to the Daytime Soaps. Kanan stars as Sam Stevens, who portrays Dr. Pierce Hartley on the show-with-in-a show “Hearts of Fire”, along with Soap veterans Tristan Rogers, Carolyn Hennesy, Sarah Joy Brown, Patrika Darbo, and Scott Turner Schofield, the first openly transgendered actor on Daytime TV. The episodes, penned by Michele Kanan and Lauren de Normandie, explore issues like #meToo sexual harassment, ageism, gender identity and surprise paternity with enough levity to keep the story moving. Studio City was truly a family affair, with Kanan's Emmy-nominated wife Michele Kanan writing / producing and their daughter Juliet Vega starring as Sam's surprise love child. Studio City is streaming on Amazon Prime.
''The Karate Kid Part III''
As a teenager, years prior to his role in The Karate Kid Part III, Kanan trained in boxing before switching to Shotokan Karate and kickboxing at age 13. During the filming of the movie he trained in Shitō-ryū at a school run by Karate master Fumio Demura, and with stunt coordinator and Tang Soo Do master Pat E. Johnson. He suffered internal bleeding after doing 20 takes of being thrown out a door and landing on his stomach. Kanan collapsed at a Las Vegas hotel four days after shooting the scene and was discovered to have two quarts of blood pooled in his abdomen.
Sean Kanan spends his free time studying martial arts, writing scripts, cooking, performing his stand-up routine and further pursuing the study of the Italian, French, Mandarin, Russian, Chinese and Japanese languages. He and Michele Kanan married in July 2012. He has a daughter by his prior relationship and Michele has four children of her own. Kanan is an active advocate for anti-bullying with organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League. In May 2016 Kanan predicted that Donald Trump would win for President of the United States.
