Sean Patrick Flanery

He starred in Devil's Carnival, a short film which was screened on tour beginning in April 2012. In 2016, he published his first novel, Jane Two, a coming-of-age story drawing inspiration from his own childhood and early experiences.

Flanery was born on October 11, 1965, in Lake Charles, Louisiana and was raised in Houston, Texas. His mother, Genie (née LeDoux), is a real estate broker, and his father, Paul Flanery, is a medical equipment salesman. His ancestry includes Irish, Cajun (French), and English. After attending Awty International School, Flanery graduated from Dulles High School in Sugar Land, and attended the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

Flanery started acting in college at University of St. Thomas, after he joined an acting class to meet a girl on whom he had a crush. After graduating college, he decided to move to Los Angeles, California to pursue his career in screenwriting. Beginning his career as a playwright, while working as a server at TGI Fridays, Flanery was eventually discovered while acting in a play by Natalie Rossan who approached him to appear in television commercials before being offered roles in television and film. Since 1988, he has appeared in over 53 films, including Powder, Simply Irresistible, and D-Tox. He is best known, however, for playing Indiana Jones in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Connor MacManus in The Boondock Saints and The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. He had a role as the ascended being Orlin in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Ascension". He appeared on the TV show The Dead Zone in the role of Vice-President, Greg Stillson, until its cancellation. Flanery also appeared in an installment of Showtime's Masters of Horror playing a town sheriff who later became one of the antagonistic entity's possessed hosts in the episode "The Damned Thing". In March 2010, he was cast in the lead role in the sci-fi horror film Mongolian Death Worm. He also had a supporting role in 2010's Saw 3D. In 2010, he played Bobby Dagen in Saw 3D. Flanery appeared in The Black Keys' music video "Howlin' For You", which was released on February 10, 2011. In April 2011 Flanery headed to the CBS soap The Young and the Restless, playing the part of Sam, Sharon Newman's boyfriend from New Mexico. In March 2024, Thunder Road Films, Dragonfly Films and Impossible Dream Entertainment announced a "reimagining" of The Boondock Saints, with Flanery and co-star Norman Reedus reprising their roles from the first two films and serving as executive producers, although Troy Duffy would not return as director for the third film; instead he plans to write a series of novels.

Flanery is married to model and actress Lauren Michelle Hill. He is a close friend with actor Norman Reedus, with whom he co-starred in The Boondock Saints and its sequel. Flanery won the 1997 Toyota Pro-Celebrity Race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach as the celebrity driver; the "Alfonso Ribeiro rule" (whereby if a celebrity wins, he must be classified as a professional the next time) forced him to "defend" his title as a professional driver under TGPLB rules, and he won the 1998 race as a professional driver. Flanery is also a 4th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which he teaches. He placed first in the Master 1/ Blue/ Male/ Light division at the 2003 American National IBJJF Jiu-jitsu Championship and the 2003 Pan Jiu-jitsu IBJJF Championship by the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation. Flanery indicated in an interview that, at one point, he considered competing in mixed martial arts, saying "If it didn't come around so late in my life, that would've 100 percent been my trajectory." Flanery is a Christian and attributes his role as a father to his convictions in his beliefs, stating: "I meet a lot of friends that they say, 'Well, I don't believe, because I can't explain it.' For me, that's exactly why I believe, because I can't explain it." He is conservative in expressing his firm beliefs in Ayn Randian philosophy, the importance of preserving the Constitution of the United States and the family unit, and the associated risks of modern criticism of the US and its foundation.