Francesco Quinn made his acting debut on television in 1985 and played Marcus Vinicius in all six episodes of the prime-time mini-series ‘Quo Vadis?’, in which he co-starred alongside prominent actors like Klaus Maria Brandauer and Max von Sydow. The following year, he gave his breakout performance as underground drug king Rhah in his film debut in Oliver Stone’s ‘Academy Award’-winning war film ‘Platoon’, also starring Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, and Charlie Sheen. Following appearances on the crime drama ‘Miami Vice’ (1987) and in the poorly received romantic fantasy film ‘Priceless Beauty’ (1988), he got the opportunity to work with his illustrious father Anthony Quinn, as well as two brothers Danny and Lorenzo, in the 1988 Italian biographical drama film ‘Stradivari’. In 1989, he had a supporting role in the American drama film ‘The Favorite’, and starred in the lead in the Italian action films ‘Indio’ and ‘Casablanca Express’.
Francesco Quinn again shared screen space with his father in the 1990 British-American television mini-series ‘The Old Man and the Sea’, as well as the 1991 French-Canadian romantic drama ‘A Star for Two’, in both of which he played the younger versions of his father’s characters Santiago and Gabriel Todd, respectively. Also in 1991, he played the lead role of John Reed in the Canadian thriller ‘Murder Blues’. Throughout the decade, he continued to appear in a number of movies including ‘Hitz’, ‘Deadly Rivals’, ‘District:33’, ‘The Visual Bible: Acts’, ‘Top Dog’, ‘The Dark Dancer’, ‘Cannes Man’, ‘Nowhere Land’, and ‘Deadly Ransom’. However, his best remembered film from this period was the New York Independent Film Festival winner thriller ‘Placebo Effect’ (1998). His television credits in the decade included guest roles in series such as ‘Red Shoe Diaries’, ‘The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles’, ‘In the Heat of the Night’, ‘Rough Riders’, ‘Soldier of Fortune, Inc.’, ‘JAG’, ‘Pensacola: Wings of Gold’, and ‘Vengeance Unlimited’, but most notable was his regular role as aloof New York writer Tomas Del Cerro in the CBS soap opera ‘The Young and the Restless’ (1999-2001), for which he was nominated for an ‘ALMA Award’ as ‘Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Soap Opera’ in 2000. He also appeared in one segment of the 1993 telefilm ‘O. Henry's Christmas’. He was one of the first actors to provide voice to video games and voiced the main character, General Vega, in the 1999 game ‘Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun’.
While his role as Dracula himself in the alt-historical thriller ‘Vlad’ (2003) failed to impress the audience, Quinn continued to appear in many historical roles throughout the decade, portraying Latino Captain Salamanca in Steven Spielberg’s mini-series ‘Into the West’ (2005) and wandering warrior Thane Le Mal in the short film ‘The Gnostic’ (2007). His other films from this period include ‘Reflections’, ‘Park’, ‘Cut Off’, ‘Afghan Knights’, ‘Hell Ride’, ‘Broken Promise’, ‘Four Single Fathers’, ‘Rollers’ and ‘Corruption.Gov’. In 2003, he made one of his most-known television appearances in the role of terrorist Syed Ali in six episodes of the action drama series ‘24’. He also had recurring roles in the legal drama series ‘JAG’ (2002), the crime drama series ‘The Shield’ (2008), and the Italian detective television series ‘Il commissario Manara’ (‘Commissioner Manara’) (2011). His other notable television appearances were in shows like ‘The Fugitive’ (2001), ‘CSI: Miami’ (2004), ‘ER’ (2004), ‘NCIS’ (2004-06), ‘Criminal Minds’ (2005), ‘The Glades’ (2010-11) and ‘Zen’ (2011). He further acted in several made-for-television movies including ‘Almost a Woman’ (2002), ‘Tinseltown’ (2007), ‘A Gunfighter's Pledge’ (2008), ‘Danny Fricke’ (2008) and ‘Natalee Holloway’ (2011), the last of which was his final appearance on television before his sudden demise that year. He also lent his voice to more video games including ‘Quantum of Solace’ (2008), ‘EndWar’ (2008) and ‘Mass Effect 2’ (2010). His final film role was voicing the Autobot Dino (Mirage) in ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ in 2011. However, he has been credited as a main character in the upcoming sci-fi movie ‘Project Pangea: Dinosaurs Unleashed!’
