Life and career

Penner has had roles in television series Grapevine, The Naked Truth and Rude Awakening and guest-starred on Seinfeld, CSI, CSI: NY, The Tick, Melrose Place, LateLine, Arrested Development and The Nanny, where he appeared in two episodes as Danny Imperiali, whose firing and dumping of fiancee Fran Fine kicked off the entire series.

Penner has appeared in many films with featured roles in The Last Supper, Anarchy TV and Down Periscope, with a spot in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993). Penner was nominated for the Best Live Action Short Film Academy Award in 1994 for Down on the Waterfront, which he co-produced, co-wrote, and starred in, along with Jason Alexander and Edward Asner.

In addition to his acting credits, Penner is perhaps best known as a contestant on Survivor, first appearing on Survivor: Cook Islands in 2006. He was invited back to participate in Survivor: Micronesia (sometimes referred to as Fans vs. Favorites), which aired in 2008. In 2012, Penner made his third appearance on the 25th season of Survivor in Survivor: Philippines. In total, Penner has spent 78 days playing the Survivor game. In an interview following his departure from Survivor: Philippines, Penner said he would be open to returning for another season.

Penner currently resides in Los Angeles, California, with his wife, Stacy, and his two children.

Filmography

Film & Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	A Man Called Hawk		Episode titled 'Poison'
1990	White Palace	Marv Miller	Film
1992	Grapevine	David Klein	TV series
1993	Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story	Studio Executive	Film
1993	Melrose Place	Joel Walker	Episode titled 'Married to It'
1993	The Nanny	Danny	TV Series
1993	Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday	David (Scenes Deleted)	Film
1993	Coneheads	Captain Air Traffic	Film
1995	The Last Supper	Marc	Film
1995-1997	The Naked Truth	Nick Columbus	TV Series
1996	Down Periscope	Stanley Spots	Film
1998	Seinfeld	Zack	Episode titled 'The Bookstore'
1998	LateLine	Paul	Episode titled 'Gale Gets a Life'
1998-2000	Rude Awakening	Dave Parelli	TV Series
2001	The Tick	Steve Filbert	Episode titled 'The Big Leagues'
2004	Arrested Development	Detective Fellows	Episode titled 'Not Without my Daughter'
2004	CSI	Detective Travis	Episode titled 'Viva Las Vegas'
2006	E-Ring	FBI Agent Jaffe	Episode titled 'Five Pillars'
2006	CSI New York	Newt Glick	Episode titled 'Run Silent, Run Deep'
2006	Hood of Horror	Fowler	Film
2006	Survivor: Cook Islands	Himself	Placed 7th
2008	Survivor: Micronesia	Himself	Placed 15th (was removed due to injury)
2012	Survivor: Philippines	Himself	Placed 7th

As writer

• The Bye Bye Man (2016)

Survivor

Survivor: Cook Islands

Penner was a contestant on Survivor: Cook Islands in 2006. He was one of the original five members of the Rarotonga tribe (Raro). He quickly became notorious among the cast for stealing another tribe's chicken on the first day. In episode three, the four tribes evenly divided into two new mixed tribes, Aitutaki and Rarotonga. Penner found himself on Aitutaki (Aitu). While a member of Aitu, he became part of an alliance that consisted of Yul Kwon, Candice Woodcock, Becky Lee and Sundra Oakley. This alliance lasted until episode eight when the members of Aitu and Raro were offered a chance to mutiny by joining the opposing tribe. Penner, along with Woodcock, chose to leave Aitu for Raro, the only two survivors to accept the offer. After the merge, he flipped again and voted with the former Aitus. Ultimately, Yul voted him out to appease the former Raro members, who viewed Jonathan as a two-faced rat for having betrayed them. He was the fourteenth person voted out, finishing in seventh place. As his torch was snuffed, he turned to the Final Six and said, "And I'd like my hat back at some point", then left (Yul actually did bring his hat back to him at the next Tribal Council). Jonathan humbly voted for Yul in the final tribal council.

Survivor: Micronesia

Penner was a contestant on Survivor: Micronesia, the sixteenth season of Survivor, which began airing on February 7, 2008. He was one of ten returning favorites on the Malakal tribe and later switched to Airai. He was removed from the game during the sixth episode, due to a life-threatening infection in his injured knee. The Survivor medics stated that he had no choice but to be evacuated from the game.

Survivor: Philippines

Penner returned to play the game for a third time on Survivor: Philippines, the twenty-fifth season of Survivor. He was one of the three returning players, others being Michael Skupin (Survivor: The Australian Outback) and Russell Swan (Survivor: Samoa). During the season, Penner worked quite closely with actress Lisa Whelchel. Penner was the 11th voted out, and placed 7th, where he had finished the first time he participated in Survivor. At the final tribal council, Penner voted for Denise to win after claiming that Michael and Lisa were “ridden in like oxen” by the eventual winner.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]