Sean Penn

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Date of Birth: 1960-08-17 (age 66)
Nationality: United States
Place of birth: Santa Monica, California, USA

Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film.

Mini Bio

Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film. His accolades include three Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and nominations for three British Academy Film Awards, an Emmy Award, and a Grammy Award. He received the Honorary César in 2015 and the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award in 2022. Penn made his feature film debut in the drama Taps (1981), before taking roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Bad Boys (1983), and At Close Range (1986). He has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice, for playing a grieving father in Mystic River (2003) and the gay rights activist Harvey Milk in Milk (2008). He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing the ruthless military officer Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw in One Battle After Another (2025). He was Oscar-nominated for Dead Man Walking (1995), Sweet and Lowdown (1999), and I Am Sam (2001). He also acted in Casualties of War (1989), State of Grace (1990), Carlito's Way (1993), The Game(1997), The Thin Red Line (1998), Hurlyburly (1998), 21 Grams (2003), Fair Game (2010), The Tree of Life (2011), Licorice Pizza (2021) and Daddio (2023). Penn made his directorial film debut with the crime drama The Indian Runner (1991), followed by The Crossing Guard (1995), The Pledge (2001), and Into the Wild (2007). On stage, he acted in the Broadway plays Heartland (1981) and Slab Boys (1983). On television, he portrayed an astronaut in the Hulu drama series The First (2018) and John N. Mitchell in the Starz political thriller miniseries Gaslit (2022). Penn has also engaged in political and social activism, including his criticism of the George W. Bush administration, his contact with the presidents of Cuba and Venezuela, his humanitarian work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and his support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amidst the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Backstage

Is very good friends with Robert De Niro. The two share the same birthday and would often throw a joint birthday party together.
He served 32 days in jail in 1987 for hitting an extra.
Appeared with his brother Chris Penn in At Close Range (1986), in which their actress mother, Eileen Ryan, played their grandmother.
Was ordered to complete 300 hours of community service and 36 hours of anger management therapy after being charged with misdemeanor vandalism. Penn reportedly kicked a paparazzi in the leg in October, 2009 and was initially charged with battery and vandalism. (May 2010)
Quit smoking for a while on his 40th birthday for health reasons. Prior to that, he was known as one of Hollywood's heaviest smokers, smoking at least four packs of cigarettes a day.
He was Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. first choice for the role of the Joker for the movie "The Dark Knight (2008)", but he turned down the part because he didn't want to play a role that had already been played by his longtime friend Jack Nicholson. The role ultimately went to Heath Ledger.
In October, 2002, he bought a $56,000 ad in the Washington Post to publish an open letter to President George W. Bush asking him to slow down the march of war towards Iraq. He wrote it as a father of two children and as a son of a WW II veteran.
Refuses to talk about his ex-wife Madonna in interviews. On her 1989 "Like A Prayer" album, she wrote a song about their failed marriage called "Till Death Do Us Part". Penn signed a prenuptial agreement and received no financial support.
His son is named after two family friends, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson.
He is the 9th person to win 2 Academy Awards for Best Actor.
Flew to Haiti on January 21, 2010 to help the relief effort after the earthquake.
Moved to Marin County (north of San Francisco) to avoid raising his children in Hollywood.
He and Robin Wright lived together off and on for 7 years and had two children before their marriage in 1996.
In January, 2016, shortly after the recapture of the notorious fugitive drug kingpin "El Chapo" (Joaquín Guzmán Loera), Rolling Stone magazine published an interview with him that Sean Penn conducted during the time the Sinaloa drug cartel head was still at large ("El Chapo" had escaped from a Mexican maximum-security prison in 2015). Guzmán contacted Penn via a Mexican movie and TV star, Kate del Castillo, who, after playing a drug kingpin in the Mexican TV show La Reina del Sur (2011), had been contacted by Guzmán in the hope that she would make a movie about his life. After his interview was published, Penn was criticized by the Obama administration and investigated by the Mexican government for failing to aid authorities in recapturing Guzmán earlier than they did.
Ranks his good friend Philip Seymour Hoffman as one of the greatest actors of his generation (interview: Episode dated 14 October 2011 (2011)).
Was in the same acting class as Michelle Pfeiffer at the end of the '70s or early '80s.
Met wife-to-be Robin Wright on the set of State of Grace (1990).
As of 2005, the only actor to ever receive a Best Actor nomination for a Woody Allen film, besides Allen himself.
His car, a limited-edition 1987 Buick Grand National, was stolen in Berkeley months after his return from Iraq. Among the lost contents were 2 guns.
His performance as "Jeff Spicoli" in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) is ranked #9 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
His paternal grandparents were Ashkenazi immigrants (their families were from Russia and Lithuania). They ran a deli in New York for some time. His mother's heritage is half Italian and half Irish.
In June, 1987 Penn was sentenced to sixty days for probation violations including reckless driving and assault. The sentence was reduced to thirty-three days "in anticipation of good behavior." Penn served five days, was released to film a movie and then served out the remainder of his sentence in private jail facilities for which he paid an extra eighty dollars per day.
Credits Malcolm McDowell as the best actor with whom he's worked. They co-starred in Hugo Pool (1997).
His father, Leo Penn, had been blacklisted in the 1950s for his political beliefs.
Andy Warhol was a guest during his August 16, 1985 marriage to Madonna.
One of four people to have achieved the rare feat of winning an acting prize in the three major film festivals: Venice Film Festivel, Cannes Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival. The others to do so are Julianne Moore, Juliette Binoche and Jack Lemmon. Additionally, all four actors have won acting Oscars.
He was criticized for publicly calling for more gun control in the United States, despite admitting that he owned guns.
He and ex-wife Madonna's birthdays are a day apart. They married on her 27th birthday and he turned 25 the next day.
Briefly engaged to actress-photographer Pamela Springsteen, sister of Bruce Springsteen. The two were both in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982).
Good friends with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich.

Awards

His accolades include three Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and nominations for three British Academy Film Awards, an Emmy Award, and a Grammy Award.He has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice, for playing a grieving father in Mystic River (2003) and the gay rights activist Harvey Milk in Milk (2008).He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing the ruthless military officer Colonel Steven J.He was Oscar-nominated for Dead Man Walking (1995), Sweet and Lowdown (1999), and I Am Sam (2001).

Marital status / Family

Sean Penn is currently unmarried. Previous marriages:- Madonna (married 1985, divorced 1989)- Robin Wright (married 1996, divorced 2010)- Leila George (married 2020, divorced 2022)Children:He has two children with his second wife, Robin Wright: a daughter named Dylan Frances Penn (born 1991) and a son named Hopper Jack Penn (born 1993).

Movies

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