Sean Penn
Biography
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 accoladesinclude two 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 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), Daddio(2023), and One Battle After Another (2025). 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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sean Penn, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Tobin Keller
The Interpreter
Jimmy Markum
Mystic River
Paul Rivers
21 Grams
Narrator
Dogtown and Z-Boys
Harvey Milk
Milk
Sgt. Tony Meserve
Casualties of War
Bobby Cooper
U Turn
Matthew Poncelet
Dead Man Walking
Jack Holden
Licorice Pizza
Terry
State of Grace
Willie Stark
All the King's Men
Samuel Bicke
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
Cadet Captain Alex Dwyer
Taps
Danny McGavin
Colors
Conrad Van Orton
The Game
Sam Dawson
I Am Sam
Cuco Sanchez
Before Night Falls
Jim
We're No Angels
Haiti Untold
Sean Penn (uncredited)
I'm Still Here
David Kleinfeld
Carlito's Way
Self
Sweet Micky for President
Eddie
Hurlyburly
1st Sgt. Edward Welsh
The Thin Red Line
Sean Penn
What Just Happened
Jack
The Tree of Life
Strange Hitchhiker
Hugo Pool
Self
Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride
Marciello
It's All About Love
Daulton Lee
The Falcon and the Snowman
Self
The People Speak
Emmet Ray
Sweet and Lowdown
Jeff Spicoli
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Thomas Janes
The Weight of Water
Self
21 Grams: In Fragments
Mick O'Brien
Bad Boys
Bradford 'Brad' Whitewood Jr.
At Close Range
Self (uncredited)
Searching for Debra Winger
"Groovin' Larry" Huff
Beaver Trilogy
Joseph Wilson
Fair Game
Eddie Quinn
She's So Lovely
Self
The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing
Henry 'Hopper' Nash
Racing with the Moon
Rowley Flint
Up at the Villa
Guenther X
Judgment in Berlin
Self
Woody Allen: A Documentary
Mickey Cohen
Gangster Squad
Cheyenne
This Must Be the Place
Війна очима тварин
Man on the Hill (Michael)
Loved
Glendon Wasey
Shanghai Surprise
Dillard
Crackers
Self
Superpower
Don Fremont
The Killing of Randy Webster
Sean O'Connell
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Gonzo Girl
Buddy
Summerspell
Self
Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick
Cruise Control
Narrator
The Human Experiment
Self
The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles
Jim Terrier
The Gunman
Self
Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey
Himself
Return to the Wild: The Chris McCandless Story
Col. Steven J. Lockjaw
One Battle After Another
Self
Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die)
Self
The Last Party
Self
Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments
Groovin' Larry
The Beaver Kid 2
Self
Inside Björk
Terence (voice)
The Angry Birds Movie
Passenger in Car (uncredited)
Risky Business
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
BRATS
Sean Penn
Pauly Shore Is Dead
Self : Actor, Director & Writer (Archive footage)
Bruce Springsteen, le chanteur qui murmurait à l'oreille de l'Amérique
Self
Bukowski: Born Into This
Dr. William Chester Minor
The Professor and the Madman
Man
Sound of Sun
Self
Brando
Ray
This So-Called Disaster
Sean Penn (uncredited)
Being John Malkovich
Bit Part (uncredited)
Hellinger's Law
Phil the Plumber (uncredited)
Cool Blue
Commie
Americans
Himself (Narrator)
Witch Hunt
Self
A Constant Forge
Mad Hannans
Narrator
Deflating the Elephant
Himself (archive footage)
Beaver Trilogy Part IV
Self
Madonna: The Name of the Game
John Vogel
Flag Day
Reliving Our Fast Times at Ridgemont High
(voice)
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam
Himself
Citizen Penn
Pizza Guy
Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A Virtual Table Read
Gene Rutkovsky
Asphalt City
Self
VH1 Rock Honors: The Who
Clark
Daddio
Self
Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune
Self
Clinton Foundation: Celebrity Division
Himself
Robbie Robertson: A Retrospective - From the Band to the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame
Self
Sean Penn, l'enfant terrible de l'Amérique
Self(archive footage) (uncredited)
Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild
Self
Mystic River: Beneath the Surface
Self
Mystic River: From Page to Screen
Self
In Thanks We Trust
Self - Narrator (Voice)
War Made Easy
Self
"American Arts & Culture" Presents John Horatio Malkovich: "Dance of Despair and Disillusionment"
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
108
Gender
Male
Birthday
1960-08-17
Place of Birth
Santa Monica, California, USA
Also Known As
Sean Justin Penn