Sean Penn
- Acting
- August 17, 1960 · Santa Monica, California, USA
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 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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sean Penn, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known for
Filmography
- Black Sunflowers · Executive producer
- Red Rue Express · Self
- Samuel Bayer Beyond the Frame · Self
- Learning, Studying… Always Perfecting: The Making of One Battle After Another · Self
- Variety & CNN Actors on Actors · Self
- Animals in War
- In Thanks We Trust · Self
- One Battle After Another · Col. Steven J. Lockjaw
- aka Charlie Sheen · Self
- Words of War · Executive producer
- Manas · Executive producer
- Everybody's Live with John Mulaney · Self
- Becoming Madonna · Self
- September 5 · Producer
- Bruce Springsteen: The America Whisperer · Self : Actor, Director & Writer (Archive footage)
- Daddio · Clark
- BRATS · Self
- Sean Penn, l'enfant terrible de l'Amérique · Self
- Asphalt City · Gene Rutkovsky, Producer
- C*A*U*G*H*T · Executive producer
- Gonzo Girl
- Superpower · Self, Director
- Gaslit · John Mitchell
- Licorice Pizza · Jack Holden
- Flag Day · John Vogel, Director
- Val · Self
- kid 90 · Executive producer
- Charles Bronson: The Spirit of Masculinity · Self
- Citizen Penn · Self
- Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A Virtual Table Read · Pizza Guy
- Lights Out with David Spade · Self
- The Professor and the Madman · Dr. William Chester Minor
- The First · Tom Haggerty
- Firing Line with Margaret Hoover · Self
- Sound of Sun · Man
- The Last Face · Director
- Mad Hannans
- The Angry Birds Movie · Terence (Voice)
- El Chapo & Sean Penn: Bungle in the Jungle · Self
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert · Self
- The Human Experiment · Narrator, Executive producer
- The Gunman · Jim Terrier, Screenplay
- Sweet Micky for President · Self
- Beaver Trilogy Part IV · Self
- Return to the Wild: The Chris McCandless Story · Self
- Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey · Self
- The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon · Self
- The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles · Self
- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty · Sean O'Connell
- Gangster Squad · Mickey Cohen
- Americans · Commie, Story
- Haiti Untold
- Woody Allen: A Documentary · Self
- This Must Be the Place · Cheyenne
- The Tree of Life · Jack
- Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune · Self
- I'm Still Here · Sean Penn (uncredited)
- Fair Game · Joseph Wilson
- The People Speak · Self
- Where the Wild Things Are · Thanks
- Deflating the Elephant · Narrator
- Milk · Harvey Milk
- What Just Happened · Sean Penn
- Witch Hunt · Self
- VH1 Rock Honors: The Who · Self
- Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis · Self
- Into the Wild · Director, Screenplay
- War Made Easy · Narrator (Voice)
- Brando · Self
- Brando: The Documentary · Self
- The Graham Norton Show · Self
- Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride · Self
- All the King's Men · Willie Stark
- When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts · Self
- VH1 Rock Honors
- Iconoclasts · Self
- The Reichen Show · Self
- The Interpreter · Tobin Keller
- The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing · Self
- Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild · Self