Name
Sean Penn
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1960-08-17 (66 years old)
Place of Birth
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
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- 2005 The Interpreter as Tobin Keller
- 2003 Mystic River as Jimmy Markum
- 2003 21 Grams as Paul Rivers
- 2002 Dogtown and Z-Boys as Narrator
- 2008 Milk as Harvey Milk
- 1989 Casualties of War as Sgt. Tony Meserve
- 1997 U Turn as Bobby Cooper
- 1995 Dead Man Walking as Matthew Poncelet
- 2021 Licorice Pizza as Jack Holden
- 1990 State of Grace as Terry
- 2006 All the King's Men as Willie Stark
- 2004 The Assassination of Richard Nixon as Samuel Bicke
- 1981 Taps as Cadet Captain Alex Dwyer
- 1997 The Game as Conrad Van Orton
- 1988 Colors as Danny McGavin
- 2001 I Am Sam as Sam Dawson
- 2000 Before Night Falls as Cuco Sanchez
- 1989 We're No Angels as Jim
- 2012 Haiti Untold
- 2010 I'm Still Here as Sean Penn (uncredited)
- 1993 Carlito's Way as David Kleinfeld
- 2015 Sweet Micky for President as Self
- 1998 Hurlyburly as Eddie
- 1998 The Thin Red Line as 1st Sgt. Edward Welsh
- 2008 What Just Happened as Sean Penn
- 2011 The Tree of Life as Jack
- 1997 Hugo Pool as Strange Hitchhiker
- 2006 Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride as Self
- 2003 It's All About Love as Marciello
- 1985 The Falcon and the Snowman as Daulton Lee
- 2009 The People Speak as Self
- 1999 Sweet and Lowdown as Emmet Ray
- 1982 Fast Times at Ridgemont High as Jeff Spicoli
- 2001 The Weight of Water as Thomas Janes
- 2004 21 Grams: In Fragments as Self
- 1983 Bad Boys as Mick O'Brien
- 1986 At Close Range as Bradford 'Brad' Whitewood Jr.
- 2002 Searching for Debra Winger as Self (uncredited)
- 2000 Beaver Trilogy as "Groovin' Larry" Huff
- 2010 Fair Game as Joseph Wilson
- 1997 She's So Lovely as Eddie Quinn
- 2004 The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing as Self
- 1984 Racing with the Moon as Henry 'Hopper' Nash
- 2000 Up at the Villa as Rowley Flint
- 1988 Judgment in Berlin as Guenther X
- 2011 Woody Allen: A Documentary as Self
- 2013 Gangster Squad as Mickey Cohen
- 2011 This Must Be the Place as Cheyenne
- 2025 Animals in War
- 1997 Loved as Man on the Hill (Michael)
- 1986 Shanghai Surprise as Glendon Wasey
- 1984 Crackers as Dillard
- 2023 Superpower as Self
- 1981 The Killing of Randy Webster as Don Fremont
- 2013 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty as Sean O'Connell
- 2023 Gonzo Girl
- 1983 Summerspell as Buddy
- 2002 Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick as Self
- 1992 Cruise Control
- 2015 The Human Experiment as Narrator
- 2014 The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles as Self
- 2015 The Gunman as Jim Terrier
- 2014 Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey as Self
- 2014 Return to the Wild: The Chris McCandless Story as Self
- 2025 One Battle After Another as Col. Steven J. Lockjaw
- 2003 Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die) as Self
- 1993 The Last Party as Self
- 2004 Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments as Self
- 1981 The Beaver Kid 2 as Groovin' Larry
- 2003 Inside Björk as Self
- 2016 The Angry Birds Movie as Terence (voice)
- 1983 Risky Business as Passenger in Car (uncredited)
- 2024 BRATS as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 2003 Pauly Shore Is Dead as Sean Penn
- 2024 Bruce Springsteen: The America Whisperer as Self : Actor, Director & Writer (Archive footage)
- 2003 Bukowski: Born Into This as Self
- 2019 The Professor and the Madman as Dr. William Chester Minor
- 2017 Sound of Sun as Man
- 2007 Brando as Self
- 2003 This So-Called Disaster as Ray
- 1999 Being John Malkovich as Sean Penn (uncredited)
- 1990 Cool Blue as Phil the Plumber (uncredited)
- 2012 Americans as Commie
- 1981 Hellinger's Law as Bit Part (uncredited)
- 2008 Witch Hunt as Self (Narrator)
- 2000 A Constant Forge as Self
- 2017 Mad Hannans
- 2009 Deflating the Elephant as Narrator
- 2015 Beaver Trilogy Part IV as Self (archive footage)
- 1993 Madonna: The Name of the Game as Self
- 2021 Flag Day as John Vogel
- 1999 Reliving Our Fast Times at Ridgemont High
- 1987 Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam as (voice)
- 2020 Citizen Penn as Self
- 2020 Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A Virtual Table Read as Pizza Guy
- 2024 Asphalt City as Gene Rutkovsky
- 2008 VH1 Rock Honors: The Who as Self
- 2024 Daddio as Clark
- 2011 Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune as Self
- 1994 Robbie Robertson: A Retrospective - From the Band to the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame as Self
- 2024 Sean Penn, l'enfant terrible de l'Amérique as Self
- 2004 Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 2004 Mystic River: Beneath the Surface as Self
- 2003 Mystic River: From Page to Screen as Self
- 2025 In Thanks We Trust as Self
- 2007 War Made Easy as Narrator (Voice)
- 2024 Becoming Madonna as Self (archive footage)
- 2016 El Chapo & Sean Penn: Bungle in the Jungle as Self
- 2026 Learning, Studying… Always Perfecting: The Making of One Battle After Another as Self
- 2026 Samuel Bayer Beyond the Frame as Self
- 2021 Val as Self (archive)
- 2026 Red Rue Express as himself
- Soon Snake Island
- 2020 Charles Bronson: The Spirit of Masculinity as Self
- 1994 Inside the Actors Studio ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1974 Little House on the Prairie ( 1 episode ) as Boy (uncredited)
- 1994 Friends ( 2 episodes ) as Eric
- 2003 Viva La Bam ( 1 episode )
- 2003 Two and a Half Men ( 1 episode ) as Sean Penn
- 1999 The Early Show ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2003 Celebrities Uncensored ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 2006 VH1 Rock Honors ( 1 episode )
- 2005 Iconoclasts ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1999 Where Are They Now? ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1953 The Oscars ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 1975 Saturday Night Live ( 1 episode ) as Self - Host
- 2008 Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2015 The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1997 The View ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2018 The First ( 8 episodes ) as Tom Haggerty
- 2003 Jimmy Kimmel Live! ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 2005 The Reichen Show ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2019 Lights Out with David Spade ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2007 The Graham Norton Show ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1999 Family Guy ( 1 episode ) as Sean Penn (voice)
- 2018 Firing Line with Margaret Hoover ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2003 Real Time with Bill Maher ( 4 episodes ) as Self
- 2000 Curb Your Enthusiasm ( 1 episode ) as Sean Penn
- 2006 When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts ( 4 episodes ) as Self
- 2022 Gaslit ( 8 episodes ) as John Mitchell
- 1965 aspekte ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2007 Brando: The Documentary ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 2025 Everybody's Live with John Mulaney ( 1 episode ) as Self - Actor and Founder of CORE
- 1944 Golden Globe Awards ( 1 episode ) as Self - Presenter
- 2014 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ( 1 episode ) as Self - Guest
- 2025 Variety & CNN Actors on Actors ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 2003 Jimmy Kimmel Live! ( 4 episodes ) as Self - Guest
- 1992 The Larry Sanders Show ( 2 episodes ) as Sean Penn
- 1944 Golden Globe Awards ( 1 episode ) as Self - Nominee
- 1975 Saturday Night Live ( 1 episode ) as Self (uncredited)
- 1990 The Word ( 2 episodes )
- 2025 aka Charlie Sheen ( 2 episodes ) as Self
