
Sean Penn
Department: Acting
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

The Interpreter
2005

Mystic River
2003

21 Grams
2003

Dogtown and Z-Boys
2002

Milk
2008

Casualties of War
1989

U Turn
1997

Dead Man Walking
1995

Licorice Pizza
2021

State of Grace
1990

All the King's Men
2006

The Assassination of Richard Nixon
2004

Taps
1981

The Game
1997

Colors
1988

I Am Sam
2001

Before Night Falls
2000

We're No Angels
1989

Haiti Untold
2012

I'm Still Here
2010

Carlito's Way
1993

Sweet Micky for President
2015

Hurlyburly
1998

The Thin Red Line
1998

What Just Happened
2008

The Tree of Life
2011

Hugo Pool
1997

Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride
2006

It's All About Love
2003

The Falcon and the Snowman
1985

The People Speak
2009

Sweet and Lowdown
1999

Fast Times at Ridgemont High
1982

The Weight of Water
2001

21 Grams: In Fragments
2004

Bad Boys
1983

At Close Range
1986

Searching for Debra Winger
2002

Beaver Trilogy
2000

Fair Game
2010

She's So Lovely
1997

The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing
2004

Racing with the Moon
1984

Up at the Villa
2000

Judgment in Berlin
1988

Woody Allen: A Documentary
2011

Gangster Squad
2013

This Must Be the Place
2011

Animals in War
2025

Loved
1997

Shanghai Surprise
1986

Crackers
1984

Superpower
2023

The Killing of Randy Webster
1981

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
2013

Gonzo Girl
2023

Summerspell
1983

Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick
2002

Cruise Control
1992

The Human Experiment
2015

The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles
2014

The Gunman
2015

Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey
2014

Return to the Wild: The Chris McCandless Story
2014

One Battle After Another
2025

Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die)
2003

The Last Party
1993

Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments
2004

The Beaver Kid 2
1981

Inside Björk
2003

The Angry Birds Movie
2016

Risky Business
1983

BRATS
2024

Pauly Shore Is Dead
2003

Bruce Springsteen – The America whisperer
2024

Bukowski: Born Into This
2003

The Professor and the Madman
2019

Sound of Sun
2017

Brando
2007

This So-Called Disaster
2003

Being John Malkovich
1999

Cool Blue
1990

Americans
2012

Hellinger's Law
1981

Witch Hunt
2008

A Constant Forge
2000

Mad Hannans
2017

Deflating the Elephant
2009

Beaver Trilogy Part IV
2015

Madonna: The Name of the Game
1993

Flag Day
2021

Reliving Our Fast Times at Ridgemont High
1999

Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam
1987

Citizen Penn
2020

Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A Virtual Table Read
2020

Asphalt City
2024

VH1 Rock Honors: The Who
2008

Daddio
2024

Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune
2011

Robbie Robertson: A Retrospective - From the Band to the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame
—

Sean Penn, l'enfant terrible de l'Amérique
2024

Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild
2004

Mystic River: Beneath the Surface
2004

Mystic River: From Page to Screen
2003

In Thanks We Trust
2025

War Made Easy
2007

Becoming Madonna
2024

El Chapo & Sean Penn: Bungle in the Jungle
2016

Inside the Actors Studio
1994

Little House on the Prairie
1974

Friends
1994

Viva La Bam
2003

Two and a Half Men
2003

The Early Show
1999

Celebrities Uncensored
2003

VH1 Rock Honors
2006

Iconoclasts
2005

Where Are They Now?
1999

The Oscars
1953

Saturday Night Live
1975

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis
2008

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015

The View
1997

The First
2018

Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003

The Reichen Show
2005

Lights Out with David Spade
2019

The Graham Norton Show
2007

Family Guy
1999

Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
2018

Real Time with Bill Maher
2003

Curb Your Enthusiasm
2000

When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
2006

Gaslit
2022

aspekte
1965

Brando: The Documentary
2007

Everybody's Live with John Mulaney
2025

Golden Globe Awards
1944

aka Charlie Sheen
2025

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014

Variety & CNN Actors on Actors
2025

Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003

The Larry Sanders Show
1992

Golden Globe Awards
1944

Saturday Night Live
1975