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