Best Known As: The intense actor who won Oscars for Mystic River and Milk
Sean Penn's film performances have earned him a reputation for dramatic intensity, but to many filmgoers he will always be remembered as Jeff Spicoli, the teenage stoner from Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). Penn made his movie debut in 1981's Taps (alongside Tom Cruise) and became known as a serious dramatic actor during the '80s, in films such as Bad Boys (1983) and At Close Range (1986, with Christopher Walken). His marriage to Madonna (1985-89) thrust Penn further into the spotlight, and he went from being known as an intense young actor to being known as an intense young actor who punched photographers (he even spent a brief time in jail for assault in 1987). In the '90s Penn tried to give up acting in favor of writing and directing; he made The Indian Runner (1991) and two films starring Jack Nicholson: The Crossing Guard (1995) and The Pledge (2000). He returned to the screen in 1993 to co-star with Al Pacino in Carlito's Way, then starred in Dead Man Walking (1995) and earned an Oscar nomination. He went on to be nominated again for Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and for I Am Sam (2001, with Dakota Fanning), and in 2004 he won his first Oscar as best actor for Mystic River (2003, co-starring Tim Robbins). He won a second best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Harvey Milk in the Gus Van Sant film Milk (2008). Among his other films are 21 Grams (2003) and All The King's Men (2006).
Penn married actress Robin Wright in 1996. They have two children: a daughter Dylan (b. 1991) and a son Hopper Jack (b. 1993). Robin Wright Penn filed for divorce in August of 2009... Sean Penn's younger brother, Christopher Penn (1965-2006), was also a film actor. His older brother, Michael Penn (b. 1958), is a singer and songwriter.
Career Highlights: Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Dead Man Walking, Before Night Falls
First Major Screen Credit: Taps (1981)
Biography
Long the bad boy of Hollywood, Sean Penn is also among the most fiercely talented actors of his generation. He was born August 17, 1960, in Burbank, CA, the second son of actress Eileen Ryan and director Leo Penn. He grew up in Santa Monica, in a neighborhood populated by future celebrities Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, the sons of actor Martin Sheen. Penn's older brother, Michael, is a singer/songwriter-turned- director, while younger sibling Chris is a noted character actor. The children spent much of their free time together, making a number of amateur films shot with Super-8 cameras. Still, Penn's original intention was to attend law school, although he ultimately skipped college to join the Los Angeles Repertory Theater. After making his professional debut on an episode of television's Barnaby Jones, he relocated to New York, where he soon appeared in the play Heartland. A TV-movie, The Killing of Randy Webster, followed in 1981 before he made his feature debut later that same year in Taps.
Penn shot to stardom with 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High; as the stoned surfer dude Jeff Spicoli, he stole every scene in which he appeared, helping to elevate the picture into a classic of the teen comedy genre; however, the quirkiness which would define his career quickly surfaced as he turned down any number of Spicoli-like roles to star in the 1983 drama Bad Boys, followed a year later by the Louis Malle caper comedy Crackers and the period romance Racing With the Moon. While none of the pictures performed well at the box office, critics consistently praised Penn's depth as an actor. A turn as a drug addict turned government spy in John Schlesinger's 1985 political thriller The Falcon and the Snowman earned some of his best notices to date, but Penn's performance was quickly lost in the glare of the media attention surrounding his very public romance with pop singer Madonna, which culminated in the couple's 1985 media-circus wedding.
While Madonna actively courted press attention, the private Penn made his loathing for the media quite clear; his run-ins with the paparazzi quickly became the stuff of legend, and the notoriety of his temper began to eclipse even his immense acting ability. His penchant for fisticuffs, combined with other civil infractions, ultimately resulted in a 30-day jail sentence; more seriously, his marriage to Madonna began to buckle under the weight of media scrutiny, and, as the couple's star collaboration in the 1987 movie Shanghai Surprise met with box-office disaster, their private relationship was also over. Soured by the Hollywood experience, Penn did not resurface prior to 1988's Colors, which proved to be his biggest hit in some time. He next appeared in Brian DePalma's Vietnam tale Casualties of War, followed by a turn opposite his idol, Robert De Niro, in the 1989 comedy We're No Angels.
After starring in the gangster melodrama State of Grace, Penn wrote and directed 1991's The Indian Runner, a film inspired by a Bruce Springsteen song and shaped in the image of the films of John Cassavetes. After an almost unrecognizable turn as a troubled attorney in the 1993 DePalma thriller Carlito's Way, Penn announced his intention to retire from acting in order to focus his full attentions on directing; however, after helming 1995's The Crossing Guard with Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston, he was back onscreen, winning an Academy Award nomination for his gut-wrenching portrayal of a death-row inmate in Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking. By 1997, Penn's wishes for retirement were but a memory as he enjoyed his busiest year yet: In addition to starring opposite second wife Robin Wright in Nick Cassavetes' She's So Lovely -- roles which won both spouses acting honors at the Cannes Film Festival -- he also appeared in the David Fincher thriller The Game and in Oliver Stone's U-Turn. He found further acclaim the following year for his roles in the adaptation of David Rabe's Hurlyburly and Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. In 1999, he had a cameo appearance in Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich and earned his second Oscar nomination as a callous '30s jazz guitarist in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown, while 2000s adaptation of Anita Shreve's novel, The Weight of Water, starred Penn as a poet embroiled in a small town murder mystery. In 2001, Penn would play a fame-craving impressionist in The Beaver Trilogy, serve as narrator in director Stacy Peralta's skateboarding documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, and direct the psychological drama The Pledge, which marked Penn's second collaboration with Jack Nicholson. In 2002, Penn would once again win critical praise with his Oscar-nominated portrayal of a developmentally disabled man struggling to retain custody of his daughter in I Am Sam.
After the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the left-leaning actor's outspoken political views garnered a great deal of attention from right-wing pundits, including the much aggrieved Bill O'Reilly, who found himself on the receiving end of Penn's animosity in a controversial interview with Talk magazine. Though O'Reilly demanded his viewers boycott any of Penn's future films, it appears his career has remained relatively unscathed. In 2002, Penn directed a segment for the French-produced 9'11"01, which was met with mixed reviews, while his participation in Burkowski: Born Into This (2002) helped the film win a nomination for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
The year 2003 was, in fact, an eventful year for Penn; he participated in two small but nonetheless critically acclaimed films -- Michael Almereyda's documentary This So-Called Disaster and Alejandro González Iñárritu's low-key urban drama 21 Grams -- while managing to claim yet another Hollywood success in actor/director Clint Eastwood's highly lauded Mystic River. In 2004, it was this third film that garnered Penn his fourth Academy Award nomination and, ultimately, his first win. The Oscar, coupled with a standing ovation by the audience, showed once and for all that Penn's unorthodox approach to his acting career hadn't had an adverse effect on his popularity.
The following year Penn would return to the screen to document one man's chilling descent into madness in the fact-based psychological drama The Assassination of Richard Nixon, but despite generally favorable reaction from critics the grim feature failed to make much of an impression at the box office. Subsequently sticking to politics with Sydney Pollock's 2005 thriller The Interpreter, Penn would this time find his character attempting to prevent the assassination of a high profile political leader rather than personally carry one out. By the time Penn essayed the role of a populist Southern politician modeled loosely on Depression-era Louisiana governer Huey Long, it seemed as if the serious-minded actor's career had finally become as political as the boat-rocking rhetoric that often found him sailing into the headlines. The third screen adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's influential novel, All the King's Men featured an impressive list of top-name Hollywood talent including Jude Law, Kate Winslett, Anthony Hopkins, Patricia Clarkson, James Gandolfini, and Mark Ruffalo. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Penn appeared in a 1974 episode of the Little House on the Prairie television series as a then blond-haired extra when his father, Leo, directed some of the episodes.
Penn launched his film career with the 1981 film Taps, where he played a key role as a military high school cadet opposite protagonist Timothy Hutton. Tom Cruise also made one of his first film appearances as another cadet in the action-drama. A year later, he appeared in the hit comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High (in the role of surfer-stoner Jeff Spicoli). Penn's portrayal of Spicoli was immensely popular and the film remained his most commercially successful work for many years.[citation needed] In 1983, Penn turned in one of his best early performances as Mick O'Brien, a troubled youth in the drama Bad Boys. It earned Penn favorable reviews and jump started his career as a serious actor.
In 1985, Penn gave a memorable performance in the role of Andrew Daulton Lee in The Falcon and the Snowman, which closely followed an actual criminal case. Lee was a former drug dealer by trade, convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union and was originally sentenced to life in prison. Lee was paroled in 1998. In an interview for the The Guardian in April, 2005, it was stated that Penn later hired Lee as his personal assistant, partly because he wanted to reward Lee for allowing him to play Lee in the film, and also because he was a firm believer in rehabilitation and thought Andrew Lee should be successfully reintegrated into society since he was a free man again.[6]
In 1986 he starred in the drama At Close Range, opposite Christopher Walken. The film was also based on a true story and gained positive reviews from critics.[citation needed] The film featured his then wife Madonna's single "Live to Tell". The music video for the song, which featured clips from the film, played heavily on MTV and helped promote the film.
Penn's interest in politics is reflected in some of his recent film roles.[citation needed] In 2006 he portrayed populist governor Willie Stark (based on Huey Long) in an adaptation of the classic American novel All the King's Men, though the film was a critical and commercial failure. In November 2008, Penn earned rave reviews for his portrayal of real-life gay rights icon and politician Harvey Milk in the biopic Milk and was nominated for best actor for the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards.[8]
Penn was supposedly engaged to actress Elizabeth McGovern, his co-star in 1984's Racing with the Moon, after which he dated Susan Sarandon. Penn's personal life began to attract media attention when he married pop starMadonna in 1985. The relationship was marred by violent outbursts against the press, including one incident for which he was arrested for assaulting a photographer on a film set; Penn was sentenced to 60 days in jail in mid-1987, of which he served 33 days.[9] It is also suggested that when Penn discovered the paparazzo in his hotel room, he hung him by his ankles from the ninth-floor balcony.[10] Madonna dedicated her third studio album, True Blue to Penn, referring to him in the liner notes as "the coolest guy in the universe". Later in the marriage, Penn was charged with felonydomestic assault, a charge for which he pleaded to a misdemeanor. Penn and Madonna divorced in 1989.
He soon began a relationship with Robin Wright, and their first child, a daughter named Dylan Frances, was born in 1991. Their second child, a son named Hopper Jack, was born in 1993. Penn and Wright married in 1996 and lived in Ross, California. The relationship has gone through on-and-off again periods in recent years. Divorce plans and separation have been announced, beginning in December 2007,[11] and again in April 2009,[12] only to be withdrawn,[13] most recently in May 2009.[14]. On August 12, 2009, Robin Wright Penn filed for divorce,[15] declaring she has no plans to reconcile.[16]
During a separation from Wright in the mid 1990s, Penn dated singer and songwriter Jewel. He was also the director of the original video for Jewel's hit song "You Were Meant for Me".[17]
Penn has been active in supporting several political and social causes. On June 10, 2005, Penn made a visit to Iran. Acting as a journalist on an assignment for the San Francisco Chronicle, he attended a Friday prayer at Tehran University.[19] Later in 2005, Penn appeared at the ACLU of Northern California's annual Bill of Rights Day Celebration to present Sister Helen Prejean with the Chief Justice Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award for her work opposing the death penalty.[citation needed]
In August 2008, Penn made an appearance at one of Ralph Nader's "Open the Debates" Super Rallies. He protested the political exclusion of Nader and other third parties.[20]
In October 2008, Penn traveled to Cuba, where he met with and interviewed President Raúl Castro.[21]
This advertisement was cited as a primary reason for the development of his relationship with Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. Chávez used and read aloud an open letter Penn wrote to Bush in one of his televised speeches.[10] The letter condemned the Iraq War, called for Bush to be impeached, and also called Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "villainously and criminally obscene people.".[24] In August 2007, Penn met with Chávez in Caracas for two hours, after which Chávez praised him for urging Americans to impeach Bush. Penn also visited a new film studio on the outskirts of Caracas, though he did not speak publicly.[24]
On April 19, 2007, Penn appeared on The Colbert Report and had a "Meta-Free-Phor-All" versus Stephen Colbert that was judged by Robert Pinsky. This stemmed from some of Penn's criticisms of Bush. His exact quote was "We cower as you point your fingers telling us to support our troops. You and the smarmy pundits in your pocket – those who bathe in the moisture of your soiled and blood-soaked underwear – can take that noise and shove it."[25][26] He won the contest with 10,000,000 points to Colbert's 1.[27]
On December 7, 2007, Penn said he supported Ohio Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich for U.S. President in 2008, and criticized Bush's handling of the Iraq war. Penn questioned whether Bush's twin daughters supported the war in Iraq.[28]
Hurricane Katrina
In September 2005, Penn traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana, to aid HurricaneKatrina victims. He was physically involved in rescuing people[29], although there was criticism that his involvement was a PR stunt as he hired a photographer to come along with his entourage.[30]
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