Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism. He is a two-time Academy Award winner for his roles in Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008), as well as the recipient of a Golden Globe Award for the former and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the latter. Penn began his acting career in television with a brief appearance in a 1974 episode of Little House on the Prairie, directed by his father Leo Penn. Following his film debut in 1981's Taps and a diverse range of film roles in the 1980s, Penn emerged as a prominent leading actor with the 1995 drama film Dead Man Walking, for which he earned his first Academy Award nomination and the Best Actor Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Penn subsequently received another two Oscar nominations for Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and I Am Sam (2001), before winning his first Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 for Mystic River and a second one in 2008 for Milk. He has also won a Best Actor Award of the Cannes Film Festival for She's So Lovely (1997), and two Best Actor Awards at the Venice Film Festival for Hurlyburly (1998) and 21 Grams (2003). Penn made his feature film directorial debut with 1991's The Indian Runner, followed by the drama film The Crossing Guard (1995) and the mystery film The Pledge (2001). In 2002, Penn directed one of the 11 segments of 11'09"01 September 11, a compilation film made in response to the September 11 attacks. In 2007, Penn directed his fourth feature film Into the Wild, which garnered critical acclaim and two Academy Award nominations. In addition to his film work, Penn is known for his political and social activism, most notably his criticism of the George W. Bush administration, his contact with the Presidents of Venezuela and Cuba, and his humanitarian work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Penn also attracted media attention for his previous marriages to pop icon Madonna and actress Robin Wright. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sean Penn, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Movie | War Through the Eyes of Animals | 2025 | |
Movie | The Battle of Baktan Cross | Col. Steven J. Lockjaw | 2025-08-06 |
Movie | BRATS | Self (archive footage) (uncredited) | 2024-06-07 |
Movie | Asphalt City | Gene Rutkovsky | 2024-03-28 |
Movie | Gonzo Girl | 2023-09-07 | |
Movie | Superpower | Self | 2023-02-17 |
Series | Gaslit | John Mitchell | 2022-04-24 |
Movie | Friends: The Reunion | (archive footage) | 2021-05-27 |
Movie | Licorice Pizza | Jack Holden | 2021-11-26 |
Movie | Flag Day | John Vogel | 2021-08-20 |
Movie | Val | Self (archive footage) | 2021-07-23 |
Movie | Charles Bronson: The Spirit of Masculinity | Self (archive footage) | 2020-11-29 |
Movie | The Professor and the Madman | Dr. William Chester Minor | 2019-03-07 |
Series | The First | Tom Haggerty | 2018-09-14 |
Movie | Sound of Sun | Man | 2017-01-14 |
Movie | Mad Hannans | 2017-01-01 | |
Movie | The Angry Birds Movie | Terence (voice) | 2016-05-11 |
Movie | The Gunman | Jim Terrier | 2015-02-16 |
Movie | Beaver Trilogy Part IV | Himself (archive footage) | 2015-01-23 |
Movie | The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles | Self | 2014-02-09 |
Movie | Return to the Wild: The Chris McCandless Story | Himself | 2014-11-25 |
Movie | Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey | Self | 2014-06-15 |
Movie | Gangster Squad | Mickey Cohen | 2013-01-09 |
Movie | The Human Experiment | Narrator | 2013-11-23 |
Movie | The Secret Life of Walter Mitty | Sean O'Connell | 2013-12-18 |
Movie | Americans | Commie | 2012-10-10 |
Movie | Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune | Self | 2011-01-05 |
Movie | This Must Be the Place | Cheyenne | 2011-08-24 |
Movie | The Tree of Life | Jack | 2011-05-17 |
Movie | Woody Allen: A Documentary | Self | 2011-11-20 |
Movie | I'm Still Here | Sean Penn (uncredited) | 2010-09-10 |
Movie | Fair Game | Joseph Wilson | 2010-05-20 |
Movie | The People Speak | Self | 2009-12-13 |
Series | Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis | Unknown | 2008-01-04 |
Movie | VH1 Rock Honors: The Who | Self | 2008-07-17 |
Movie | Witch Hunt | Himself (Narrator) | 2008-09-07 |
Movie | Milk | Harvey Milk | 2008-11-05 |
Movie | What Just Happened | Self | 2008-10-17 |
Movie | Brando | Self | 2007-05-01 |
Movie | Persepolis | Mr. Satrapi - Marjane's father (English version, voice) | 2007-06-27 |
Series | VH1 Rock Honors | Unknown | 2006-05-31 |
Movie | All the King's Men | Willie Stark | 2006-09-10 |
Movie | Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride | Self | 2006-12-12 |
Series | When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts | Self | 2006-08-21 |
Movie | The Interpreter | Tobin Keller | 2005-04-08 |
Series | Iconoclasts | Unknown | 2005-11-17 |
Movie | 21 Grams: In Fragments | Self | 2004-03-16 |
Movie | Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments | Self | 2004-05-01 |
Movie | The Assassination of Richard Nixon | Samuel Bicke | 2004-05-17 |
Movie | The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing | Self | 2004-10-12 |
Series | Real Time with Bill Maher | Unknown | 2003-02-21 |
Movie | Bukowski: Born Into This | Self | 2003-01-18 |
Movie | This So-Called Disaster: Sam Shepard Directs "The Late Henry Moss" | Ray | 2003-01-01 |
Movie | It's All About Love | Marciello | 2003-01-10 |
Movie | Pauly Shore Is Dead | Sean Penn | 2003-03-11 |
Series | Viva La Bam | Unknown | 2003-10-26 |
Series | Celebrities Uncensored | Unknown | 2003-06-04 |
Movie | Mystic River | Jimmy Markum | 2003-10-07 |
Series | Two and a Half Men | Unknown | 2003-09-22 |
Movie | Inside Björk | Self | 2003-08-23 |
Movie | 21 Grams | Paul Rivers | 2003-09-06 |
Movie | Dogtown and Z-Boys | Narrator | 2002-05-10 |
Movie | Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick | Self | 2002-09-01 |
Movie | Searching for Debra Winger | Self (uncredited) | 2002-07-13 |
Movie | The Weight of Water | Thomas Janes | 2001-03-30 |
Movie | I Am Sam | Sam Dawson | 2001-12-28 |
Movie | Up at the Villa | Rowley Flint | 2000-04-14 |
Movie | A Constant Forge | Self | 2000-01-01 |
Movie | The Beaver Trilogy | "Groovin' Larry" Huff | 2000-08-13 |
Movie | Before Night Falls | Cuco Sanchez | 2000-09-03 |
Movie | Being John Malkovich | Sean Penn (uncredited) | 1999-10-29 |
Series | Where Are They Now? | Unknown | 1999-06-07 |
Series | The Early Show | Unknown | 1999-11-01 |
Movie | Reliving Our Fast Times at Ridgemont High | 1999-12-21 | |
Movie | Sweet and Lowdown | Emmet Ray | 1999-12-03 |
Movie | The Thin Red Line | 1st Sgt. Edward Welsh | 1998-12-23 |
Movie | Hurlyburly | Eddie | 1998-12-25 |
Movie | She's So Lovely | Eddie Quinn | 1997-08-29 |
Movie | Hugo Pool | Strange Hitchhiker | 1997-12-12 |
Movie | The Game | Conrad Van Orton | 1997-09-12 |
Movie | U Turn | Bobby Cooper | 1997-10-03 |
Movie | Loved | Man on the Hill (Michael) | 1997-10-31 |
Movie | Dead Man Walking | Matthew Poncelet | 1995-12-29 |
Series | Friends | Eric | 1994-09-22 |
Series | Inside the Actors Studio | Unknown | 1994-08-14 |
Movie | The Last Party | Self | 1993-08-27 |
Movie | Carlito's Way | David Kleinfeld | 1993-11-10 |
Movie | Cruise Control | 1992-10-01 | |
Movie | State of Grace | Terry | 1990-09-14 |
Movie | Cool Blue | Phil the Plumber (uncredited) | 1990-02-27 |
Movie | We're No Angels | Jim | 1989-06-02 |
Movie | Casualties of War | Sgt. Tony Meserve | 1989-08-18 |
Movie | Judgment in Berlin | Guenther X | 1988-05-06 |
Movie | Colors | Danny McGavin | 1988-04-15 |
Movie | Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam | (voice) | 1987-10-01 |
Movie | Shanghai Surprise | Glendon Wasey | 1986-08-29 |
Movie | At Close Range | Bradford "Brad" Whitewood Jr. | 1986-04-18 |
Movie | The Falcon and the Snowman | Daulton Lee | 1985-01-25 |
Movie | Racing with the Moon | Henry 'Hopper' Nash | 1984-03-23 |
Movie | Crackers | Dillard | 1984-02-17 |
Movie | Risky Business | Cameo (uncredited) | 1983-08-05 |
Movie | Bad Boys | Mick O'Brien | 1983-03-25 |
Movie | Summerspell | Buddy | 1983-07-02 |
Movie | Fast Times at Ridgemont High | Jeff Spicoli | 1982-08-13 |
Movie | Hellinger's Law | Bit Part (uncredited) | 1981-03-10 |
Movie | The Beaver Kid 2 | Groovin' Larry | 1981-09-04 |
Movie | Taps | Cadet Captain Alex Dwyer | 1981-12-20 |
Movie | The Killing of Randy Webster | Don Fremont | 1981-03-11 |
Series | Saturday Night Live | Unknown | 1975-10-11 |
Series | Little House on the Prairie | Unknown | 1974-09-11 |
Series | The Oscars | Sean Penn | 1953-03-19 |