Acting
Sean Penn
EN, UK, PT, FR cinema · 131 credits
Born
17 August 1960 (age 66)
Birthplace
Santa Monica, California, USA
Also known as Sean Justin Penn
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
Filmography
Candles
Set Decoration
The Gun on Second Street
Executive Producer
Untitled Sean Penn Film
Untitled Sean Penn Film
Director, Writer, Producer
Red Rue Express
as himself
Black Sunflowers
Executive Producer
One Battle After Another
as Col. Steven J. Lockjaw
Words of War
Executive Producer
Manas
Executive Producer
BRATS
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Bruce Springsteen: The America Whisperer
as Self : Actor, Director & Writer (Archive footage)
Asphalt City
as Gene Rutkovsky, Producer
Daddio
as Clark
Becoming Madonna
as Self (archive footage)
September 5
Producer
Superpower
as Self, Director
Licorice Pizza
as Jack Holden
Flag Day
as John Vogel, Director, Producer
Val
as Self (archive)
kid 90
Executive Producer
The Professor and the Madman
as Dr. William Chester Minor
Sound of Sun
as Man
The Last Face
Director
The Angry Birds Movie
as Terence (voice)
The Human Experiment
as Narrator, Executive Producer
The Gunman
as Jim Terrier, Screenplay, Producer
Beaver Trilogy Part IV
as Self (archive footage)
Gangster Squad
as Mickey Cohen
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
as Sean O'Connell
Americans
as Commie, Story
The Tree of Life
as Jack
This Must Be the Place
as Cheyenne
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)
Brando
as Self
War Made Easy
as Narrator (Voice)
Into the Wild
Screenplay, Director, Producer
All the King's Men
as Willie Stark
The Interpreter
as Tobin Keller
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
as Samuel Bicke
Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild
2004
Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Mystic River
as Jimmy Markum
21 Grams
as Paul Rivers
It's All About Love
as Marciello
Inside Björk
as Self
Pauly Shore Is Dead
as Sean Penn
Dogtown and Z-Boys
as Narrator
Searching for Debra Winger
as Self (uncredited)
September 11
Director, Writer
I Am Sam
as Sam Dawson
The Weight of Water
as Thomas Janes
The Pledge
Producer, Director
Before Night Falls
as Cuco Sanchez
Beaver Trilogy
as "Groovin' Larry" Huff
Up at the Villa
as Rowley Flint
A Constant Forge
as Self
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
U Turn
as Bobby Cooper
The Game
as Conrad Van Orton
Hugo Pool
as Strange Hitchhiker
She's So Lovely
as Eddie Quinn, Executive Producer
Loved
as Man on the Hill (Michael), Producer
Dead Man Walking
as Matthew Poncelet
The Crossing Guard
Writer, Producer, Director
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
The Indian Runner
Screenplay, Director
State of Grace
as Terry
Cool Blue
as Phil the Plumber (uncredited)
Casualties of War
as Sgt. Tony Meserve
Colors
as Danny McGavin
Judgment in Berlin
as Guenther X
At Close Range
as Bradford 'Brad' Whitewood Jr.
Shanghai Surprise
as Glendon Wasey
The Falcon and the Snowman
as Daulton Lee
Racing with the Moon
as Henry 'Hopper' Nash
Crackers
as Dillard
Bad Boys
as Mick O'Brien
Summerspell
as Buddy
Risky Business
as Passenger in Car (uncredited)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
as Jeff Spicoli
Taps
as Cadet Captain Alex Dwyer
The Killing of Randy Webster
as Don Fremont
The Beaver Kid 2
1981
The Beaver Kid 2
as Groovin' Larry
Hellinger's Law
as Bit Part (uncredited)