Sean 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 accoladesinclude two 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 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), Daddio(2023), and One Battle After Another (2025). 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
Credits
- 2025 · Variety & CNN Actors on Actors as Self
- 2025 · Animals in War as
- 2025 · In Thanks We Trust as Self
- 2025 · One Battle After Another as Col. Steven J. Lockjaw
- 2025 · aka Charlie Sheen as Self
- 2025 · Everybody's Live with John Mulaney as Self - Actor and Founder of CORE
- 2024 · Bruce Springsteen – The America whisperer as Self : Actor, Director & Writer (Archive footage)
- 2024 · Daddio as Clark
- 2024 · BRATS as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 2024 · Sean Penn, l'enfant terrible de l'Amérique as Self
- 2024 · Asphalt City as Gene Rutkovsky
- 2023 · Gonzo Girl as
- 2023 · Superpower as Self
- 2022 · Gaslit as John Mitchell
- 2021 · Licorice Pizza as Jack Holden
- 2021 · Flag Day as John Vogel
- 2020 · Citizen Penn as Himself
- 2020 · Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A Virtual Table Read as Pizza Guy
- 2019 · Lights Out with David Spade as Self
- 2019 · The Professor and the Madman as Dr. William Chester Minor
- 2018 · The First as Tom Haggerty
- 2018 · Firing Line with Margaret Hoover as
- 2017 · Sound of Sun as Man
- 2017 · Mad Hannans as
- 2016 · The Angry Birds Movie as Terence (voice)
- 2015 · The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as Self
- 2015 · The Gunman as Jim Terrier
- 2015 · Sweet Micky for President as Self
- 2015 · Beaver Trilogy Part IV as Himself (archive footage)
- 2014 · Return to the Wild: The Chris McCandless Story as Himself
- 2014 · Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey as Self
- 2014 · The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as Self - Guest
- 2014 · The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles as Self
- 2013 · The Secret Life of Walter Mitty as Sean O'Connell
- 2013 · The Human Experiment as Narrator
- 2013 · Gangster Squad as Mickey Cohen
- 2012 · Americans as Commie
- 2012 · Haiti Untold as
- 2011 · Woody Allen: A Documentary as Self
- 2011 · Clinton Foundation: Celebrity Division as Self
- 2011 · This Must Be the Place as Cheyenne
- 2011 · The Tree of Life as Jack
- 2011 · Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune as Self
- 2010 · I'm Still Here as Sean Penn (uncredited)
- 2010 · Fair Game as Joseph Wilson
- 2009 · The People Speak as Self
- 2009 · Deflating the Elephant as Narrator
- 2008 · Milk as Harvey Milk
- 2008 · What Just Happened as Sean Penn
- 2008 · Witch Hunt as Himself (Narrator)
- 2008 · VH1 Rock Honors: The Who as Self
- 2008 · Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis as Self
- 2007 · War Made Easy as Self - Narrator (Voice)
- 2007 · Brando: The Documentary as Self
- 2007 · Brando as Self
- 2007 · The Graham Norton Show as Self
- 2006 · Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride as Self
- 2006 · All the King's Men as Willie Stark
- 2006 · When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts as Self
- 2006 · VH1 Rock Honors as
- 2005 · Iconoclasts as Self
- 2005 · The Reichen Show as Self
- 2005 · The Interpreter as Tobin Keller
- 2004 · The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing as Self
- 2004 · Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild as Self(archive footage) (uncredited)
- 2004 · Mystic River: Beneath the Surface as Self
- 2004 · The Assassination of Richard Nixon as Samuel Bicke
- 2004 · Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments as Self
- 2004 · 21 Grams: In Fragments as Self
- 2003 · Mystic River: From Page to Screen as Self
- 2003 · Viva La Bam as
- 2003 · Mystic River as Jimmy Markum
- 2003 · Two and a Half Men as Sean Penn
- 2003 · 21 Grams as Paul Rivers
- 2003 · Inside Björk as Self
- 2003 · Celebrities Uncensored as Self
- 2003 · Pauly Shore Is Dead as Sean Penn
- 2003 · Real Time with Bill Maher as Self
- 2003 · Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die) as Self
- 2003 · Jimmy Kimmel Live! as Self
- 2003 · Jimmy Kimmel Live! as Self - Guest
- 2003 · Bukowski: Born Into This as Self
- 2003 · It's All About Love as Marciello
- 2003 · This So-Called Disaster as Ray
- 2002 · Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick as Self
- 2002 · Searching for Debra Winger as Self (uncredited)
- 2002 · Dogtown and Z-Boys as Narrator
- 2001 · I Am Sam as Sam Dawson
- 2001 · The Weight of Water as Thomas Janes
- 2000 · Curb Your Enthusiasm as Sean Penn
- 2000 · A Constant Forge as Self
- 2000 · Before Night Falls as Cuco Sanchez
- 2000 · Beaver Trilogy as "Groovin' Larry" Huff
- 2000 · Up at the Villa as Rowley Flint
- 1999 · Reliving Our Fast Times at Ridgemont High as
- 1999 · Sweet and Lowdown as Emmet Ray
- 1999 · The Early Show as Self
- 1999 · Being John Malkovich as Sean Penn (uncredited)
- 1999 · Where Are They Now? as Self
- 1999 · Family Guy as Sean Penn (voice)
- 1998 · Hurlyburly as Eddie
- 1998 · The Thin Red Line as 1st Sgt. Edward Welsh
- 1997 · Hugo Pool as Strange Hitchhiker
- 1997 · Loved as Man on the Hill (Michael)
- 1997 · U Turn as Bobby Cooper
- 1997 · The Game as Conrad Van Orton
- 1997 · She's So Lovely as Eddie Quinn
- 1997 · The View as Self
- 1995 · Dead Man Walking as Matthew Poncelet
- 1994 · Friends as Eric
- 1994 · Inside the Actors Studio as Self
- 1993 · Carlito's Way as David Kleinfeld
- 1993 · The Last Party as Self
- 1993 · Madonna: The Name of the Game as Self
- 1992 · Cruise Control as
- 1992 · The Larry Sanders Show as Sean Penn
- 1990 · State of Grace as Terry
- 1990 · Cool Blue as Phil the Plumber (uncredited)
- 1989 · Casualties of War as Sgt. Tony Meserve
- 1989 · We're No Angels as Jim
- 1988 · Judgment in Berlin as Guenther X
- 1988 · Colors as Danny McGavin
- 1987 · Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam as (voice)
- 1986 · Shanghai Surprise as Glendon Wasey
- 1986 · At Close Range as Bradford 'Brad' Whitewood Jr.
- 1985 · The Falcon and the Snowman as Daulton Lee
- 1984 · Racing with the Moon as Henry 'Hopper' Nash
- 1984 · Crackers as Dillard
- 1983 · Risky Business as Passenger in Car (uncredited)
- 1983 · Summerspell as Buddy
- 1983 · Bad Boys as Mick O'Brien
- 1982 · Fast Times at Ridgemont High as Jeff Spicoli
- 1981 · Taps as Cadet Captain Alex Dwyer
- 1981 · The Beaver Kid 2 as Groovin' Larry
- 1981 · The Killing of Randy Webster as Don Fremont
- 1981 · Hellinger's Law as Bit Part (uncredited)
- 1975 · Saturday Night Live as Self - Host
- 1975 · Saturday Night Live as Self - Cameo (uncredited)
- 1974 · Little House on the Prairie as
- 1965 · aspekte as Self
- 1953 · The Oscars as Self
- 1944 · Golden Globe Awards as Self - Presenter
- 1944 · Golden Globe Awards as Self - Nominee
- Future · Robbie Robertson: A Retrospective - From the Band to the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame as Himself
- Future · "American Arts & Culture" Presents John Horatio Malkovich: "Dance of Despair and Disillusionment" as Self