Sean Penn
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 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
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
Family Guy
1999
Saturday Night Live
1975
Saturday Night Live
1975
The Graham Norton Show
2007
The View
1997
Friends
1994
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003
Two and a Half Men
2003
Real Time with Bill Maher
2003
Filmography
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
as Self - Guest · 2014
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
as Self · 2015
Family Guy
as Sean Penn (voice) · 1999
Saturday Night Live
as Self - Host · 1975
Saturday Night Live
as Self (uncredited) · 1975
The Graham Norton Show
as Self · 2007
The View
as Self · 1997
Friends
as Eric · 1994
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
as Self · 2003
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
as Self - Guest · 2003
Two and a Half Men
as Sean Penn · 2003
Real Time with Bill Maher
as Self · 2003
Curb Your Enthusiasm
as Sean Penn · 2000
Golden Globe Awards
as Self - Presenter · 1944
Golden Globe Awards
as Self - Nominee · 1944
Little House on the Prairie
as Boy (uncredited) · 1974
The Larry Sanders Show
as Sean Penn · 1992
The Reichen Show
as Self · 2005
Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
as Self · 2018
The Oscars
as Self · 1953
One Battle After Another
as Col. Steven J. Lockjaw · 2025
Lights Out with David Spade
as Self · 2019
aspekte
as Self · 1965
The Word
· 1990
Where Are They Now?
as Self · 1999
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
as Sean O'Connell · 2013
The Angry Birds Movie
as Terence (voice) · 2016
Mystic River
as Jimmy Markum · 2003
Everybody's Live with John Mulaney
as Self - Actor and Founder of CORE · 2025
The Game
as Conrad Van Orton · 1997
The Thin Red Line
as 1st Sgt. Edward Welsh · 1998
The Early Show
as Self · 1999
Carlito's Way
as David Kleinfeld · 1993
Gangster Squad
as Mickey Cohen · 2013
The Interpreter
as Tobin Keller · 2005
Licorice Pizza
as Jack Holden · 2021
Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis
as Self · 2008
Gaslit
as John Mitchell · 2022
Risky Business
as Passenger in Car (uncredited) · 1983
Being John Malkovich
as Sean Penn (uncredited) · 1999
The Tree of Life
as Jack · 2011
Variety & CNN Actors on Actors
as Self · 2025
I Am Sam
as Sam Dawson · 2001
All the King's Men
as Willie Stark · 2006
The First
as Tom Haggerty · 2018
Dead Man Walking
as Matthew Poncelet · 1995
21 Grams
as Paul Rivers · 2003
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
as Jeff Spicoli · 1982
Bad Boys
as Mick O'Brien · 1983
The Professor and the Madman
as Dr. William Chester Minor · 2019
The Gunman
as Jim Terrier · 2015
Fair Game
as Joseph Wilson · 2010
Casualties of War
as Sgt. Tony Meserve · 1989
Iconoclasts
as Self · 2005
State of Grace
as Terry · 1990
At Close Range
as Bradford 'Brad' Whitewood Jr. · 1986
U Turn
as Bobby Cooper · 1997
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
as Self · 2006
Asphalt City
as Gene Rutkovsky · 2024
Milk
as Harvey Milk · 2008
I'm Still Here
as Sean Penn (uncredited) · 2010
Colors
as Danny McGavin · 1988
aka Charlie Sheen
as Self · 2025
Taps
as Cadet Captain Alex Dwyer · 1981
Val
as Self (archive) · 2021
Pauly Shore Is Dead
as Sean Penn · 2003
We're No Angels
as Jim · 1989
Viva La Bam
· 2003
What Just Happened
as Sean Penn · 2008
VH1 Rock Honors
· 2006
This Must Be the Place
as Cheyenne · 2011
Sweet and Lowdown
as Emmet Ray · 1999
She's So Lovely
as Eddie Quinn · 1997
Racing with the Moon
as Henry 'Hopper' Nash · 1984
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
as Samuel Bicke · 2004
Brando: The Documentary
as Self · 2007
Daddio
as Clark · 2024
Flag Day
as John Vogel · 2021
The Weight of Water
as Thomas Janes · 2001
The Falcon and the Snowman
as Daulton Lee · 1985
Summerspell
as Buddy · 1983
Woody Allen: A Documentary
as Self · 2011
Before Night Falls
as Cuco Sanchez · 2000
Shanghai Surprise
as Glendon Wasey · 1986
Inside the Actors Studio
as Self · 1994
Becoming Madonna
as Self (archive footage) · 2024
Dogtown and Z-Boys
as Narrator · 2002
The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing
as Self · 2004
The People Speak
as Self · 2009
Up at the Villa
as Rowley Flint · 2000
Hugo Pool
as Strange Hitchhiker · 1997
Citizen Penn
as Self · 2020
The Killing of Randy Webster
as Don Fremont · 1981
BRATS
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited) · 2024
Gonzo Girl
· 2023
Witch Hunt
as Self (Narrator) · 2008
It's All About Love
as Marciello · 2003
Cruise Control
· 1992
Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments
as Self · 2004
Americans
as Commie · 2012
The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles
as Self · 2014
Hurlyburly
as Eddie · 1998
Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune
as Self · 2011
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam
as (voice) · 1987
Brando
as Self · 2007
Judgment in Berlin
as Guenther X · 1988
Learning, Studying… Always Perfecting: The Making of One Battle After Another
as Self · 2026
VH1 Rock Honors: The Who
as Self · 2008
The Last Party
as Self · 1993
Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited) · 2004
Beaver Trilogy
as "Groovin' Larry" Huff · 2000
Red Rue Express
as himself · 2026
Reliving Our Fast Times at Ridgemont High
· 1999
Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A Virtual Table Read
as Pizza Guy · 2020
Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey
as Self · 2014
This So-Called Disaster
as Ray · 2003
Mad Hannans
· 2017
Animals in War
· 2025
Searching for Debra Winger
as Self (uncredited) · 2002
A Constant Forge
as Self · 2000
Hellinger's Law
as Bit Part (uncredited) · 1981
Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride
as Self · 2006
Bukowski: Born Into This
as Self · 2003
El Chapo & Sean Penn: Bungle in the Jungle
as Self · 2016
Bruce Springsteen: The America Whisperer
as Self : Actor, Director & Writer (Archive footage) · 2024
Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick
as Self · 2002
Charles Bronson: The Spirit of Masculinity
as Self · 2020
Beaver Trilogy Part IV
as Self (archive footage) · 2015
Robbie Robertson: A Retrospective - From the Band to the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame
as Self · 1994
Crackers
as Dillard · 1984
21 Grams: In Fragments
as Self · 2004
Mystic River: Beneath the Surface
as Self · 2004
Inside Björk
as Self · 2003
Cool Blue
as Phil the Plumber (uncredited) · 1990
Mystic River: From Page to Screen
as Self · 2003
Superpower
as Self · 2023
Sean Penn, l'enfant terrible de l'Amérique
as Self · 2024
Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die)
as Self · 2003
Sweet Micky for President
as Self · 2015
Loved
as Man on the Hill (Michael) · 1997
Snake Island
In Thanks We Trust
as Self · 2025
Madonna: The Name of the Game
as Self · 1993
Return to the Wild: The Chris McCandless Story
as Self · 2014
War Made Easy
as Narrator (Voice) · 2007
The Human Experiment
as Narrator · 2015
Samuel Bayer Beyond the Frame
as Self · 2026
Sound of Sun
as Man · 2017
The Beaver Kid 2
as Groovin' Larry · 1981
Celebrities Uncensored
as Self · 2003
Deflating the Elephant
as Narrator · 2009
Haiti Untold
· 2012