Sean Penn Biography

Sean Penn was born on the 17th of August in Santa Monica, California. Both his parents worked in the industry. His father Leo was an accomplished director and actor in films and his mother too was an actress who worked in TV shows. His father was forced to make a move to television after he was accused of being a communist and made to appear in front of the Un-American Activities Committee. Sean saw his father tough it out through it all and was inspired by him.

He attended the Santa Monica High School and was friends with Charlie sheen and Rob Lowe. Together they made many student movies together. Sean got a break pretty early in life when he got a starring role in Taps. Though the movie was not a big hit, Sean had managed to breakthrough. His next was a comedy, Fast Times at Ridgemont High; here he played a surfer/stoner who talks very fast. The movie was a hit and Sean was well appreciated for his role. Next he found critical success in Bad Boys.

Sean then followed it up with The Falcon and the Snowman (1985); Sean played the role of Andrew Daulton Lee who sold secrets to the Soviet Union. This movie was based on a true story and Sean even hired Lee as a personal assistant after he was paroled. Sean wanted to help him rehabilitate. Sean also did the movie At Close Range (1986) with Christopher Walken. The movie was a hit and Sean again delivered a fine performance. Things seemed to be going well in his personal life too. He had Madonna who by now had become a major superstar because of her music. They had a whirlwind courtship and were soon married.

The media went crazy when the pop princess married the next big actor. Sean was becoming increasingly irritated with the media and started to physically attack them. Sean even attacked a couple of photographers with stones and was sentenced to jail for the crime. Sean’s career had started to see a downslide of sorts after his marriage. He did the horrendous Shanghai Surprise (1986) with his wife Madonna which terribly bombed at the box-office.

After a couple of disastrous films, Sean redeemed himself with Colors (1988). By this time he had also separated from Madonna. Sean slowly began his ascent to the top with a string of good movies. Then came his biggest break. In Dead Man Walking Sean played a racist inmate, Matthew Poncelet, on death row who is befriended by a nun played by Susan Sarandon. The movie was directed by Susan’s husband Tim Robbins. Sean was nominated for an Oscar and many more prestigious awards that year.

After such a riveting performance, the pressure was on Sean to deliver another good movie and that he did. Sean followed it up with She’s So Lovely (1997). The movie was a hit and Sean had cemented his place in the big leagues. Now there was no stopping Sean, he delivered a plethora of hits including the funny Sweet and Lowdown (1999) directed by Woody Allen. Sean gave some great performances but still the Oscar was evading him. He got another shot at it with the Clint Eastwood directed Mystic River. He finally got it. Sean won the Oscar for Best Actor and many awards followed suit that year.

Sean drastically slowed down his pace, making only one or two movies per year. His next Oscar came in 2009 when he won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of Harvey Milk in Milk. The movie was about Harvey Milk who became the first openly gay Governor of a state.

Sean also tried his hand at direction, in 1991 he directed the quirky The Indian Runners (1991). The movie was well received by the critics proving that he also had a keen eye for film-making. His second directorial venture was The Crossing Guard (1995) with Jack Nicholson, The Pledge (2001) and Into the Wild (2007). His last movie won him a lot of accolades and commercial success too. Sean also wrote all the movies he directed except for The Pledge. He has also produced six movies including She’s So Lovely.