Nov 7, 2024
Sean Penn is a powerhouse film performer capable of intensely
moving work, who has gone from strength to strength during a
colorful film career, and who has drawn much media attention for
his stormy private life and political viewpoints.
Sean Justin Penn was born in Los Angeles, California, the second
son of actress Eileen
Ryan (née Annucci) and director, actor, and
writer Leo
Penn. His brother was actor Chris
Penn. His father was from a Lithuanian Jewish/Russian Jewish
family, and his mother is of half-Italian and half Irish
descent.
Penn first appeared in roles as strong-headed or unruly youths such
as the military cadet defending his academy against closure
in Taps
(1981), then as fast-talking surfer stoner Jeff Spicoli
in Fast Times
at Ridgemont High (1982).
Fans and critics were enthused about his obvious talent and he next
contributed a stellar performance alongside Timothy
Hutton in the Cold War spy thriller The Falcon
and the Snowman (1985), followed by a teaming with
icy Christopher
Walken in the chilling At Close
Range (1986). The youthful Sean then paired up with his then
wife, pop diva Madonna in
the woeful, and painful, Shanghai
Surprise (1986), which was savaged by the critics, but Sean
bounced back with a great job as a hot-headed young cop
in Colors
(1988), gave another searing performance as a US soldier in
Vietnam committing atrocities in Casualties
of War (1989) and appeared alongside Robert De
Niro in the uneven comedy We're No
Angels (1989). However, the 1990s was the decade in which Sean
really got noticed by critics as a mature, versatile and
accomplished actor, with a string of dynamic performances in
first-class films.
Almost unrecognisable with frizzy hair and thin rimmed glasses,
Penn was simply brilliant as corrupt lawyer David Kleinfeld in
the Brian De
Palma gangster movie Carlito's
Way (1993) and he was still in trouble with authority as a
Death Row inmate pleading with a caring nun to save his life
in Dead Man
Walking (1995), for which he received his first Oscar
nomination. Sean then played the brother of wealthy Michael
Douglas, involving him in a mind-snapping scheme
in The Game
(1997) and also landed the lead role of Sgt. Eddie Walsh
in the star-studded anti-war film The Thin
Red Line (1998), before finishing the 1990s playing an offbeat
jazz musician (and scoring another Oscar nomination)
in Sweet and
Lowdown (1999).
The gifted and versatile Sean had also moved into directing, with
the quirky but interesting The Indian
Runner (1991), about two brothers with vastly opposing views on
life, and in 1995 he directed Jack
Nicholson in The
Crossing Guard (1995). Both films received overall positive
reviews from critics. Moving into the new century, Sean remained
busy in front of the cameras with even more outstanding work: a
mentally disabled father fighting for custody of his seven-year-old
daughter (and receiving a third Oscar nomination)
for I Am Sam
(2001); an anguished father seeking revenge for his daughter's
murder in the gut-wrenching Clint
Eastwood-directed Mystic
River (2003) (for which he won the Oscar as Best Actor); a
mortally ill college professor in 21 Grams
(2003) and a possessed businessman in The
Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004).
Produced by John C. McGinley and Angie Quidim
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