hellomagazine.com

Sean Penn

SEND TO A FRIEND

 WATCH VIDEO CLIP

Oscar-winning actor Sean has always had a love/hate relationship with Hollywood, primarily because he prefers to work on the fringes of the industry than bask in the spotlight for the big bucks. His enduring artistic integrity has been called arrogance by some, but it has also allowed him to hang onto the "best-of-his-generation" tag he earned during his early days on the screen.

The son of blacklisted actor-turned-director Leo Penn and his actress wife Eileen Ryan, Sean was born in Burbank, California, in 1960. After dropping out of Santa Monica College where he had enrolled to study auto mechanics, Sean took up an apprenticeship with the Group Repertory Theatre in Los Angeles in the late-Seventies. He remains one of those Hollywood rarities: a star who was trained on the stage. And in 1981, he made his Broadway debut in a production of Heartland.

Hollywood came calling, however, and the same year Sean was cast in a supporting role in the military drama Taps. He won wide acclaim for his performance and by 1982 had landed top billing in the hit teen flick Fast Times At Ridgemont High.

It should have signified the arrival of the big time for Sean, but unlike most actors he shifted genres instead of sticking to a signature role. Proving his flexibility, he moved with ease from the romantic lead of 1994's Racing With The Moon, to the tough police drama Colours in 1988. His very versatility, however, became a problem; there was no one Sean to identify with. And he earned a reputation for volatility following a brief but highly-publicised marriage to Madonna and various battles with the entertainment press.

After finishing 1990's State Of Grace – where he met future wife Robin Wright – Sean "retired" from the big screen to concentrate on writing and directing. His first effort, The Indian Runner, hit cinemas a year later to good reviews. But his desire to finance a second project led him back to the screen for 1993's Carlito's Way opposite Al Pacino, in which he hit the screen in arguably the most outrageous perm seen this side of 1973.

By the mid-Nineties Sean, who would appear four times on Academy Awards shortlists in the next ten years, was on a roll. In 1995, he won his first Oscar nomination for a spell-binding performance as a death-row inmate in Dead Man Walking. Three years later, he won acclaim for his starring role in director Terence Malick's comeback movie, The Thin Red Line. In 1999, he scooped a second Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a fictional Thirties jazz guitarist in Woody Allen's Sweet And Lowdown and in 2002 he was nominated again for his interpretation of a mentally challenged man in I Am Sam.

Politically outspoken and famed for shunning awards ceremonies, many believed Sean wouldn't even show up to the Oscar gala when he was shortlisted for Mystic River in 2004. But, reportedly out of respect for the film's director Clint Eastwood, he was on hand to pick up the best actor gong, receiving a standing ovation from the audience.

The flush of acting accolades has not kept Sean out of the director's chair. He has been widely applauded both for his 1995 effort, The Crossing Guard and 2001's The Pledge, both of which starred close friend Jack Nicholson.

In 1996, Sean and Robin married and moved to the peaceful environs of Marin County, Northern California, in search of a "normal life". The couple have two children, Dylan Frances and Hopper Jack, born in 1991 and 1993 respectively. Eleven years on, however, the couple called time on their union and filed for divorce.

PROFILE

ONLINE POLL

VIDEO

SPECIAL