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Sean Penn
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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
Intense, brooding actor, known as much for his off-camera exploits as for his diverse and sometimes searing performances. He first caught audiences' attention as a young military cadet in Taps (1981) and (in a hilarious turn) as the ultimate surfer dude, Jeff Spicoli, who uttered the immortal line, "Hey bud, let's party!" right into the pop-culture lexicon in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). Born to a show-business family, Penn was active in local theater while in his teens; he apprenticed at Los Angeles' Group Repertory Theater and worked as assistant to actor/director Pat Hingle. His work on Broadway in "Heartland" led to his first movie. Penn graduated to leading roles in Bad Boys (1983), Racing With the Moon (1984), The Falcon and the Snowman (1985, as real-life spy Daulton Lee, who sold CIA secrets to the Russian KGB), At Close Range (1987, as the son of sociopathic Christopher Walken), Colors (1988, improbably cast as a cop by director Dennis Hopper), We're No Angels (1989, as a comic convict, mugging alongside Robert De Niro), and Casualties of War (also 1989, as a brutal sergeant in Vietnam), giving totally different nuances and shadings to each performance. He was briefly married to pop icon Madonna, with whom he costarred in the abysmal Shanghai Surprise (1986) and then lived with actress Robin Wright, whom he met while making State of Grace (1991) and with whom he had two children. Penn turned his energies behind the camera to direct The Indian Runner (1991), an impressive drama about two brothers trying to cope in the wake of the Vietnam War. Offscreen for several years (excepting a brief appearance in the 1992 Oscar-nominated short-subject Cruise Control), he startled moviegoers by altering his appearanceshaving back his hairline, frizzing his hair, wearing wire-rim glasses-to play Al Pacino's sleazy lawyer in Carlito's Way (1993). Penn went behind the scenes once more for The Crossing Guard (1995), which he wrote, directed, and coproduced. He also directed the Lyle Lovett music video "North Dakota."
Unfortunately, his enormous talent has been overshadowed in the public eye by his headline-making outbursts of temper, often aimed at members of the paparazzi. He is the son of director Leo Penn and actress Eileen Ryan; his brother Christopher is also an actor Footloose, Short Cuts |  |
