Sean Penn

August 17, 1960.

Santa Monica, California.

Penn was married to pop star Madonna from 1985-1989. They starred in the flop "Shanghai Surprise" together. He is now married to actress Robin Penn-Wright. They have two children together, daughter Dylan and son Frances and Hopper Jack (named after friends Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson.)

Brother of actor Chris Penn and musician Michael Penn, son of director Leo Penn and actress Eileen Ryan. Pop singer Aimee Mann is his sister-in-law.

Penn went to Iraq before the start of the war to assess conditions for himself. He placed a full page ad in the New York Times "Kilroy's Still Here" expressing his views. He wrote currently for the San Francisco Chronicle on the situation.

Quit smoking on his fortieth birthday.

Sean Penn has long been considered one of the finest actors of his generation. He won the Oscar Best Actor for his performance in Clint Eastwood's Mystic River. It was Penn's first win and his nomination. New York Times film critic A.O. Scott praised Penn's performance to the rooftops, saying: "[Penn's] Jimmy Markum is not only one of the best performances of the year, but also one of the definitive pieces of screen acting in the last half-century, the culmination of a realist tradition that began in the old Actor's Studio and begat Brando, Dean, Pacino and De Niro."

Penn received his fifth Oscar nomination for his performance as 1970's gay activist Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant's Milk which has also received nominations for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. Penn gained early fame with his unforgettable performance as Jeff Spicolli in Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982). He went on to star in numerous films including "Bad Boy"s (1983), Racing With the Moon (1984), The Falcon and the Snowman (1985), At Close Range (1987), Colors(1998), The Casualties of War(1999) and State of Grace (1991) where we he met future wife Robin Wright, Carlito's Way (1993), Dead Man Walking(1995), Sweet and Lowdown (1999), I Am Sam, (2001)Mystic River (2003) and 21 Grams(2003), The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004), and All the King's Men (2006).

In addition to acting, Penn had directed numerous films. The Indian Runner (1991) is an impressive drama about two brothers trying to cope in the wake of the Vietnam War starring Viggo Mortensen and Dennis Hopper. Crossing Guard (1995) starred Jack Nicholson a seedy jeweler who has sworn to kill the drunk driver who killed his little girl. The Pledge (2001) was another dark drama based on a novel by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, once again starring Nicholson, about a man who has made a promise he can't break, to catch a killer he can't find.