Sean Penn was born in Los Angeles County on August 17, 1960. As he was growing up he lived close to Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen and he made short films together with them. His first acting appearance was in 1974, in an episode of Little House of the prairie (which his father directed). His first movie was Taps in 1981, his next movie was Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which made the term “dude” popular. He has since acted in a lot of movies including At Close Range, Colors, We’re No Angels, State of Grace, Carlito’s Way, Dead Man Walking, The Game, The Thin Red Line, I Am Sam, Mystic River, 21 Grams, The Assasination of Richard Nixon, The Tree of Life and Gangster Squad. Sean Penn was nominated for an Oscar a total of 5 times and won 2 for his roles in Mystic River and Milk.
Picking a favorite role is difficult since he has done a lot of memorable ones, but I have to go with his performance in Carlito’s Way as David Kleinfeld, a lawyer with a lot of issues who only gets his friend in trouble.
What’s your favorite Sean Penn role?
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I liked him in The Tree of Life and Milk the most.
Have not seen Milk, but his role was so weird and small in Tree of Life that I do not remember much of it actually.
I find him if anything to be an underrated actor. I think he gets a lot of shit for being so outspoken politically and is no fan of the press or photographers.
I agree, people do not seem to mention him as much as others but he is great.
Bean meaning to delve into this guys work more, but personally i loved his performance in Fair game
Another one of his movies I have not seen yet, will check that out.
Mystic River is my favorite Sean Penn roll. I love that movie.
Great movie indeed, excellent choice!
He’s got a lot of talent, which Garry say he really got from his dad. I don’t always like the movies he’s in, not because they aren’t good. They are good, sometimes great but often grim and depressing. “Dead Man Walking” and “Mystic River” were great movies, but emotionally rough. But he’s a Hell of an actor.
Yeah, he doesn’t mind playing in depressing movies, but he excels in those, really succeeding in portraying the characters and their feelings.
I never really acquired a taste for Penn’s work. Though, the roles where he has been most memorable to me are his very ones. Or roles where he is not recognizable.
The perfect whiny lever to get Tim Hutton’s Timothy Dalton to sell secrets to the Russians for drug money in ‘The Falcon and the Snowman’. And as Al Pacino’s sleazy, too hip for the room attorney in ‘Carlito’s Way’.
Thanks for commenting Jack! Good to hear you mention his role in Carlito’s Way…my favorite.
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