PENN, SEAN

PENN, SEAN (1960– ), U.S. actor. Born in Burbank, California, Penn is the middle son of Catholic actress Eileen Ryan and Jewish actor/director Leo Penn, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era for refusing to testify and later established himself as a director on shows such as Columbo and Diagnosis: Murder. A Santa Monica native, he spent his leisure time surfing, playing tennis, and watching movies. At 16, he began directing and starring in Super-8 films with his brother Chris. He graduated from Santa Monica High School in 1978 and worked as a technician and assistant to Pat Hingle at the Los Angeles Group Repertory Theater, studied acting with Peggy Feury at the Loft Studio, and had a few minor television roles. Leo Penn asked director Kenneth C. Gilbert to cast his son in a Barnaby Jones episode in 1979, which led to a part in the Broadway show Heartland (1981), another favor from a family friend. While the play only lasted three weeks, the experience convinced Penn to try out for Taps (1981), which in turn led to his break-out performance as Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). Penn married the pop star Madonna in 1985. They starred together in Shanghai Surprise (1986), a film that was critically panned. A drunken driving conviction while filming Colors (1988) led to a 60-day sentence in the Los Angeles County Jail, which he served out on weekends so as to not interfere with the production schedule. Penn divorced Madonna in 1989, the same year he earned praise for his portrayal of a conflicted and angry GI in the film Casualties of War. In 1991, Penn wrote and directed his first feature   film, The Indian Runner, which was followed by The Crossing Guard (1995) and 11'09'01 – September 11 (2002). Highly praised performances in Carlito's Way (1993) and Dead Man Walking (1995) helped pave the way for his best actor win at the Cannes Film Festival for She's So Lovely (1997). Penn won both an Oscar and another Golden Globe for his role in Mystic River (2003). In 2005, Penn went on assignment to Iran to report for the San Francisco Chronicle. (Adam Wills (2nd ed.)