Cast & creator
Sean Penn
Best known for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Family Guy
Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film. His accolades include three Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and nominations for three British Academy Film Awards, an Emmy Award, and a Grammy Award. He received the Honorary César in 2015 and the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award in 2022. Penn made his feature film debut in the drama Taps (1981), before taking roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Bad Boys (1983), and At Close Range (1986). He has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice, for playing a grieving father in Mystic River (2003) and the gay rights activist Harvey Milk in Milk (2008). He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing the ruthless military officer Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw in One Battle After Another (2025). He was Oscar-nominated for Dead Man Walking (1995), Sweet and Lowdown (1999), and I Am Sam (2001). He also acted in Casualties of War (1989), State of Grace (1990), Carlito's Way (1993), The Game(1997), The Thin Red Line (1998), Hurlyburly (1998), 21 Grams (2003), Fair Game (2010), The Tree of Life (2011), Licorice Pizza (2021) and Daddio (2023). Penn made his directorial film debut with the crime drama The Indian Runner (1991), followed by The Crossing Guard (1995), The Pledge (2001), and Into the Wild (2007). On stage, he acted in the Broadway plays Heartland (1981) and Slab Boys (1983). On television, he portrayed an astronaut in the Hulu drama series The First (2018) and John N. Mitchell in the Starz political thriller miniseries Gaslit (2022). Penn has also engaged in political and social activism, including his criticism of the George W. Bush administration, his contact with the presidents of Cuba and Venezuela, his humanitarian work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and his support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amidst the Russian-Ukrainian war. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sean Penn, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Also known as: Sean Justin Penn
151
film credits
39
television credits
152
1944–2026 · acting roles
6.5
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (190)
Showing 190 of 190 credits
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Self - Guest
2014
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self
2015
Family Guy
Sean Penn (voice)
1999
Saturday Night Live
Self - Host
1975Saturday Night Live
Self (uncredited)
1975
The Graham Norton Show
Self
2007
The View
Self
1997
Friends
Eric
1994
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Self
2003Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Self - Guest
2003
Two and a Half Men
Sean Penn
2003
Real Time with Bill Maher
Self
2003
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Sean Penn
2000
Golden Globe Awards
Self - Presenter
1944Golden Globe Awards
Self - Nominee
1944
Little House on the Prairie
Boy (uncredited)
1974
The Larry Sanders Show
Sean Penn
1992The Reichen Show
Self
2005
Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
Self
2018
The Oscars
Self
1953
One Battle After Another
Col. Steven J. Lockjaw
2025
Lights Out with David Spade
Self
2019aspekte
Self
1965
The Word
1990Where Are They Now?
Self
1999
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Sean O'Connell
2013
The Angry Birds Movie
Terence (voice)
2016
Mystic River
Jimmy Markum
2003
Into the Wild
Screenplay
2007Into the Wild
Director
2007Into the Wild
Producer
2007
Everybody's Live with John Mulaney
Self - Actor and Founder of CORE
2025
The Game
Conrad Van Orton
1997
The Thin Red Line
1st Sgt. Edward Welsh
1998
The Early Show
Self
1999
Carlito's Way
David Kleinfeld
1993
Gangster Squad
Mickey Cohen
2013
The Interpreter
Tobin Keller
2005
Licorice Pizza
Jack Holden
2021
Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis
Self
2008
Gaslit
John Mitchell
2022
Risky Business
Passenger in Car (uncredited)
1983
Being John Malkovich
Sean Penn (uncredited)
1999
The Tree of Life
Jack
2011
Variety & CNN Actors on Actors
Self
2025
I Am Sam
Sam Dawson
2001
September 5
Producer
2024
All the King's Men
Willie Stark
2006
The First
Tom Haggerty
2018
Dead Man Walking
Matthew Poncelet
1995
21 Grams
Paul Rivers
2003
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Jeff Spicoli
1982
Bad Boys
Mick O'Brien
1983
The Professor and the Madman
Dr. William Chester Minor
2019
The Gunman
Jim Terrier
2015The Gunman
Screenplay
2015The Gunman
Producer
2015
Fair Game
Joseph Wilson
2010
Casualties of War
Sgt. Tony Meserve
1989
Iconoclasts
Self
2005
State of Grace
Terry
1990
Where the Wild Things Are
Thanks
2009
The Pledge
Producer
2001The Pledge
Director
2001
At Close Range
Bradford 'Brad' Whitewood Jr.
1986
U Turn
Bobby Cooper
1997
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
Self
2006
Asphalt City
Gene Rutkovsky
2024Asphalt City
Producer
2024
Milk
Harvey Milk
2008
I'm Still Here
Sean Penn (uncredited)
2010
The Last Face
Director
2017
Words of War
Executive Producer
2025
Colors
Danny McGavin
1988
aka Charlie Sheen
Self
2025
Taps
Cadet Captain Alex Dwyer
1981
C*A*U*G*H*T
Executive Producer
2023
Val
Self (archive)
2021
Pauly Shore Is Dead
Sean Penn
2003
We're No Angels
Jim
1989
Viva La Bam
2003
What Just Happened
Sean Penn
2008
The Crossing Guard
Writer
1995The Crossing Guard
Producer
1995The Crossing Guard
Director
1995
VH1 Rock Honors
2006
This Must Be the Place
Cheyenne
2011
Sweet and Lowdown
Emmet Ray
1999
She's So Lovely
Eddie Quinn
1997She's So Lovely
Executive Producer
1997
Racing with the Moon
Henry 'Hopper' Nash
1984
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
Samuel Bicke
2004
Brando: The Documentary
Self
2007
Daddio
Clark
2024
Flag Day
John Vogel
2021Flag Day
Director
2021Flag Day
Producer
2021
The Weight of Water
Thomas Janes
2001
The Falcon and the Snowman
Daulton Lee
1985
Summerspell
Buddy
1983
Woody Allen: A Documentary
Self
2011
The Indian Runner
Screenplay
1991The Indian Runner
Director
1991
Before Night Falls
Cuco Sanchez
2000
Shanghai Surprise
Glendon Wasey
1986
Manas
Executive Producer
2025
Inside the Actors Studio
Self
1994
September 11
Director
2002September 11
Writer
2002
Becoming Madonna
Self (archive footage)
2024
Dogtown and Z-Boys
Narrator
2002
The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing
Self
2004
kid 90
Executive Producer
2021
The People Speak
Self
2009
Up at the Villa
Rowley Flint
2000
Hugo Pool
Strange Hitchhiker
1997
Citizen Penn
Self
2020
The Killing of Randy Webster
Don Fremont
1981
BRATS
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2024
Gonzo Girl
2023
Witch Hunt
Self (Narrator)
2008
It's All About Love
Marciello
2003
Cruise Control
1992
Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments
Self
2004
Americans
Commie
2012Americans
Story
2012
The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles
Self
2014
Hurlyburly
Eddie
1998
Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune
Self
2011
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam
(voice)
1987
Brando
Self
2007
Judgment in Berlin
Guenther X
1988
Learning, Studying… Always Perfecting: The Making of One Battle After Another
Self
2026
VH1 Rock Honors: The Who
Self
2008
The Last Party
Self
1993Jack Nicholson: The Joker Is Wild
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2004
Beaver Trilogy
"Groovin' Larry" Huff
2000
Red Rue Express
himself
2026
Reliving Our Fast Times at Ridgemont High
1999
Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A Virtual Table Read
Pizza Guy
2020
Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey
Self
2014
This So-Called Disaster
Ray
2003Mad Hannans
2017
Animals in War
2025
Black Sunflowers
Executive Producer
2026
Searching for Debra Winger
Self (uncredited)
2002
A Constant Forge
Self
2000
Hellinger's Law
Bit Part (uncredited)
1981
Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride
Self
2006
Bukowski: Born Into This
Self
2003
El Chapo & Sean Penn: Bungle in the Jungle
Self
2016
Bruce Springsteen: The America Whisperer
Self : Actor, Director & Writer (Archive footage)
2024
Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick
Self
2002
Charles Bronson: The Spirit of Masculinity
Self
2020
Beaver Trilogy Part IV
Self (archive footage)
2015
Robbie Robertson: A Retrospective - From the Band to the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame
Self
1994
Crackers
Dillard
1984
21 Grams: In Fragments
Self
2004Mystic River: Beneath the Surface
Self
2004
Inside Björk
Self
2003
Candles
Set Decoration
Cool Blue
Phil the Plumber (uncredited)
1990Mystic River: From Page to Screen
Self
2003
Superpower
Self
2023Superpower
Director
2023
Sean Penn, l'enfant terrible de l'Amérique
Self
2024
Dennis Hopper: Create (or Die)
Self
2003
Sweet Micky for President
Self
2015
Loved
Man on the Hill (Michael)
1997Loved
Producer
1997Snake Island
The Gun on Second Street
Executive Producer
In Thanks We Trust
Self
2025
Madonna: The Name of the Game
Self
1993
Return to the Wild: The Chris McCandless Story
Self
2014
War Made Easy
Narrator (Voice)
2007
The Human Experiment
Narrator
2015The Human Experiment
Executive Producer
2015
Samuel Bayer Beyond the Frame
Self
2026Untitled Sean Penn Film
Director
Untitled Jamal Khashoggi Project
Director
Untitled Jamal Khashoggi Project
Producer
Sound of Sun
Man
2017The Beaver Kid 2
Groovin' Larry
1981Untitled Sean Penn Film
Director
Untitled Sean Penn Film
Writer
Untitled Sean Penn Film
Producer
Celebrities Uncensored
Self
2003
Deflating the Elephant
Narrator
2009