Sean Penn Trivia

Home Page | Biography | Trivia | Life and Career | Film Career | Filmography | Photos Gallery | Desktop Wallpapers | Quotes

Birth name: Sean Justin Penn 

Date of birth: 17 August 1960 

Place of birth: Santa Monica, California, USA 

Height: 5′ 9″ (1.75 m) 

Spouse: Robin Wright Penn (27 April 1996 – present) 2 children, Madonna (16 August 1985 – 10 January 1989) (divorced).

• He served 32 days in jail in 1987 for hitting an extra.
• He and Robin Wright Penn lived together from 1991 until their marriage in 1996. They had two children before their marriage.
• They lost their home in the Malibu fire in November 1993.
• Appeared with his brother Chris Penn in At Close Range (1986), in which their actress mother, Eileen Ryan, played their grandmother.
• Listed as one of twelve “Promising New Actors of 1984″ in John Willis’ Screen World, Vol. 36.
• Ranked #76 in Empire (UK) magazine’s “The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time” list. [October 1997]
• Brother of actor Chris Penn, son of Leo Penn and Eileen Ryan.
• Brother of musician Michael Penn.
• Moved to Marin County (North of San Francisco) to avoid raising his children in Hollywood.
• Daughter, with Robin Wright Penn, Dylan Frances (b. 13 April 1991).
• Son, with Robin Wright Penn, Hopper Jack (b. 6 August 1993).
• His son is named after two family friends, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson.
• Brother-in-law of Aimee Mann
• Quit smoking (or at least cut down) on his 40th birthday for health reasons. Prior to that, he was known as one of Hollywood’s heaviest smokers, smoking at least four packs a day.
• Dated musician and actress Jewel Kilcher for a time. He directed the music video for her song “You Were Meant For Me” in 1997.
• On September 11, 2004, he received the John Steinbeck award at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. The award is given out by the San Francisco Chronicle and benefits San Jose State University. The evening included film clips and discussion with Peter Coyote. The biggest surprise of the night was that Bruce Springsteen (a longtime friend of Sean’s and the first recipient of the award) presented it to him.
• His father was a Jew of Russian and Lithuanian blood and his mother was Irish-Catholic. His grandparents ran a Jewish deli for some time in New York.
• In October 2002, bought a $56,000 ad in the Washington Post to publish an open letter to President Bush asking him to slow down the march of war towards Iraq. He wrote it as a father of two children and as a son of a WW II veteran.
• His father, Leo Penn, had been blacklisted in the 50s Hollywood.
• He and his family moved out of Hollywood to Marin County, north of San Francisco because he was “tired of a lot of aspects of Los Angeles, the main one being raising the kids in a company town”.
• His car, a limited-edition 1987 Buick Grand National, was stolen in Berkeley months after his return from Iraq. Among the lost contents were 2 guns.
• He and director Clint Eastwood discussed the possibility of Penn starring in Blood Work (2002). Though it didn’t work out, they got the opportunity to work together later in Mystic River (2003).
• Andy Warhol was a guest during his August 16, 1985 marriage to Madonna.
• A popular indie-band in The Netherlands is called “Seanpenn”.
• Briefly engaged to actress-photographer Pamela Springsteen, sister of Bruce Springsteen. Sean and Pamela were both cast in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982).
• Credits Malcolm McDowell as the best actor with whom he’s worked.
• As of 2005, the only actor to ever receive a Best Actor nomination for a Woody Allen film, besides Allen himself.
• Penn’s younger brother, Chris, died from an enlarged heart in his Santa Monica condominium on January 24, 2006.
• Shares a birthday with friend and sometime-co-star Robert De Niro.
• Along with Johnny Depp, Mick Hucknall, and John Malkovich, Penn was a part-owner of the Parisian restaurant-bar Man Ray.
• Penn has been active in supporting several political and social causes. On June 10, 2005, Penn made a visit to Iran. Acting as a journalist on an assignment for the San Francisco Chronicle, he attended a Friday prayer at Tehran University.
• On January 7, 2006, Penn was a special guest at the Progressive Democrats of America, he was joined by author and media critic Norman Solomon, Democratic congressional candidate Charles Brown, and activist Cindy Sheehan. The “Out of Iraq Forum”, which took place in Sacramento, California, was organized to promote the anti-war movement calling for an end to the War in Iraq.
• On December 7, 2007, Penn said he supported Ohio Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich for U.S. President in 2008, and criticized Bush’s handling of the Iraq war. Penn questioned whether Bush’s twin daughters supported the war in Iraq.
• Director Spike Lee interviewed Penn for his documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, about Hurricane Katrina.
• In August 2008, Penn made an appearance at one of Ralph Nader’s “Open the Debates” Super Rallies. He protested the political exclusion of Nader and other third parties.
• In October 2008, Penn traveled to Cuba, where he met with and interviewed President Raúl Castro.
• In November 2008, Penn earned rave reviews for his portrayal of real-life gay rights icon and politician Harvey Milk in the biopic Milk and was nominated for best actor for the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards.