Sean Penn filmography

The following is a complete list of the Filmography of Sean Penn.

Sean Penn is an American actor known for his versatility and intense roles on film. He made his feature film debut in the crime drama Taps (1981). He earned attention for his role as the stoner teenager Jeff Spicoli in the coming of age comedy film Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). He took leading roles in the dramas Bad Boys (1983), Racing with the Moon (1984), At Close Range (1986), and Casualties of War (1989). For his role as a sleazy lawyer in Brian De Palma's crime drama Carlito's Way (1993) he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture.

Penn received his first Academy Award for Best Actor nomination for his role in the Tim Robbins drama Dead Man Walking (1995) playing a murderer on death row. He continued to take leading roles in films such as the Nick Cassavettes romantic drama She's So Lovely (1997), the David Fincher thriller The Game (1997), the independent drama Hurlyburly (1998), and Terrence Malick's war epic The Thin Red Line (1998). For his roles as a jazz guitarist in Woody Allen's comedy-drama Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and mentally challenged man in the family drama I Am Sam (2001) he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. In 2003 he starred as a grieving father searching for his daughter in Clint Eastwood's crime drama Mystic River and a mathematics professor in Alejandro González Iñárritu's psychological thriller 21 Grams earning the Academy Award for Best Actor for the former.

He acted in the political dramas playing Samuel J. Bicke in The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004) and Willie Stark in All the King's Men (2006). Penn won his second Academy Award for Best Actor for portraying Gay rights activist Harvey Milk in the Gus Van Sant biographical drama Milk (2008). Penn has since taken leading roles in the dramas Fair Game (2010), The Tree of Life (2011), This Must Be the Place (2011), and Daddio (2023) as well as supporting roles in the action thriller film Gangster Squad (2013), the fantasy adventure film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), and the coming of age comedy-drama film Licorice Pizza (2021). In 2022 he starred in the Starz political thriller miniseries Gaslit playing John N. Mitchell.

Penn is also known as a filmmaker having made his directorial film debut for with the crime drama The Indian Runner (1991). He directed the dramas The Crossing Guard (1995) and The Pledge (2001) starring Jack Nicholson. He directed the biographical adventure film Into the Wild (2007) earning a nominations for the Directors Guild of America and the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Director. He directed the dramas The Last Face (2016) and Flag Day (2021). In 2023 he directed the documentary Superpower profiling the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.