TopTenREVIEWS presents the film career and movie reviews of Sean Penn.

Email to a friend

Birthdate: August 17, 1960

Sean Penn

ACTOR RANKINGS:

Expand All | Close All

All-time

of 196,423

51
All-time Actor

of 38,412

40
Decades
- 1980s
  
  of 44,733
  
  170
- 1990s
  
  of 71,584
  
  32
- 2000s
  
  of 82,682
  
  451
Genres
- Action
  
  of 41,607
  
  1,277
- Adventure
  
  of 25,528
  
  2,013
- Biography
  
  of 11,944
  
  1,169
- Comedy
  
  of 84,814
  
  1,970
- Crime
  
  of 34,304
  
  104
- Documentary
  
  of 9,403
  
  282
- Drama
  
  of 107,138
  
  74
- Fantasy
  
  of 17,834
  
  1,517
- Music
  
  of 9,326
  
  332
- Mystery
  
  of 16,953
  
  209
- Romance
  
  of 37,234
  
  2,781
- Teen
  
  of 8,454
  
  132
- Thriller
  
  of 49,528
  
  273
- War
  
  of 9,723
  
  93

CAREER SPAN

Decade

Movie Score

# Movies

1980s

2.5378

1990s

3.0853

2000s

2.6414

Ratings and rankings are based on all available critic reviews & awards.

Overall Actor Score: Sean Penn is ranked overall as 3.2494 of of 4 stars

3.2494

Sean Penn Movie Rankings

Sean Penn starring in Being John Malkovich

Being John Malkovich (1999)

3.2073

Craig discovers a secret passage, at his new job, which leads into actor John Malkovich's head. Craig begins renting and charging for rides into Malkovich. Soon he realizes the more time he spends there the more control over Malkovich he has. ...more about Being John Malkovich

DVD from $6.89

(13 sellers)

Dead Man Walking (1995)

3.1371

A caring nun receives a desperate letter from a death row inmate trying to find help to avoid execution for murder. ...more about Dead Man Walking

Actor Awards

Academy Awards, USA - Best Actor in a Leading Role
Berlin International Film Festival - Best Actor
Chlotrudis Awards - Best Actor
Golden Globes, USA - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
Screen Actors Guild Awards - Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

DVD from $4.86

(13 sellers)

Mystic River (2003)

3.1132

Childhood friends Jimmy Markum (Penn), Sean Devine (Bacon) and Dave Boyle (Robbins) reunite following the death of Jimmy's oldest daughter, Katie (Rossum). ...more about Mystic River

Actor Awards

Academy Awards, USA - Best Actor in a Leading Role
BAFTA Awards - Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards - Best Actor
Central Ohio Film Critics Association - Best Actor
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards - Best Actor
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards - Best Actor
Golden Globes, USA - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
IFTA Awards - Best International Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards - Best Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards - Best Actor
National Board of Review, USA - Best Actor
Online Film Critics Society Awards - Best Actor
Satellite Awards - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
Screen Actors Guild Awards - Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Vancouver Film Critics Circle - Best Actor

DVD from $1.45

(19 sellers)

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

3.0762

'Fast Times' is a high school classic spawning a generation of high school comedies and immortalizing Sean Penn as the forever stoned, Spicoli. Each character struggles with sexuality, authority and responsibility, hoping only to make it through high school alive without humiliation. ...more about Fast Times at Ridgemont High

DVD from $4.99

(15 sellers)

21 Grams (2003)

3.0382

This is the story of three gentle persons: Paul Rivers (Penn) an ailing mathematician lovelessly married to an English emigr� (Gainsbourg), Christina Peck, an upper-middle-class suburban housewife, happily married and mother of two little girls, and Jack ...more about 21 Grams

Actor Awards

Florida Film Critics Circle Awards - Best Actor
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards - Best Actor
National Board of Review, USA - Best Actor
Satellite Awards - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama

DVD from $5.95

(13 sellers)

Casualties of War (1989)

3.0223

During the Vietnam war, a girl is taken from her village by five American soldiers. Four of the soldiers rape her, but the fifth refuses. The young girl is killed. The fifth soldier is determined that justice will be done. ...more about Casualties of War

DVD from $3.92

(13 sellers)

Thin Red Line, The (1998)

3.0058

An American Army unit is stationed in Japan fighting the Battle of Guadalcanal Island in WWII. The film explores how the men form a close family-like bond and go from fighting for their country to fighting for their lives and the life of the man next to them. ...more about Thin Red Line

DVD from $4.86

(18 sellers)

Carlito's Way (1993)

2.9786

A Puerto Rican ex-con pledges to stay away from his former drug dealing ways but finds himself being dragged back by his past connections and the naive machinations of his lawyer and best friend. ...more about Carlito's Way

Actor Awards

Golden Globes, USA - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

DVD from $5.95

(13 sellers)

Game, The (1997)

2.9680

Nicholas Van Orton is a very wealthy San Francisco banker, but he is an absolute loner, even spending his birthday alone. ...more about Game

DVD from $5.26

(14 sellers)

Before Night Falls (2000)

2.9118

Episodic look at the life of Cuban poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990), from his childhood in Oriente province to his death in New York City. He joins Castro's rebels. By 1964, he is in Havana. ...more about Before Night Falls

DVD from $12.71

(10 sellers)

Sweet and Lowdown (1999)

2.8973

A comedic biopic focused on the life of fictional jazz guitarist Emmett Ray. Ray was an irresponsible, free-spending, arrogant, obnoxious, alcohol-abusing, miserable human being, who was also arguably the best guitarist in the world. ...more about Sweet and Lowdown

Actor Awards

Academy Awards, USA - Best Actor in a Leading Role
Chlotrudis Awards - Best Actor
Golden Globes, USA - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical
Satellite Awards - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical

DVD from $22.61

(10 sellers)

Assassination of Richard Nixon, The (2004)

2.8330

Fact-based story about a disturbed office furniture salesman (Sean Penn) who in 1972 concocted a plot to kill then-President Nixon by hi-jacking a plane to fly over the White House to drop a gas bomb. ...more about Assassination of Richard Nixon

Actor Awards

Satellite Awards - Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama

DVD from $5.99

(14 sellers)

Bukowski: Born into This (2003)

2.8316

DVD from $21.99

(8 sellers)

This So-Called Disaster: Sam Shepard Directs the Late Henry Moss (2003)

2.7853

After the American playwright and actor Sam Shepard had played the role of the ghost in Michael Almereyda's Hamlet, Shepard invited the filmmaker to document rehearsals for his The Late Henry Moss, that he staged with Nick Nolte and Sean Penn in leading ...more about This So-Called Disaster: Sam Shepard Directs the Late Henry Moss

DVD from $7.99

(10 sellers)

Hurlyburly (1998)

2.7794

Hurly-burly is an adaptation of David Rabe's well known play about the intersecting lives of several Hollywood players and wannabes who's personal lives threaten to veer into a catastrophe more interesting than anything they're peddling to the studios. ...more about Hurlyburly

Actor Awards

Venice Film Festival - Best Actor

DVD from $5.99

(7 sellers)

Interpreter, The (2005)

2.7777

Escalating events begin when U.N. translator Silvia Broome alleges that she has overheard a death threat against an African head of state, spoken in a rare dialect few people other than Silvia can understand. ...more about Interpreter

DVD from $5.55

(19 sellers)

U Turn (1997)

2.7522

When Bobby's car breaks down in the desert while on the run from some of the bookies who have already taken two of his fingers, he becomes trapped in the nearby small town where the people are stranger than anyone he's encountered. ...more about U Turn

DVD from $3.95

(12 sellers)

At Close Range (1986)

2.6658

A boy and his friends seek to join a mid-atlantic gang led by the boy's estranged father, unaware that his father's ruthlessness takes no account of family ties. ...more about At Close Range

DVD from $4.86

(12 sellers)

Colors (1988)

2.5293

A confident young cop is shown the ropes by a veteran partner in the dangerous gang-controlled barrios of L.A. about to explode in violence in this look at the gang culture enforced by the colors that members wear. ...more about Colors

DVD from $9.27

(9 sellers)

Bad Boys (1983)

2.5148

A delinquent held in juvenile detention for the murder of a noted youth gang member awaits a showdown with the dead man's vengeful brother in the deadly prison environment. ...more about Bad Boys

DVD from $6.97

(7 sellers)

Pauly Shore Is Dead (2003)

2.4903

Hollywood comedian/actor Pauly Shore loses everything: his house, nobody in Hollywood wants to represent him, he moves back home with his mom and is now parking cars at the Comedy Store. ...more about Pauly Shore Is Dead

DVD from $4.11

(11 sellers)

She's So Lovely (1997)

2.4890

Maureen is pregnant and her husband Eddie is missing. Nervous, Maureen shares a couple of drinks with neighbor Kiefer, who tries to rape her and then beats her. ...more about She's So Lovely

DVD from $7.35

(8 sellers)

Up At The Villa (2000)

2.4846

Over a handful of days in 1938, a penniless English widow, on vacation near Florence, considers the marriage proposal of an aging British aristocrat who is the newly-appointed governor of Bengal, accepts a pistol that he presses on her for safety, takes ...more about Up At The Villa

DVD from $11.99

(2 sellers)

I Am Sam (2001)

2.4838

Sam Dawson has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. He works at a Starbucks and is obsessed with the Beatles. He has a daughter with a homeless woman; she abandons them as soon as they leave the hospital. ...more about I Am Sam

Actor Awards

Academy Awards, USA - Best Actor in a Leading Role
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards - Best Actor
Satellite Awards - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
Screen Actors Guild Awards - Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

DVD from $6.59

(13 sellers)

Hugo Pool (1997)

2.4581

Hugo Pool is a quirky tale of a Los Angeles pool cleaner (Alyssa Milano stars as Hugo Dugay) who falls in love with a young man dying of Lou Gerhig's Disease. ...more about Hugo Pool

DVD from $8.29

(9 sellers)

Taps (1981)

2.4416

An announcement that the venerable Bunker Hill Military Academy, a 141 year old institute, is to be torn down and replaced with condos sets off the young cadets led by their stodgy commander (George C. Scott). ...more about Taps

DVD from $8.99

(11 sellers)

Racing with the Moon (1984)

2.4153

Henry and Nicky are small town pals from blue collar families with only a short time before they ship off to World War II. Henry begins romancing new-to-town Caddie Winger, believing her to be wealthy. ...more about Racing with the Moon

DVD from $4.94

(8 sellers)

Weight of Water, The (2000)

2.3239

A newspaper photographer, Jean, researches the lurid and sensational axe murder of two women in 1873 as an editorial tie-in with a brutal modern double murder. She discovers a cache of papers that appear to give an account of the murders by an eyewitness. ...more about Weight of Water

DVD from $9.59

(11 sellers)

We're No Angels (1989)

2.2719

A couple of escaped convicts on the run find refuge with the Church when they are mistaken for two priests. The two are keen to flee but are unable to do so without the help of Molly. ...more about We're No Angels

DVD from $7.18

(10 sellers)

It's All About Love (2003)

2.1865

It's All About Love is the story of two lovers and their attempts to save their relationship in a near-future world on the brink of cosmic collapse. ...more about It's All About Love

DVD from $5.85

(13 sellers)

Falcon and the Snowman, The (1985)

2.1286

The true story of Christopher Boyce (Hutton), a young All-American man whose job as a guard for sensitive documents shatters his faith in his country and leads him to a sometimes comic, sometimes chilling sideline as a spy for the Soviets, aided by his ...more about Falcon and the Snowman

DVD from $4.02

(13 sellers)

State of Grace (1990)

2.0924

Terry Noonan returns home to New York's Hells Kitchen after a ten year absence. He soon hooks up with childhood pal Jackie who is involved in the Irish mob run by his brother Frankie. Terry also rekindles an old flame with Jackie's sister Kathleen. ...more about State of Grace

DVD from $5.10

(10 sellers)

Constant Forge, A (2000)

2.0036

Not Available on DVD

All the King's Men (2006)

2.0016

An idealistic southern politician who appeals to the common man whilst effectively playing dirty politics slowly becomes corrupted by the system. ...more about All the King's Men

DVD from $1.96

(14 sellers)

Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing, The (2004)

1.9040

DVD from $9.48

(10 sellers)

Weight of Water, The (2002)

1.8322

Based on the novel by Anita Shreve, this is the story of a contemporary woman whose obsession with a notorious unsolved crime from the 1800s leads her to confront devastating truths in her own life. ...more about Weight of Water

Not Available on DVD

Summerspell (1983)

1.7852

Not Available on DVD

Judgment in Berlin (1988)

1.5006

DVD from $7.18

(2 sellers)

Crackers (1984)

1.4245

Garvey (Jack Warden) is a San Francisco pawnshop operator. ...more about Crackers

Not Available on DVD

Beaver Trilogy, The (2001)

1.4109

It begins in 1979 with the chance meeting in a Salt Lake City parking lot where filmmaker Trent Harris is approached by an earnest small-town dreamer from Beaver, Utah. ...more about Beaver Trilogy

Not Available on DVD

See How They Run (2001)

1.3744

Not Available on DVD

Shanghai Surprise (1986)

0.8309

Glendon Wasey (Sean Penn) is a fortune hunter looking for a fast track out of China. Gloria Tatlock (Madonna) is a missionary nurse seeking the curing powers of opium for her patients. ...more about Shanghai Surprise

Actor Awards

Razzie Awards - Worst Actor

DVD from $3.99

(12 sellers)

Cruise Control (1992)

No Reviews Available

Not Available on DVD

In Search of Captain Zero (2008)

No Reviews Available

Surfer and one time drug smuggler, Allan Weisbecker's search for lifelong buddy Christopher, rumored to be living somewhere in Central America, so they can share their dream of the "Endless Summer" takes him through sometimes funny, sometimes harrowing ...more about In Search of Captain Zero