Sean Penn Biography

- Penn gave up smoking for a while 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 of cigarettes a day.

- In October 2002, Penn bought a $56,000 ad in the Washington Post to publish an open letter to President George W. 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.

- Andy Warhol was a guest during his August 16, 1985 marriage to Madonna.

- Penn was briefly engaged to actress-photographer Pamela Springsteen, sister of Bruce Springsteen.

- As of 2005, Penn was the only actor to ever receive a Best Actor nomination for a Woody Allen film, besides Woody Allen himself.