Sean Bean Biography

SEAN BEAN

Date of Birth: April 17, 1959

Born and raised in Yorkshire, England, Bean was accepted to the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he won the silver medal for his graduation performance in Waiting for Godot. He went on to perform onstage for the Royal Shakespeare Company playing the lead in Romeo and Juliet, and continued to fill his resumé with performances in Fair Maid of the West, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Deathwatch, and Last Days of Mankind.

From stage he looked to launch his career onto the big screen. Achieving the spotlight, however, was not so simple. Bean spent years working on various projects, from the experimental Caravaggio (1986) to the hauntingly moody Stormy Monday (1988). He also expanded his resumé to television work, working on telefilms like Troubles, The Fifteen Streets and Small Zones.

Bean first garnered critical praise with his performance in the film The Field (1990). Soon after, moviegoers on this side of the pond also took a second look at the English actor who played an IRA terrorist in the hit film Patriot Games (1992).

Using the exposure of Games, doors began opening for Bean, especially back in England on the BBC. Bean received the coveted role of Lieutenant Richard Sharpe, and starred in many two-hour, made-for-TV films as that character. The stories, which include 14 episodes, follow a British soldier in the Peninsular War during the age of Napoleon. Other telefilms like Bravo Two Zero, Lady Chatterley, Clarissa and Prince continued his ascent into stardom.

His film roles also increased in both and scope. In 1995 he played the agent gone bad in GoldenEye, Sophie Marceau's love interest in Anna Karenina (1997), the British weapons expert turned fraud in Ronin (1998), the lead role in Essex Boys (2000), a kidnapper in Don't Say a Word (2001), and the impatient human Prince Boromir, in Jackson's Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Return of the King (2003). He also played a supporting role in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013). More recently, he starred in The Martian (2015).

Bean has been married and divorced three times and has three daughters, two with ex-wife/actress Melanie Hill, and one with ex-wife/actress Abigail Cruttenden.

Filmography:

Jupiter Ascending (2015)
The Martian (2015)
Pixels (2015)
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013)
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)
Come Like Shadows (2008)
A Woman of No Importance (2007)
Outlaw (2007)
True North (2007)
The Hitcher (2007)
Silent Hill (2006)
North Country (2005)
Flightplan (2005)
The Dark (2005)
The Island (2005)
National Treasure (2004)
Troy (2004)
Venetian Heat (2004)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
The Big Empty (2003)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Equilibrium (2001)
Tom & Thomas (2001)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Don't Say a Word (2001)
Essex Boys (2000)
Bravo Two Zero (1999)
The Canterbury Tales (1998) (voice)
Ronin (1998)
Airborne (1998)
Anna Karenina (1997)
When Saturday Comes (1996)
GoldenEye (1995)
Black Beauty (1994)
Shopping (1994)
Patriot Games (1992)
In the Border Country (1991)
Prince (1991)
The Field (1990)
Windprints (1990)
How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)
War Requiem (1989)
Stormy Monday (1988)
Caravaggio (1986)
Winter Flight (1984)