"Fast Times at Ridgemont High"s' Sean Penn. What did he do before "Spicoli"?

Sean Penn has acting in his genes. The son of respected actors Leo Penn and Eileen Ryan, Sean was born August 17, 1960, in Santa Monica, California. Not surprisingly, he showed a keen interest in the "family business" from an early age, making a variety of Super 8 films with his friends. Unlike most children, however, his friends just happened to be future Hollywood superstars Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, both of whom lived nearby.

sean penn's tv acting debut

Thanks to his parents' Hollywood connections, Penn made his television debut in 1974 with a small part on Little House on the Prairie. His acting career didn't begin, however, until five years later when he landed a part on an episode of Barnaby Jones while enrolled at Los Angeles Repertory Theatre.

Encouraged by his early success, Penn moved to New York where he starred in the play Heartland, and soon scored a role in the 1981 telefilm, The Killing of Randy Webster. Penn made his big-screen debut later that year in Taps, a highly regarded drama about military cadets, co-starring Tom Cruise and Timothy Hutton.

sean penn attends ridgemont high

Thanks to Taps' success, Penn was cast as stoned surfer Jeff Spicoli in 1982's hilarious teen comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The impressive back-to-back roles, as well as parts in 1983's Bad Boys and Summerspell, put Penn on the map as one of America's most promising young actors