Last evening, Sean Penn received the Oscar for his Leading Man Role in Milk. It was not his first Academy Award.

Sean was born in Burbank, California in 1960 (August 17) to actor parents. He went to High School in Santa Monica, California with others who became prominent actors.

Although his parents were acting, Sean's initial interest was in directing. He soon became interested in acting and gained a role in the play Heartland on Broadway in New York City. He was 19-years-old.

In 1981, his first film was Taps with Tom Cruise and Timothy Hutton. His big break came with Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). His first starring roles where in Bad Boys, and The Falcon and the Snowman (1983, 1985).

His marriage to Madonna and a short stint in jail gave him an unfavorable image. He and Madonna divorced later.

Sean received favorable reviews in Casualties of War (1989). Penn soon directed his first film, The Indian Runner which was a financial flop with small earnings.

Sean Penn quit acting but returned in 1993, playing a criminal lawyer in Carlito's Way for which he earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1995, Sean Penn starred in Dead Man Walking. He earned an Academy Award and a Golden Globe nomination and an Independent Spirit Award. The film grossed more than $80 million.

Also in 1995, Sean wrote, produced, and directed The Crossing Guard, which received a Golden Globe nomination.

Penn next starred in She's So Lovely (1997) which was not a box office smash.

Penn appeared in two other major films in 1997. U-Turn and The Game. Hurlyburly (1998), and The Thin Red Line followed. In 1999, Penn won a second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for Sweet and Lowdown. In 2000, he starred in Up in the Villa and The Weight of Water.

He directed The Pledge. , starring Jack Nicholson and Robin Wright Penn. In 2002, Penn starred in I Am Sam.

The following year, he starred in Mystic River, for which he earned the Academy Award for Best Actor. In 2006, Penn starred in All the King's Men.

Last Evening, Sean Penn won his second Academy Award for best actor for his portrayal of the first openly gay politician, Harvey Milk, in the film Milk.The film received more than 40 award nominations. During his acceptance speech, Penn blasted those who voted against California Gay Marriage Amendment.

Go to the Internet Movie Data Base site for Sean Penn's filmography.

Current projects for Penn include the action film Tree of Life slated for release in 2009, and a remake of the comedy classic, The Three Stooges.

The Three Stooges!

Now, that is what I'm waiting for!

Fly Old Glory!

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired college professor and business executive, former editor of an international engineering magazine. Writer, novelist, painter of landscapes. Lots of grand-kids



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Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born in Reading, Berkshire, England, U.K. on October 5, 1975. Best know for her role in Titanic playing a warm-blooded socialite in the arms of the lower-class passenger and artist, Leonardo DiCaprio. While Leonardo sunk into the frigid Atlantic Ocean, she somehow survived to tell the story.

Kate was born into a family of thespians. Acting was in her blood and she started young. At age 11, she could be seen dancing next to the Honey Monster, a commercial for kids cereal.

Taking acting lessons and bit parts in soap operas, she got a break at age 17 in cast as an obsessive adolescent in Heavenly Creatures (1994). The film was based on the true story of two fantasy-gripped girls who commit a brutal murder. Her role was praised by critics although the film had limited distribution.

Before Titanic, Winslet played roles in Sense and Sensibilities, Jude and Hamlet winning a British Academy Award and a Nomination for the first. More recent roles were in Hideous Kinky (1998), Holy Smoke (1999) and Quills (2000).

Kate Winslet has been nominated a number of times for an Academy Award but last evening was the first time she won the award for her role in The Reader.

Winslet, 33, received more recognition on the awards circuit for "The Reader" netting her additional trophies at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and British Film Academy Awards for her portrayal of Hanna Schmitz - a woman having a passionate affair with a teenager who encounters her again years later while she is on trial for Holocaust crimes.

Kate is married to Sam Mendes.

Filmography

Revolutionary Road (2008)
The Reader (2008)
The Holiday (2006)
Flushed Away (2006) (voice)
Little Children (2006)
All the King's Men (2006)
Deep Sea 3D (2006) (voice)
Romance & Cigarettes (2005)
Finding Neverland (2004)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
The Life of David Gale (2002)
Enigma (2002)
The Raquin (2001)
Iris (2001)
Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001) (voice)
Therese Raquin (2001)
Quills (2000)
Holy Smoke (2000)
Faeries (1999) (voice)
Hideous Kinky (1998)
Titanic (1997)
Hamlet (1996)
Jude (1996)
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Kid in King Arthur's Court, A (1995)
Heavenly Creatures (1994)

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com a retired college professor and business executive, former editor of an international engineering magazine. Writer, novelist, painter of landscapes. Lots of grand-kids



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Many stars sashayed down the red carpet last evening, many nominees for an Academy Award but they all could not be winners.

Sean Penn was the big Leading Man winner for his role in "Milk." He used his winner speech time to insult those who voted against the gay marriage amendment in California.

Sean, to me, is a weird actor. He doesn't look like a leading man like Gary Cooper or John Wayne or Tom Hanks or Michael Douglas. Yet, he is not wimpy and he adds an intensity to every role he plays. He is not my favorite actor, but sometimes I am mesmerized by his performance on the screen.

How could a face like Sean's ever get into the movies?

Kate Winslet, for her role in "The Reader," won the Leading Woman Award. Kate is such a great actress and she was expected to win. She said, "I'd be lying if I haven't made a version of this speech before. I think I was probably 8 years old and staring into the bathroom mirror and this (Oscar) would be a shampoo bottle. But it's not a shampoo bottle now."

The Oscars are what some little girls and boys dream of. They are what some old men and women dream of.

The Oscar statuette is a knight with crusader's sword standing on a reel of film. It weighs eight-and-a-half pounds. It is thirteen-and-a-half inches tall and is made of gold-plated britannium, a metal alloy. R.S. Owens & Company of Chicago makes the statuettes in excess of those needed because it is hard to predict the exact number that will be needed. One composition is: Sn : 93%, Sb : 3%, Cu : 2%. What, no high school chemistry? Tin, Antimony, Copper.

Despite the weight of the award, the actors carried them around later to the many parties that followed.

I always get a kick out the losers. They seem so happy for the actual winner although they are very disappointed not to win.

Stiff upper lip!

Sometimes you could see a "happy" face turn into a sorrowful one.

It is difficult to get nominated.

It is more difficult to win.

So, not winning might also mean giving up the only opportunity to win in ones life.

Yet, just to be nominated is very important and has its own commercial rewards. You will always be known as a nominee.

The Winning Picture was Slumdog Millionaire.

It was fun to watch the cast, producers and director during the presentations. When it was their turn to take the stand, about half of the audience went to the stand.

Nobody was left out.

O.K. Maybe it was not one-half of the audience, but close.

I noticed that the Japanese and the Indians wanted everybody to get some credit, so up to the stage.

The settings for this years Academy Awards was amazingly good. It was the best that I've seen and I am an old man.

David Rockwell, architect and designer, created a party-like setting that was at times to me comfortable and informal. Yet the new proscenium curtain comprised of approximately 100,000 Swarovski crystals in a variety of shapes and sizes, revealed the high-profile fashion associated with the event.

Something else that seemed new to me was parading out five previous award winners to comment on the five nominees. There was some contrast between the old and the new.

Well, some were not that old.

I always like to watch the presentation on those who have passed during the year. Unlike most of us, there is some lingering presence of dead actors. They continue to live in the movies they made.

Jerry Lewis received a special award for his humanitarianism. He gave a short, dignified speech showing no pretension.

Now, that was nice!

One image that will live with me is Meryl Steep who has been nominated fifteen times. She got a lot of praise from the podium and she always put her hands to her breast as if to say, "Little Old Me?"

She is such a great actress, knows she is a great actress, but tries to be humble. My favorite role for her was "Out of Africa" with Robert Redford who I did not see at the Oscars.

He was probably watching form Park City, Utah or such.

What a great show!



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