This actor began his career in a cult series from the 70s: today he is an essential star who has starred in dozens of films!

News culture This actor began his career in a cult series from the 70s: today he is an essential star who has starred in dozens of films!

Sean Penn’s first role

You know Sean Penn for his intense roles in Mystic River, Milk and Into the Wild. But did you know that the American actor made his debut in a cult series from the 70s? And yes, Sean Penn played his first screen role in Little House on the Prairie. In a 1974 and 1975 episode he played the character of an unnamed child. A small and short-lived role, but one that allowed the actor to launch his career in a cult series watched by millions of households

. During a recent interview with Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson on the show), the Little House on the Prairie star said Penn came to her aid on set by passing out. “ I have a lot to thank him for ” she told Yahoo Entertainment, who was prone to fainting on long summer days. “ Sean was brought on set to hang out and act as an extra. He didn’t have any lines, he was just in the scene “. Overwhelmed by the heat, he eventually fainted.” This tall teenager collapsed like a sack of potatoes. And he didn’t get up: I always got up. He was down all day ” recalls the actress, who then says that this incident ultimately convinced the Little House on the Prairie team that the heat was a real problem for the young actors.

In front of and behind the camera

It was thanks to his father Leo Penn, director of the series at the time, that he was able to land this small extra role when he was barely 14 years old. It would be a few more years before he appeared on screen again in an episode of Barnaby Jones and then in The Killing of Randy Webster, a 1981 TV movie. In the same year he finally exchanged a few lines of dialogue with another future star, Tom Cruise, in the film Taps by Harold Becker (Melody for Murder). Since then, Penn’s talent has been proven and we can even find him behind the camera as a director. We owe him the classics “Into the Wild”, “The Pledge” and “Flag Day”. This 2024 he returned in the dark thriller Black Flies by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, in which he plays an experienced paramedic alongside the young Tye Sheridan.