Sean Bean (bornShaun Mark Bean; 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his professional debut in a production ofRomeo and Juliet in 1983 at The Watermill Theatre.[1] Retaining hisYorkshire accent, he first found mainstream success for his portrayal ofRichard Sharpe in theITV seriesSharpe, which originally ran from 1993 to 1997.
Bean made his film debut in the historical dramaCaravaggio (1986) and received further attention for his roles inStormy Monday (1988) andPatriot Games (1992). He played the main antagonistAlec Trevelyan in theJames Bond filmGoldenEye (1995) and had a supporting role in the action thrillerRonin (1998). Bean achieved international recognition for portrayingBoromir in the fantasy trilogyThe Lord of the Rings (2001–2003). Following the success ofLord of the Rings, Bean appeared in a variety of films, including in the science fictionEquilibrium (2002), the heistNational Treasure (2004),Odysseus in the historical war epicTroy (2004), the mystery thrillerFlightplan (2005), the action horrorBlack Death (2010), and the science fictionThe Martian (2015).
Shaun Mark Bean[3] was born in theHandsworth suburb ofSheffield on 17 April 1959,[4] the son of Rita (née Tuckwood) and Brian K. Bean (born 1934).[5] He has a younger sister, Lorraine. His paternal grandfather, Harold Bean Jr. (1914–2001), served in theRoyal Navy in theSecond World War[citation needed] and was astud mill labourer who later became apacifist.[citation needed] His father owned a fabrication company that employed 50 people, including Bean's mother, who worked as a secretary. Despite becoming relatively wealthy, the family never moved away from thecouncil estate as they preferred to remain close to friends and family.[6] As a child, Bean smashed a glass door during an argument, which left a piece of glass embedded in his leg that briefly impeded his walking, and left a large scar.[5] This prevented him from pursuing his ambition of playingfootball professionally.[7]
Bean first attended a local school, Handsworth Junior School, before going to Athelstan School until he was 12, when he went to study at Brook School.[8] In 1975, Bean left Brook Comprehensive School withO levels in Art and English.[9] After a job at a supermarket and another for the local council, he started work at his father's firm. Once a week, he attendedRotherham College of Arts and Technology to studywelding.[10] While at college, he came upon an art class, and decided to pursue his interest in art. After attending courses at two other colleges, one for half a day and the other for less than a week, he returned to Rotherham College, where he enrolled in a drama course. After some college plays and one atRotherham Civic Theatre, he won a scholarship to theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), starting a seven-term course in January 1981.[5]
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bean became an established actor on British television.[16] In 1990, Bean starred inJim Sheridan's adaptation of theJohn B. Keane playThe Field. Also in 1990, his role as the journalist Anton inWindprints examined the difficult problems ofapartheid in South Africa. He appeared in theBBC productionsClarissa (1991) (withSaskia Wickham andLynsey Baxter) andLady Chatterley (1993) (withJoely Richardson).[17] In 1996, he combined his love of football with his career to finally achieve his childhood dream of playing forSheffield United, starring as Jimmy Muir in the filmWhen Saturday Comes.[18] Although the film was not critically acclaimed, Bean received credit for a good performance.[19] In August 1997, Bean appeared in what became a famousSky Sports commercial for the upcoming 1997–98Premier League season.[20] His football-related work continued in 1998 when he narratedLa Coupe de la Gloire, the official film of the1998 FIFA World Cup held in France.[21]
Bean was not the first actor to be chosen to play Sharpe. AsPaul McGann was injured while playing football two days into filming, the producers initially tried to work around his injury, but it proved impossible and Bean replaced him. The series ran continuously from 1993 to 1997, with three episodes produced each year. It was filmed under challenging conditions, first in Ukraine and later in Portugal. After several years of rumours, more episodes were produced:Sharpe's Challenge (2006) andSharpe's Peril (2008).[26] Both of these were released as two cinema-length 90-minute episodes per series.[27] With a role as enigmatic Lord Richard Fenton in the TV miniseriesScarlett, Bean made the transition to Hollywood feature films. His first notable Hollywood appearance was that of anIrish republicanterrorist in the 1992 film adaptation ofPatriot Games. While filming his death scene,Harrison Ford hit him with a boat hook, giving him a permanent scar. Bean's rough-cut looks made him a patent choice for a villain, and his role inPatriot Games was the first of several villains that he would portray, all of whom die in gruesome ways.[28]
1995–2011:The Lord of the Rings andGame of Thrones
Bean's most prominent role was asBoromir inPeter Jackson'sThe Lord of the Rings trilogy. His major screen time occurs in the first instalment,The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. He appears briefly in flashbacks inThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers andThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, as well as in a scene from the extended edition ofThe Two Towers. Before casting finished, rumours circulated that Jackson had considered Bean for the role ofAragorn, but neither Bean nor Jackson confirmed this in subsequent interviews. Bean's fear of flying in helicopters caused him difficulties in mountainousNew Zealand, where the trilogy was filmed. After a particularly rough ride, he vowed not to fly to a location again; in one instance, he chose to take aski lift into the mountains while wearing his full costume (complete with shield, armour, and sword) and then hike the final few miles.[31][32]
Other roles gave more scope for his acting abilities. In 1999'sExtremely Dangerous, his character walked a fine line between villain and hero.[33] He became a repentant, poetry-reading Grammaton cleric who succumbs to his emotions in 2002'sEquilibrium, a quirky alien cowboy in 2003'sThe Big Empty, and a sympathetic and cunningOdysseus in the 2004 filmTroy. He appeared with other Hollywood stars inMoby's music video "We Are All Made of Stars" in February 2002.[34] In the same year, he returned to the stage in London performing inMacbeth.[35] Due to popular demand, the production ran until March 2003.[36] In 2005, Bean had sizeable roles in the filmsFlightplan andNorth Country.
Bean has done voice-over work, mostly in the British advertising industry.[37] He has featured in television adverts forO2,Morrisons andBarnardos as well as forAcuvue and theSci-Fi Channel in the United States. He also does the voice-over for theNational Blood Service's television and radio campaign. Bean has also filmed a TV ad forYorkshire Tea, aUnited Kingdom brand of tea.[38] For the role playing video game,The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, he voiced Martin Septim.[39] Bean's distinctive voice has also been used in the intro and outro segments of theBBCFormula 1 racing coverage for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
Bean completed a one-hour pilot,Faceless, for American television. He has also appeared inOutlaw (2007), an independent British remake of the 1986 horror filmThe Hitcher; here he used an American accent again. In 2009, he appeared in theRed Riding trilogy as the malevolent John Dawson. He also appeared inPercy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), playing the role ofZeus, the king ofMount Olympus and God of the sky, thunder, and lightning. Also, that year, Bean starred inCash, playing the lead role of Pyke Kubic, a dangerous man determined to recover his wealth in a bad economy.Cash explored the role money plays in today's hard economic times. Bean also played the villain's twin brother, Reese. Bean starred in the first season ofGame of Thrones,HBO's adaptation of theA Song of Ice and Fire novels byGeorge R. R. Martin, playing the part of LordEddard "Ned" Stark.[40] Bean andPeter Dinklage were the two actors whose inclusion show runnersDavid Benioff andD. B. Weiss considered necessary for the show to become a success, and for whose roles no other actors were considered. His portrayal won him critical praise; asThe A.V. Club's reviewer put it, he "portrayed Ned as a man who knew he lived in the muck but hoped for better and assumed everyone else would come along for the ride."[41] HBO's promotional efforts focused on Bean as the show's leading man and best-known actor.[42][43]
Bean at a press conference forRidley Scott'sThe Martian, 2015 Toronto Film Festival.
In 2012, Bean appeared in four films:Soldiers of Fortune;Cleanskin, in which he plays a secret service agent faced with the task of pursuing and eliminating a suicide bomber and his terrorist cell;Tarsem Singh's Snow White adaptation,Mirror Mirror; and the sequelSilent Hill: Revelation, in which he reprised his role as Christopher Da Silva.[44] Also that year, Bean co-starred in the ABC drama seriesMissing, and appeared ascross-dressing teacher Simon in the opening episode of the second season of UK television seriesAccused, a role which would earn him aRoyal Television Society best actor award.[45][46]
Bean starred in the espionage television seriesLegends as Martin Odum, an FBI agent who takes on various fabricated identities to go undercover. The show was canceled after its second season. An intensive viral marketing campaign was centred on thehashtag #DontKillSeanBean, focusing on the various deaths of his past characters and promising his character inLegends would not suffer the same fate.[47] The campaign culminated with aFunny or Die exclusive video featuring Bean filming a scene for the show where he's become so accustomed to dying on screen that he expects his character to die a bizarrely gruesome death despite the simplicity of the scene.[48]
From 2015 to 2017, Bean starred in theITV Encore drama seriesThe Frankenstein Chronicles.[49] In that time, he also starred in multiple notable films includingJupiter Ascending,Pixels, andThe Martian. In 2017, Bean starred in the BBC seriesBroken as the troubled priest Father Michael Kerrigan, which earned him aBAFTA award for Best Actor.[50] In 2019, Bean played a damaged veteran in the TV dramaWorld on Fire, basing his interpretation on his late paternal grandfather.[citation needed]
In 2025, he played the main role of Ronnie Phelan, head of a drug dealer family, alongsideJulie Graham, andJack McMullen, playing his wife and son, andJames Nelson-Joyce, his number two, in the BBC Liverpool based gangster television seriesThis City Is Ours (2025).[58]
Bean at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.
Bean is often described as "down to earth" and has retained hisYorkshire accent.[17] He says that he does not mind being considered as a "bit of rough" by women.[59] He has developed a reputation as a loner, a label that he considers unfair.[17] He has described himself instead as quiet, and interviewers confirm that he is a "man of few words",[60] with one interviewer calling him "surprisingly shy".[61] He admits that he can be a workaholic; he reads books or listens to music in his spare time, and is a skilledpianist. He is also a keen gardener, welder, and sketcher.[62] Popular in his home county, a 2018 poll forYorkshire Day saw Bean ranked the second greatest Yorkshireman ever behindMonty Python comedian, and fellow Sheffielder,Michael Palin.[63]
Despite being professionally trained, Bean adopted an instinctive style of acting that some say makes him especially well-suited to portraying his characters' depths.[64] He has said that the most difficult part is at the start of filming when trying to understand the character.[65] After achieving this, he can snap in and out of character instantly. This ability to go from the quiet man on set to the warrior Boromir "amazed"Sean Astin during filming ofThe Fellowship of the Ring.[66] Other fans include directorsMike Figgis andWolfgang Petersen, who described working with Bean as a "beautiful thing".[64]
For many years, Bean's characters died on screen, a phenomenon that gained notoriety on the internet and inThe Lord of The Rings,Game of Thrones andJames Bond fandoms, becoming anInternet meme.[28] Bean's favourite on-screen death isBoromir inThe Fellowship of the Ring: "I thought his death was very heroic and triumphant and poignant. It hadpathos."[67] As an homage to this meme, Bean appears in 2018Hitman 2 video game as an elusive target named Mark Faba aka "The Undying" for his seeming inability to die.[68][69]
In September 2019, Bean revealed that he had begun turning down roles that would have his character killed because the pattern had become predictable.[70][71]
Bean has been married five times and divorced four times. He married his secondary school sweetheart Debra James on 11 April 1981, and they were divorced in 1988. He met actressMelanie Hill atRADA, and they were married on 27 February 1990. Their first daughter was born in October 1987, and their second was born in September 1991. Their marriage ended in divorce in August 1997. During the filming ofSharpe, Bean met actressAbigail Cruttenden, and they were married on 22 November 1997. Their daughter was born in November 1998. They were divorced in July 2000. In addition to his three children, Bean has four grandchildren.[72]
Bean began dating actress Georgina Sutcliffe in 2006. After cancelling their planned January 2008 wedding on the eve of the ceremony for "personal reasons", he married Sutcliffe at theMarylebone Town Hall in London on 19 February 2008.[73] During allegations that Bean physically abused Sutcliffe in 2009,[61] domestic disturbances resulted in the police being called to their home inBelsize Park on three occasions. Bean and Sutcliffe's separation was announced on 6 August 2010,[74] and adecree nisi was granted on 21 December 2010.[75] He married Ashley Moore on 30 June 2017.[76]
Bean has been a fan ofSheffield United (the "Blades") since he was eight years old, and has a tattoo on his left shoulder that reads "100%Blade".[77][78] He opened their Hall of Fame in 2001 and, after making a six-figure contribution to the club's finances, was on their board of directors between 2002 and 2007 to help raise the profile of the club. He stepped down in 2007 to "go back to being an ordinary supporter" where he feels at home.[79] During his time there, he had a dispute withNeil Warnock, former manager of Sheffield United, after Warnock claimed that Bean stormed into his office and shouted at him in front of his wife and daughter when the club had just been relegated from the Premier League. Bean denies it, calling Warnock "bitter" and "hypocritical".[80] He wrote the foreword and helped to promote a book of anecdotes calledSheffield United: The Biography.[81] He also followsYorkshire County Cricket Club.[82]
In his home city of Sheffield, he has received several honours and acclaims, including an honorary doctorate fromSheffield Hallam University in 1997 and aDoctor of Letters in English Literature from theUniversity of Sheffield in July 2007.[98][99] He was selected as one of the inaugural members ofSheffield Legends (the Sheffield equivalent of theHollywood Walk of Fame) and a plaque in his honour has been placed in front ofSheffield Town Hall.[100] Bean commented: "I did get a doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University about 11 or 12 years ago so now I'm a double doctor. But this was wonderful, especially from my home city."[98][99]
Year
Award
Category
Nominated work
Result
2002
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award
Best Acting Ensemble
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring[101]
^abcHockney, Karen (22 April 2006)."Sharpe still cuts it".The Times. London.Archived from the original on 4 September 2018. Retrieved2 July 2017.(subscription required)
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