Sean Bean

Biography

Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean, Sheffield, 17 April 1959) is an English actor who works across film and television. He is best known internationally for playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings and Ned Stark in Game of Thrones. Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he has built a long career that moves between the stage, British television and Hollywood productions, and he is often remembered for rugged, complicated characters.

Bean made his professional debut in 1983 as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet at the Watermill Theatre, and spent the mid-1980s in the Royal Shakespeare Company. His first film was Derek Jarman's Caravaggio (1986), followed by Stormy Monday (1988), directed by Mike Figgis, in which he played the lead. His first mainstream success came with the ITV drama Sharpe, in which he played the rifleman Richard Sharpe during the Napoleonic Wars. He kept his Yorkshire accent for the role, and it became part of his public image.

His move to Hollywood came with Patriot Games (1992), where he played an Irish republican terrorist, a part that established him as a screen villain. In GoldenEye (1995) he played Alec Trevelyan, the rogue MI6 agent who opposes James Bond, and he later appeared in Ronin (1998) and National Treasure (2004). His most famous role, however, was Boromir in Peter Jackson's trilogy, filmed in New Zealand, where his screen time is concentrated in the first instalment. He also played Odysseus in Troy (2004) and appeared in the horror adaptation Silent Hill (2006).

A running joke about his films is how often his characters die on screen, a pattern that has been parodied for years. Bean has taken the joke in good humour. He has also worked in video games, lending his voice to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) as the emperor Martin Septim.

Beyond Sharpe and Game of Thrones, he has appeared in British television drama, including the BBC anthology series Accused. His legacy lies in combining a stage-trained career with a steady presence in large international productions, and in creating characters that audiences remember for their toughness and vulnerability.

Key films

• Patriot Games (1992): his first major Hollywood role, as an Irish republican terrorist and screen villain.
• GoldenEye (1995): Alec Trevelyan, the MI6 agent who opposes James Bond.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001): Boromir, the role that brought him international fame.
• Troy (2004): Odysseus, in a large-scale historical epic.
• Ronin (1998): a supporting role in a espionage action thriller.