Portrait of Sean Bean

Birthday profile

Sean Bean

Sean Bean, English actor

Born
April 17, 1959
Age in 2026
67
Zodiac sign
Aries
Birth year
1959

About Sean Bean

Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean, 17 April 1959) is an English actor. Recognised for his work in both film and television, he has received various accolades including three BAFTA TV Awards, a Critics' Choice Award, an Actor Award and an International Emmy Award. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his professional debut in a production of Romeo and Juliet in 1983 at The Watermill Theatre. Retaining his Yorkshire accent, he first found mainstream success for his portrayal of Richard Sharpe in the ITV television drama series Sharpe, which originally ran from 1993 to 1997. Bean made his film debut in the historical drama Caravaggio (1986) and received further attention for his roles in Stormy Monday (1988) and Patriot Games (1992). He played the main antagonist Alec Trevelyan in the James Bond film GoldenEye (1995) and had a supporting role in the neo-noir action thriller Ronin (1998). Bean achieved international recognition for portraying Boromir in the fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003). Following the success of Lord of the Rings, Bean appeared in a variety of films, including in the science fiction Equilibrium (2002), the action-adventure heist National Treasure (2004), Greek King Odysseus in the epic historical action Troy (2004), the mystery psychological thriller Flightplan (2005), Harry Mason in the supernatural horror films Silent Hill (2006) and Silent Hill: Revelation (2012), the action horror Black Death (2010), and the epic science fiction survival film The Martian (2015). Bean's television roles include the BBC anthology series Accused and the six-part drama Broken, Ned Stark in the HBO fantasy drama Game of Thrones, and the ITV historical drama series Henry VIII and Legends. As a voice actor, he has been featured in the video games The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006), Sid Meier's Civilization VI (2016), and the feature films Wolfwalkers (2020) and Mummies (2023) among others. Since 2002, Bean has been the main voiceover for O2 adverts, a telecommunications services provider. In 2022, he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for Time, a BBC One drama. 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. After some college plays and one at Rotherham Civic Theatre, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), starting a seven-term course in January 1981.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Sean Bean timeline

  1. After some college plays and one at Rotherham Civic Theatre, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), starting a seven-term course in January 1981.
  2. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his professional debut in a production of Romeo and Juliet in 1983 at The Watermill Theatre.
  3. In 2022, he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for Time, a BBC One drama.

The world when Sean Bean was born

Sean Bean was born in 1959. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1959

  • #1 song"Mack the Knife" – Bobby Darin
  • Top movieBen-Hur
  • Top TV showGunsmoke
  • Best-selling bookGoldfinger – Ian Fleming

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentIngemar Johansson knocks out Floyd Patterson for heavyweight title
  • Top headlineAlaska and Hawaii become the 49th and 50th US states
  • Technology milestoneMicrochip (integrated circuit) invented
  • Defining fadBarbie dolls
  • Notable inventionBarbie doll
  • World population2.98 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderDwight D. Eisenhower
  • Sports championLos Angeles Dodgers (World Series)
  • Also wonBoston Celtics (NBA)
  • U.S. population177.1M

1959 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Sean Bean's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19592026
Gas$0.31$3.45/gal
Average home$12,400$435,000
Average income$7,000$67,500
Minimum wage$1.00$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.69$11.95
Postage stamp$0.04$0.73
Population177.1M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.