Sean Bean
Born: 17 April 1959
Where: Sheffield, Yorkshire
Proud Yorkshireman Bean has proven equally effective as romantic leads and villains (he landed the coveted role of a Bond baddie in Goldeneye).
After dropping out of school aged 16, he had a variety of jobs before enrolling in art school and went on to study acting at Rotherham College.
Deciding to pursue a career, he enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and further honed his craft and made his professional stage debut (billed as Shaun Behan) in Romeo and Juliet.
He began to land roles on the small screen and also joined the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company.
Bean made his feature debut in Derek Jarman's film Caravaggio and reteamed with the director on War Requiem.
His first notable film role cast him as an Irishman who becomes involved with shady characters in the moody, jazz-influenced Stormy Monday, directed by Mike Figgis.
He shone as Richard Harris' repressed son in The Field and proved an effective romantic lead in both the period TV dramas Clarissa and Lady Chatterley.
Although he would become established as a star with his portrayal of Napoleonic-era soldier Richard Sharpe in a series of 14 TV-movies, Bean became the actor most sought after to play villains following his believable turn as an IRA gunman in Patriot Games.
He well as Goldeneye's evil 006, he also played weapons expert Spence in Ronin, a wife-beating ex-con in Essex Boys and the malevolent kidnapper-jewel thief in Don't Say a Word.
Bean also reached an even wider audience as warrior Boromir in the Peter Jackson-directed adaptation of JRR Tolkein's Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Next he starred alongside Christian Bale in the sci-fi thriller Equilibrium and in the comedy The Big Empty with Jon Favreau.
In 2004, he played Odysseus in Wolfgang Petersen's £140m blockbuster Troy and was Nicolas Cage's adversary in the Disney adventure National Treasure.
Recent work includes Michael Bay's sci-fi thriller The Island alongside Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson.
