Oscars profile: Sean Penn

Sean Penn. Photo / AP

Sean Penn is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. In

Milk

he plays the character of Harvey Milk, a camera store owner whose decision to campaign for a place on San Francisco's Board of Supervisors becomes a landmark event within the gay rights movement. Penn is no stranger to controversy himself. He has attracted plenty of media attention due to his stormy private life and political viewpoints; in 2002 he took out a $56,000 ad in the Washington Post opposing the war in Iraq.

This is Penn's fifth Academy Award nomination and would be his second win. He has won a host of awards for

Milk

to date, including a Screen Actor's Guild award and Critic's Choice award and was nominated for a BAFTA and Golden Globe.

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to read our review of

Milk

.