Shaun Mark Bean (born 17 April 1959) is an English film and stage actor.
Bean was born Shaun Mark Bean in the Handsworth district of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, the son of Rita and Brian Bean. Bean's father owned a fabrication shop, which he had set up with a colleague. The business employed a total of 50 people. Bean's mother worked as a secretary. He has a younger sister named Lorraine. Despite becoming relatively wealthy (his father owned a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow), the family never moved away from the council estate, because they preferred to remain close to friends and family.
As a child, Bean smashed a glass door due to an argument over scissors. It left a piece of glass embedded in his leg and left a large scar that briefly impeded his walking. This accident prevented him from pursuing his love of football professionally.
In 1975, Bean left Brook Comprehensive school with two O Levels in Art and English. After a job at a supermarket and another for the council, Bean started working for his father's firm with a day release at Rotherham College of Arts and Technology doing a welding course. While at Rotherham, after stumbling on an arts class, Bean 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 came across a drama course that he subsequently signed up for. After some college plays and one at Rotherham Civic Theatre, he applied and auditioned for a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, which he got.
He graduated from RADA in 1983 having won the Silver Medal for his performance in Waiting for Godot. He made his professional acting début in 1983 at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury, Berkshire as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. His early work involved a mixture of stage and screen work. His first national exposure came in an advert for non-alcoholic lager. During the late 1980s and early 1990s he became an established actor on British television. He had notable performances in the BBC productions Clarissa and Lady Chatterley. His role in the latter became infamous for the sex scenes between him and Joely Richardson.
As an actor, he adopted the Celtic spelling "Sean" of his first name.
His first notable Hollywood appearance was as an Irish republican terrorist in the 1992 film adaptation of Patriot Games. In 1996 he finally achieved his childhood dream of playing for Sheffield United, albeit as Jimmy Muir in the film When Saturday Comes. Although the film was not critically acclaimed, Sean Bean got credit for a good performance. His most widely seen role was as Boromir in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Later roles gave more scope for his acting abilities.
Often described as down-to-earth, Sean Bean has retained his Sheffield accent despite now living in London. He is also described as a sex symbol; he was voted the UK's second sexiest man in 2004. He admits he doesn't mind being considered by the ladies as a "bit of rough". He has developed a reputation as a loner, a label he considers unfair. In addition, he has been accused of being a chauvinist; this originated after his second wife claimed he watched too much football, spent too much time in the pub and left clothes about the house.
He has been married four times and subsequently divorced three times.
His first marriage was to high-school sweetheart Debra James on 11 April 1981, which broke up when he moved to London to attend RADA; then to actress Melanie Hill, between 27 February 1990 and August 1997, with whom he shares daughters Lorna and Molly; he then married Sharpe co-star Abigail Cruttenden on 22 November 1997, mother of his third daughter Evie Natasha; they divorced in July 2000. Bean married actress Georgina Sutcliffe on 19 February 2008, after previously cancelling the wedding less than twenty-four hours before it was set to take place.
He describes himself as quiet. Although he admits he can be a workaholic, in his spare time he likes relaxing with a book or listening to music. He is also a keen gardener, and does both welding and sketching.
Bean's first love was football and he has been a passionate Sheffield United supporter from a young age. He was until December 2007 one of the directors of the club but finally decided to "go back to the terraces, where truly belong". He also wrote the foreword and helped promote a book of anecdotes called Sheffield United: The Biography. He also follows Yorkshire County Cricket Club. He had some problems with Neil 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 after the 2006–07 season. Bean denies it, calling Warnock "bitter" and "hypocritical".