Sean Bean
Sean Bean
Shaun Mark Bean, known professionally as Sean Bean, is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his professional debut in a theatre production of Romeo and Juliet in 1983. Retaining his distinctive Yorkshire accent, he first found mainstream success for his portrayal of Richard Sharpe in the ITV series Sharpe. Bean has since garnered further recognition for his performance as Ned Stark in the HBO epic fantasy series Game of Thrones, as well...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth17 April 1959
CityHandsworth, England
I think that you always have something left, that you take something of the character with you.
I sort of leave the character at the end of the day. I don't carry anything around with me - no excess baggage or unnecessary thoughts. I think it's too exhausting to do that. To put things into perspective - your work is your work, and your leisure time is something else.
I'm proud of Lord of the Rings. I think it's a once in a lifetime role, and a once in a lifetime film. It was made with so much care and passion and meticulous detail and everybody was so behind it.
I think everybody's got different methods of working which suit the particular individual. Mine is to sort of play the part, and give 100%, to concentrate and focus on it while I'm actually working, but then leave it behind until the next day.
That's the thing about Brits they have the grounding in the classics and theatre, ... That's why we're good. We go to America and people respect that because we've been through the theatre, we've made discoveries and also made our mistakes there, and that's a wonderful environment to be in. By the time you start to make television and films you've got some experience behind you, an anchor. All those things, when you put them together, give you a certain amount of confidence and a certain belief in yourself, and the ability to adapt and change to some of the different roles you play. You need to be a good actor to play a villain, and we're always getting cast as villains because we play them well.
I've always admired the way she approaches her work. She seems to underplay things in such a believable way, and she's also a wonderful person, very realistic, down to earth and genuine, and I thought she played the part beautifully,
There was good chemistry between us and I think we formed a good partnership together, with her being the gutsy, working woman and me being the sort of guy who stays at home mending watches and evolving into another level of man, as it were.
They're always intense. I think everything is quite intense and that's the way it should be on things...
I'm the captain of one of these giant new planes, and 90 per cent of it takes place on board,
I'm usually catching up on things I should have been doing while I was filming - a pile of mail and bills. I like reading. I like watching a lot of sports on TV - football, boxing. I like cricket a lot. I try to get down to Lords to watch Yorkshire if they're playing down there.
I'd been trying for a while to get parts that weren't just the English bad guy, so it was quite refreshing to be playing someone who was a compassionate, decent guy.
Lord of the Rings was just so much enjoyment. It was over about the space of a year that I was filming. It's one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done, so emotional.
The idea is that Jodie Foster is with her child and she's going back to New York from Germany with her husband's body. She loses her child on a plane, and you think, 'How can that happen?' There's no record of her having brought a child onto the plane, and the captain is left wondering about whether she's telling the truth. You never really know if she's telling the truth or not.
I like to keep myself in shape. I run and do weights when I go to the gym.