One suspects that even crossing the street might be an intense experience for Sean Penn. He's swung fists at photographers, survived marriage to Madonna, won an Oscar for his grieving father in Mystic River, and directed three grim but compelling movies of his own (the curious should try out

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The Pledge). The Interpreter finds him in a tight spot again, as a cop investigating Nicole Kidman's conspiracy theories. But we'll never forget he started as Fast Times' Jeff Spicoli. Here's how his remarkable journey began.

Taps (1981)
What would the grown-up Penn think of this film now? A group of cadets seize control of their military academy when it's threatened by developers. In his movie debut, the actor plays the sardonic conscience of the soldier/students, led by Timothy Hutton.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
It's one of the best high school sex comedies because it scrutinizes the tribes of California teen-dom with the brains of a sociologist. Penn incarnates surf troll Jeff Spicoli so convincingly, he seems to be creating a new stereotype as he goes along.

Bad Boys (1983)
Wary of being typecast as a perma-buzzed slacker, Penn followed Fast Times with this juvenile detention drama. We've seen the prison clich�s before, but his brooding performance as a tough with a heart justified the Brando and Dean comparisons.

The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
Penn is the bumbling drug dealer who becomes an unlikely conduit between CIA snitch Timothy Hutton and the Russians in this Cold War curio. He would reprise his sniveling and snorting ball of neuroses in the later Carlito's Way.

	The Assassination of Richard Nixon

	Taps

	Bad Boys

	The Falcon and the Snowman

	At Close Range

	Fast Times at Ridgemont High

	The Interpreter

At Close Range (1986)
Forget Shanghai Surprise. Penn's partnership with Madonna bore its greatest fruit when "Live to Tell" soundtracked this family affair. Penn and brother Christopher Penn are drawn into daddy Christopher Walken's criminal gang, but discover blood runs thin.