and Brian Cox as Major Michael Hogan in "Sharpe's Eagle."
'''Shaun Mark Bean''' (born April 17, 1959 to Brian and Rita Bean) is an English actor from Sheffield, South Yorkshire. As an actor, he adopted the Irish/Scottish spelling "Sean" of his first name. Prior to attending RADA in London, Bean worked for his father's steel business as a welder and considered becoming an artist. He made his acting debut in 1983 at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury, Berkshire, England, as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet.
He is perhaps best known for his role as Boromir in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, though in the United Kingdom, his portrayal of Richard Sharpe in the television series "Sharpe" (based on the historical novels of the Napoleonic Wars by Bernard Cornwell) has earned him high acclaim. The 14-episode Sharpe television series concluded in 1997, but has established a loyal following with a Sharpe Appreciation Society now in the U.S. and in London http://www.southessex.co.uk. A one-off episode, ''
Sharpe's Challenge'' was aired in April, 2006.
His popularity in the Sharpe series became an in-joke in many of his later films — he works the word "sharp" into his characters' dialogue whenever possible.
thumb|300px|Sean Bean as Alec Trevelyan in the James Bond film ''
GoldenEye''.
Other notable appearances primarily as villains, include as an Irish terrorist in the 1992 film adaptation of ''
Patriot Games'', as Mellors the gamekeeper in the highly controversial 1992 BBC adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'', as Alec Trevelyan (MI6's 006), the major villain of the 1995 James Bond film ''
GoldenEye'', a greedy businessman in ''
National Treasure'' (2004), as sympathetic warrior Odysseus in the 2004 film ''
Troy'', as a megalomaniacal scientist in ''
The Island'' (2005) and as a sympathetic soul in ''
North Country'' (2005) , in which Bean proved he could convert his naturally heavy Sheffield accent into that of Minnesota American slang and a dedicated father in ''
Silent Hill''. He was also featured in Moby's music video "We Are All Made of Stars."
Often described as a sex symbol, Bean embarrassingly admits he doesn't mind being the ladies' "bit of rough." The actor is also described as shy and unassuming and prefers reading a good book to attending a high-profile premiere. He has been married and subsequently divorced three times; first to his high-school sweetheart Debra James, then to actress Melanie Hill, with whom he shares daughters Lorna and Molly, and to Sharpe co-star Abigail Cruttenden, mother of his third daughter Evie Natasha. His
