Sean Penn joins exclusive club.

[Yukari Yakumo]

Mr. Penn's Best Actor win for his role as Harvey Milk is his second Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. (His other Best Actor win was for the role of Jimmy Markum in Mystic River.)

Sean Penn joins an exclusive group of actors who have won the Best Actor award twice. The other actors who have done this are Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson, and Daniel Day-Lewis.

No actor has won the Best Actor award three times.

[ColbertWatcher]

1. He should have won for "Dead Man Walking." n/t

[Warpy]

3. I think so too

He often plays unsympathetic characters but they're all completely believable.

His performance in "Dead Man Walking" was genius, showing us the essential humanity of a completely unredeemable character.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. That was a great movie.

[ColbertWatcher]

11. He was great in it. So was Sarandon. n/t

[adadem]

5. Yes he should have

I love Sean Penn...even when he was in Fast Times at Ridgemont High

[Bluebear]

10. Oh my god yes.

[saltpoint]

2. Penn is blessed with the grit and the gleam of a great character actor.

He had a very strong field of competitors this year and his colleagues voted him the award -- I'm guessing that no director in the joint could have found much fault in any of the five actors' performances -- but Penn's was an angel's eyebrow better.

He deserves to cart that trophy back home tonight.

[vanderBeth]

6. Who would've thought Spicoli had it in him?

Great, great actor

[ColbertWatcher]

13. Certainly not Madonna! LOL! n/t

[Lisa0825]

14. I still think of Spicoli when I see him! But I have great respect for the range of his talent.

He can play an unforgettable comic character in a movie like Fast Times, and a tragic case in "Dead Man Walking." I have not yet seen Milk, but will soon. I adore Sean Penn as an actor and as a human activist.

[vanderBeth]

16. Oh, I kid with the Spicoli thing too

because I always thinks it's funny that the stoner/surfer and the football star from Ridgemont High have now both won Oscars.

I think he is an incredible actor and, if possible, an even better human being.

[Mira]

7. Sean Penn - All Thumbs up - I am so thrilled ! And a wonderful empassioned

plea for equality under the law.
He deserves this second Oscar, and it should have been his third, Dead Man Walking was a masterpiece of a performance.

[Triana]

8. Agreed. It *should* be his third.

He's an awesome actor.

[progressoid]

9. He's not done yet. I think he'll get a third.

[Janice325]

12. I agree with you.

I never thought I'd even LIKE Sean Penn as a person, but after tonight's acceptance speech, I'd love to give the guy a big old hug.

WOW!!

[robinlynne]

15. and he certainly deserves to be a member of that exclusive club!