IN STEP WITH ROBIN WRIGHT PENN
Inevitably referred to as “among the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood,” Robin Wright Penn is also a good guy—imaginative, relaxed and, when she chooses, pretty funny.

Her latest film, Breaking and Entering, a romantic drama with Jude Law and Juliette Binoche, opens this week in New York and L.A. Shot in London and directed by Anthony Minghella (Cold Mountain), it has Jude playing a landscape architect and Robin as his live-in lover. “Anthony is a great welcomer of ideas,” said Robin. “We had lots of discussions before rehearsals even began. We got the chance to tell him what we liked and what we didn’t like about the script.”

Robin probably will always be remembered as Buttercup in The Princess Bride and as the doomed Jenny in Forrest Gump with Tom Hanks—a role that won her several major acting awards. “That was quite an experience,” she said of working with Hanks. “We were together on that shoot for four months and had great laughs and traveled everywhere.”

Robin and her husband, actor Sean Penn, have been married for 10 years. For a time, they were tabloid favorites due to Sean’s activist politics and former marriage to Madonna.

The couple live just north of San Francisco. They got together while acting in the 1990 film State of Grace, and Sean has since directed Robin in two films The Pledge and The Crossing Guard. They have a son Hopper and a daughter Dylan. Do the kids go with them on location when they work?

“Less and less,” she told me. “The children have so many other things going on, they don’t want to come.” I also asked if their son’s name was an homage to actor Dennis Hopper. “No,” Robin said. “ About two days before I gave birth, we hadn’t yet been able to decide on a name, and Sean remembered he’d been in this movie Racing With the Moon and that Nicolas Cage would call his character the coolest name—‘Hop.’ And my baby didn’t just move inside me, it hopped around! So that’s his name—Hopper.” He’s 13, does he like it now? “I think he does,” Robin answered. “He never gets confused with anyone else, because he’s the only Hopper.”
BRADY'S BITS
Robin Wright Penn was born in Dallas but grew up in La Jolla, Calif. She broke into acting on the soap Santa Barbara in 1984. One of her favorite acting jobs was the film Moll Flanders. “It was great shooting in Ireland,” said Robin. “There was a Sheryl Crow song that both Morgan Freeman and I loved, and during scenes in which we were stuck in a carriage, we did a little harmony and sang duets.” Recently, Robin has been working on a documentary about female surfers. She originally was asked to do the voice-over, but that led to producing and directing. “We’ve been shopping it around,” said Robin. “Now we’re showing it to potential backers—the money men.” And is Robin a surfer, or are her kids? “No,” she replied. “Sean’s the surfer of the family.”

Personal
Born April 8, 1966, in Dallas, Tex. Married to Sean Penn since 1996; two kids: Dylan, 15, and Hopper, 13.
Why You Know Her
She earned three Emmy nominations for her work on Santa Barbara, but her breakout role came in the film The Princess Bride in 1987.
What You Don’t Know
Her favorite songs are Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” and Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks” because, she says, “the lyrics are so poignant.”
By James Brady Published: December 3, 2006 in Parade Magazine