Fast Times at Ridgemont High

SEAN PENN: Sean Penn launched his career with the gloriously laid-back charm of Jeff Spicoli, the blessed stoner in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," but the Los Angeles native has been anything but mellow in his personal adventures as a committed social liberal. His protests against... more the Bush Administration's Middle East policy predate the war itself and earned the ridicule of filmmakers Matt Stone and Trey Parker in "Team America: World Police." Though some bloggers sneered, it's hard to knock Penn's willingness to travel to New Orleans days after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, where he took to the flooded streets with rescuers to locate stranded New Orleanians.

(Image: AP)