“Famous is celebrityism and I don’t want that.” —Wright Penn*

A former model, Robin Wright Penn started acting in television, spending a couple of years on the now-retired soap opera "Santa Barbara" and earning two Emmy nominations in the process. Her film career has been unusual; in fact, it is not a surprise that both life and work sees her paired up with Sean Penn, as Wright Penn has always been choosy of the projects she undertook. Although she has done a lot of quality work, not very much of it was known to mass audiences prior to her appearance as Jenny, the love of Tom Hanks's Forrest Gump in the 1994 blockbuster by the same name. "Forrest Gump" took Wright Penn to a different professional level; she became a hot commodity, landing lead roles in "She's So Lovely" (as a woman torn between her ex and current husbands played by Sean Penn and John Travolta) and the tear-jerker that was "Message in a Bottle" (1999), opposite Kevin Costner. My favorite Wright Penn film is the not-so-well-known "Moll Flanders" (1996), a screen adaptation of the better known Daniel Defoe novel about the life of a woman born into poverty in 18th century London. In this film, she worked with an impressive cast headed by Morgan Freeman (winner of two Best Actor Academy Awards) and Stockard Channing (best known for her role as Rizzo in "Grease," 1973, and nominated for Best Actress Oscar for "Six Degrees of Separation," 1993). In this simple story — a tale of one ordinary yet extraordinary woman who manages to retain her humanity despite life's worst trials — Wright Penn truly shines, delivering a historically accurate, believable, and touching performance. In a similar fashion, she holds her own against Jack Nicholson in "The Pledge," and if one were to speculate based on past events, we are sure to see a lot more or Wright Penn, hopefully in the new Sean Penn projects the arrival of which I eagerly await.