X17 News

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - The British Academy of Film and Television Arts' Los Angeles branch honored Sean Penn and Tilda Swinton at a ceremony in Century City, Thursday night.

Penn, who is considered a potential Oscar nominee for his role in the upcoming "MILK," received the 2008 Stanly Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film.

Swinton, who won an Oscar for "Michael Clayton," received the Britannia Award for British Artist of the year.

"The Queen" director Stephen Frears was awarded for Artistic Excellence in Directing. He joked with reporters about flying all the way to California to pick up an award from the UK.

"You normally come to Los Angeles for the Oscars, it seem somehow like something has gone wrong, but it's great," Frears says.

Don Cheadle was given the BAFTA/LA Humanitarian Award for his work to bring attention to the plight of people in Darfur.

"If we don't speak in one voice to seek out some justice then I think it diminishes us all as human beings," Cheadle told reporters. "We need to continue to try to raise awareness and push our leaders to do more to see an end to the crisis."

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - X17 photographers caught Sean Penn and an unidentified brunette woman at Sugar Fish in Brentwood, but the Oscar winner didn't seem to thrilled to be seen with her!

Click here to see the gallery of Sean and his hot date

After their lunch, Sean's lady companion spotted photographers and ran back into the restaurant, and at that point Sean hopped into his black Nissan truck. The actor didn't seem to want to go back and get his date with the paparazzi on his tail, but he could totally ditch his date, so he waited on the street and made her walk all the way across the parking lot. Rude as it may seem, Sean did tip the parking attendant 20 dollars!

Click here to see video of Sean nearly ditching his female companion

With Sean recently split from wife Robin Wright, it appears as though he's back on the rebound.

Click here for all of X17online's Sean Penn stories

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - Sean Penn has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge surrounding his scuffle last October with a photographer.

A judge has sentenced the 49-year-old actor to 300 hours of community service and 36 hours of anger management classes. Penn had been facing a single count of misdemeanor vandalism for kicking a photographer and breaking his camera near an upscale Brentwood shopping center.

Penn has a history of violence including 30 days spent in jail after assaulting an extra on a movie set back in 1987. He also faced domestic assault complaints while married to Madonna.

A hearing date for this recent scuffle has been set for July 8.

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - Sean Penn and Robin Wright are now officially divorced. The couple, who have a 19-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son together, reached an agreement on spousal support, child support and a split on assets.

Court papers were filed on July 22 in Marin County, California.

Back in December 2007, Penn and Wright started the divorce process after being married for 11 years. However, after four months, they called off the divorce. In April 2009, Penn filed for legal separation ... but in May, the couple got back together.

In August, Wright filed for divorce and said she had no plans to reconcile with Penn.

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - Sean Penn will direct Robert De Niro and Kristen Wiig in an upcoming flick entitled The Comedian.

De Niro will star as a comedian who has fallen from grace and seeks an extravagant comeback. Kristen Wiig will play his love interest, who he meets at court-mandated community service after hitting a member of his audience with a microphone.

Penn is scheduled to begin filming for The Comedian in the spring of 2012.

The Cannes Film Festival is set to host a fundraising event for Haiti in support of Sean Penn's charity J/P HRO, which has been working to repair the devastated nation since a catastrophic 2010 earthquake.

In addition to Penn's organization, Paul Haggis' Artists for Peace and Justice and Petra Nemcova's Happy Hearts Fund are also being honored at the fundraising dinner on May 18.

Established in 2009, Haggis' group aims to help poor children and families through education and health programs, while Nemcova's charity has been working to improve conditions in Haiti since 2007.

This is the first time this millennium the film festival has hosted a fundraiser.