Shaun Mark Bean was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England on April 17, 1959. His parents are Brian and Rita Bean; he has a younger sister, Lorraine. He is 5'11" and has green eyes and dark blond hair. Sean left school at 16 with two "O" levels, in Art and English. He had a variety of jobs, including selling cheese in a supermarket, shovelling snow, and working as a welder at his father's steel fabrication shop before he discovered acting while attending an art course at Rotherham College. Sean auditioned for London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in April 1980. One of 30 successful applicants (out of a field of 11,000) to win a scholarship, Sean began studying at RADA in Spring 1981. He was awarded a silver medal for his graduation performance in Waiting for Godot in Spring 1983. Sean is divorced from his third wife, actress Abigail Cruttenden, who played Jane Sharpe in the Sharpe television series. Sean and Abigail married on November 22, 1997 at the Hendon Registry Office in London, with a blessing the following day, November 23, at St. Andrews Church, Totteridge. Their daughter, Evie Natasha, was born on Friday, November 6, 1998, weighing 9 lbs, 3 oz. Sean also has two daughters, Lorna (born in October 1987) and Molly (born in September 1991) from his second marriage, to actress Melanie Hill. Sean and Melanie were married on 27 February 1990 at the Haringey Civic Centre in North London. They divorced in August 1997. Sean's first marriage was on 11 April 1981 to hairdresser Debra James, his childhood sweetheart. Sean had earlier enrolled in the January 1981 (Spring) term at RADA and travelled back to Sheffield to marry Debra during the break between the Spring term and the Summer term.