Sean Bean: From Sheffield council estate to Hollywood’s GoldenEye and Game of Thrones

Life could have been very different for the confused welder had he not pursued his interests in the arts. Bean, aged 63, is now estimated to have a net worth of over £16m thanks to his stellar roles in Hollywood blockbusters.

Raised on a council estate in Handsworth, Sean Bean was born to Brian, a steel plater with his own business, and Rita, a secretary. Bean had long dreamed of playing for Sheffield United, but following an argument which saw him smash a glass door and receive a nasty gash to his leg, his hopes soon came tumbling down.

Bean left Brook Comprehensive School with just two O-levels in English and Art. With no true direction, he began to work at his father’s fabrication company while studying welding one day a week at Rotherham College of Arts and Technology.

But after stumbling across an arts class, Bean quickly felt his smouldering creativity fire up. In 1979, Bean enrolled back at Rotherham College on a Fine Arts course before again coming upon a drama class in which he realised his true calling.

Within six months, Bean auditioned and won a scholarship to London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, which he began in January 1981. By 1986, Bean’s performances in a range of theatrical productions and TV stints saw him invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company.

1992 saw Bean star alongside big names such as Harrison Ford, Samuel L. Jackson and Anne Archer in the box office hit Patriot Games. The following year Bean stepped in to take the role of Richard Sharpe in the massively popular ITV series Sharpe, which was broadcast from 1993 to 1997, making him one of the UK’s greatest TV personalities.

He would then be considered for the top role of James Bond before actually appearing as the villain Alec Trevalyan in 1995 film GoldenEye, soon followed by his role as Spence alongside Robert De Niro in Ronin.

In 2001 he would shoot to further international fame for his blow away role of Boromir in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Return of the King, a character which Bean said was his favourite of his countless on-screen deaths. Such a role gave him many more interesting characters in critically acclaimed films, and in 2011 he would star as Lord Eddard Stark in the HBO series Game of Thrones – another death which came at the hands of royal executioner Ser Ilyn Payne after he confessed to treason against the crown.

Throughout his lavish career, Bean has married a total of five times, and has three children. He is soon to celebrate his six year anniversary with his wife, 37-year-old Ashley Moore. The live in Somerset together.

The Sheffield icon is still a regular visitor to the city and Bramall Lane to watch his beloved Blades in action.

In 2008, Bean was asked what his epitaph would be. He said: “He was a good father, a decent bloke and a good actor. And he was so pleased to have lived long enough to see Sheffield United win their fourth consecutive Premiership title on goal difference from Leeds United.”