Actors Charged with Assault or Battery (On-Set and Off-Set)

Incidents involving criminal charges can shape how people remember a performer, even when their body of work spans decades and genres. This list spotlights male actors who have been charged with assault or battery, either connected to their professional lives or away from the set, while also noting the projects many viewers know them for.

To keep things practical, each entry briefly outlines the case and then anchors the actor in their filmography—titles, plots, casts, and key crew—so readers can place the news alongside the work they’ve seen on screens big and small.

Mark Wahlberg

As a teenager in Boston, Mark Wahlberg was convicted in connection with a violent incident and served part of a three-month sentence after charges that included assault; years later he sought, and later dropped, a request for a state pardon. In his career, audiences know him from ‘The Departed’, where he plays a sharp-tongued state police sergeant in a cat-and-mouse thriller directed by Martin Scorsese, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon in the leads and Jack Nicholson as a crime boss; the film’s tense plot tracks undercover identities within Boston’s Irish mob and the unit pursuing it.

Wahlberg’s earlier breakout in ‘Boogie Nights’ cast him as Dirk Diggler in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ensemble drama about the adult-film industry; the movie features Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, and Burt Reynolds, with a soundtrack steeped in period pop and camera work that favors long, gliding takes to pull viewers through a rising-and-falling-stardom arc. In ‘Lone Survivor’, he portrays Marcus Luttrell in a combat survival story directed by Peter Berg, opposite Taylor Kitsch and Ben Foster, with action staged around a Navy SEAL reconnaissance mission gone wrong in Afghanistan.

Emile Hirsch

Emile Hirsch was charged after an altercation with a studio executive during the Sundance Film Festival and later pleaded guilty, serving a brief jail sentence tied to the case. His best-known roles include ‘Into the Wild’, directed by Sean Penn and adapted from Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction book, following Christopher McCandless’s trek into the Alaskan wilderness; the film’s cast features Catherine Keener, Hal Holbrook, and Kristen Stewart, with Eddie Vedder contributing original songs and Eric Gautier handling cinematography.

Hirsch also headlined the Wachowskis’ ‘Speed Racer’, a kinetic family-friendly action film built around the Racer family’s fight against corporate corruption on the track, with Christina Ricci as Trixie and John Goodman and Susan Sarandon as Pops and Mom Racer; the production leans on vivid digital palettes and stylized editing to mimic anime paneling in live action. Around the same period he appeared with ‘Ten Thousand Saints’, a New York-set coming-of-age drama co-starring Ethan Hawke and Hailee Steinfeld and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini.

Shia LaBeouf

Shia LaBeouf was charged in Los Angeles with misdemeanor battery and petty theft stemming from an altercation in which prosecutors alleged he used force and took a man’s hat; a judge later allowed him into a diversion program. On screen he moved from Disney beginnings to leads in franchise fare like ‘Transformers’, an alien-robots-on-Earth action spectacle directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg, pairing him with Megan Fox and Josh Duhamel as military support while Industrial Light & Magic provided the transforming visual effects work.

He also wrote and starred in ‘Honey Boy’, directed by Alma Har’el, a semi-autobiographical drama about a young actor and his father; Noah Jupe and Lucas Hedges share the role across timelines, while LaBeouf plays a version of the father, and the film’s intimate scenes rely on handheld photography and a warm, grainy palette to track recovery and memory. Around the same period he appeared in ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’, an Americana adventure co-starring Zack Gottsagen and Dakota Johnson, with a river-journey plot that nods to classic buddy-quest storytelling.

Jonathan Majors

Jonathan Majors was arrested and later convicted of misdemeanor assault and second-degree harassment in New York following an incident involving his then-girlfriend; he received a sentence requiring a year-long domestic-violence intervention program. On the film side he’s central to ‘Creed III’, a boxing drama directed by and starring Michael B. Jordan, where Majors plays Damian Anderson, a former prodigy whose release from prison sets up a personal and professional grudge match; the cast includes Tessa Thompson and Phylicia Rashad, with training and fight scenes staged in crisp, wide photography to showcase rhythm and impact.

Majors is also prominent in Marvel’s ‘Loki’, a time-tangled series that uses production design full of retro-bureaucratic tech and branching timeline visuals; Tom Hiddleston leads as Loki with Owen Wilson’s Mobius as his TVA liaison, and Majors appears in key mythos-building roles that connect multiverse arcs across projects. Before his mainstream breakout he drew praise in ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’, a lyrical drama directed by Joe Talbot, co-starring Jimmie Fails and highlighting friendship, memory, and a changing city.

Jared Padalecki

Jared Padalecki was arrested in Austin and charged with two counts of assault with injury after an early-morning dispute outside a bar; police documents described an altercation with venue staff. His career is anchored by ‘Supernatural’, created by Eric Kripke, where he stars as Sam Winchester alongside Jensen Ackles’s Dean, brothers who crisscross America hunting ghosts, demons, and folklore creatures; the series blends monster-of-the-week plotting with long-running arcs about family and fate, backed by an often classic-rock soundtrack and a rotating stable of directors across its many seasons.

Padalecki later headlined ‘Walker’, a reimagining of a Texas-set crime-drama franchise, playing Cordell Walker with Lindsey Morgan and Keegan Allen in key roles; the show emphasizes family dynamics around cases investigated by the state’s investigative arm, with Austin and surrounding landscapes frequently used on location for wide, sun-baked vistas between procedural beats.

Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge related to an altercation with Oksana Grigorieva; the case concluded with probation and counseling requirements and was later noted in court records as set aside after he completed terms. As a filmmaker and star, he led ‘Braveheart’, an epic about William Wallace’s rebellion against English rule; the film’s large-scale battles showcase editor Steven Rosenblum’s cutting and James Horner’s Celtic-inflected score, with Sophie Marceau and Patrick McGoohan in pivotal roles and John Toll’s sweeping cinematography capturing misty highlands and muddy fields.

Behind the camera he also directed ‘The Passion of the Christ’, a dialogue-in-Aramaic-and-Latin biblical drama with Jim Caviezel in the lead and a production approach that emphasized practical makeup effects and stark, desaturated lighting. Earlier in his career, Gibson headlined ‘Lethal Weapon’, a buddy-cop action series directed by Richard Donner alongside Danny Glover, mixing quip-charged banter with freeway chases and explosive set pieces.

Tom Sizemore

Tom Sizemore faced multiple legal scrapes, including charges in Los Angeles related to intimate-partner abuse and battery; earlier he pleaded no contest in a case involving Heidi Fleiss. Audiences know him for ‘Saving Private Ryan’, Steven Spielberg’s World War II drama that follows a Ranger squad sent to retrieve a paratrooper; Sizemore plays Sgt. Horvath opposite Tom Hanks’s Capt. Miller, with Matt Damon, Edward Burns, and Barry Pepper rounding out the unit, and Janusz Kamiński’s handheld, desaturated combat photography defining the film’s look.

He’s also a memorable presence in Michael Mann’s ‘Heat’ as part of Robert De Niro’s crew in a meticulous heist-and-manhunt story; the movie’s ensemble includes Al Pacino, Val Kilmer, and Jon Voight, and its centerpiece downtown shootout is cut with documentary-style precision using location sound to heighten realism. In Ridley Scott’s ‘Black Hawk Down’, Sizemore appears as Lt. Col. Danny McKnight, supporting a depiction of urban combat in Mogadishu with a cast led by Josh Hartnett and Ewan McGregor.

Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in Aspen in a domestic case and received a sentence that included rehab, probation, and anger-management classes. His dramatic pedigree includes ‘Platoon’, Oliver Stone’s Vietnam-War drama that follows a young soldier’s moral trials within a fracturing platoon; Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger play rival sergeants whose clash defines the protagonist’s arc, and the film’s jungle sequences lean on natural-light shooting and voice-over narration to track disillusionment.

Sheen also fronted the sitcom ‘Two and a Half Men’, playing Charlie Harper opposite Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones in a Chuck Lorre–created show that built episodes around bachelor misadventures, family foibles, and quick-hit joke rhythms. The multi-camera format, running gags, and supporting guest stars keep a steady cadence between set-piece punchlines and character beats.

Russell Crowe

Russell Crowe was arrested in New York and charged after throwing a hotel phone that struck a concierge; he later pleaded guilty to third-degree assault in court. On film, he’s indelibly linked to ‘Gladiator’, Ridley Scott’s sword-and-sandals epic about a Roman general forced into slavery and the arena; Joaquin Phoenix co-stars as the volatile emperor, with Connie Nielsen and Oliver Reed in key roles, while Hans Zimmer’s score and John Mathieson’s photography give the battles and politics a grand, dust-filtered scale.

Crowe’s dramatic range is also on display in ‘A Beautiful Mind’, Ron Howard’s biographical drama about mathematician John Nash; Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, and Paul Bettany co-star, and the film’s classical score and restrained visual effects work are used to blur lines between perception and reality as it tracks Nash’s struggles and breakthroughs.

Sean Penn

Sean Penn has faced legal trouble connected to altercations, including a case that led to a short jail term after an on-set incident; later clashes with paparazzi also resulted in charges. In his filmography, he earned awards attention for ‘Mystic River’, Clint Eastwood’s Boston-set tragedy that follows three childhood friends pulled into a murder investigation; Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon co-star, and the film relies on moody, low-key lighting and a brooding score to underline secrets, guilt, and neighborhood loyalties.

Penn also portrayed Harvey Milk in ‘Milk’, directed by Gus Van Sant, a biographical drama about San Francisco’s first openly gay elected official. The ensemble includes Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, and Diego Luna, with handheld camerawork and archival-style inserts grounding the political campaign and community organizing that propel the story.

Share your thoughts on these cases and the films mentioned—who did we miss, and which titles stood out to you—in the comments.