Hollywood star Sean Penn traveled the Venezuelan countryside along president Hugo Chavez. "I came here looking for a great country. I found a great country," the Oscar-winning actor said. "I'm also here as a journalist and so I owe it to that medium to wait until I've digested, fact-checked and finished my journey here."

"When the economic crisis in the United States breaks out, it's going to hit the world," Chavez said. "We'll help them. The United States must be helped because the United States is going to implode."

Penn made an unannounced visit to Venezuela as a journalist. Previous to their meeting and country tour, Chavez called the 46-year-old actor "well informed about what is happening in the United States and the world, in spite of being in Hollywood."

Penn is the son of Jewish-American actor and director Leo Penn and Italian-Irish-American actress Eileen Ryan. He won an Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in Mystic River (2003) and was nominated for three other Oscars, for his roles in the films I Am Sam, Sweet and Lowdown and Dead Man Walking.

Penn was married to pop star Madonna in 1985 and divorced in 1989. He is now married with Robin Wright, with whom he had two children, daughter Dylan Frances (1991) and son Hopper Jack (1993). He was physically involved in rescuing and caring for many Hurricane Katrina victims.