Sean Penn Rages at Fan for Taking Photo of Him

Sean Penn’s early brush with fame found him aggressively confronting paparazzi eager to snap his mug.

This week, Penn raged against a fan whose crime was stealthily snapping a picture of the Oscar winner with a smart phone.

Penn was at the Lobby Bar at the St. Regis Hotel in the Financial District … when he saw a flash go off from another patron’s cell phone and realized the guy was trying to take a photo. 

A witness at the bar tells TMZ … Penn bolted after the guy (who wasn’t a paparazzo) … and screamed at him, “Do we look like f**king zoo animals?”

Penn — who was in town to speak at a sales conference — also grabbed the man’s phone and slammed it to the ground.

Penn is caught on tape shouting, “I’ll make you eat that phone … get the fuck out of here.”