CHICAGO (AP) — Actor Sean Penn will be honored during a gathering of Nobel Peace Prize laureates for his work in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

Penn will receive the 2012 Peace Summit Award on Wednesday afternoon in Chicago, where Peace Prize laureates have been gathered for a three-day summit.

Penn has become a major player in efforts to rebuild Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake that devastated the island nation, flattening thousands of buildings, killing more than 300,000 and leaving at least 1.5 million homeless.

Penn spends at least half his time in Haiti. He’s CEO of the J/P Haitian Relief Organization and is an ambassador-at-large for President Michel Martelly, the first non-Haitian to receive the designation.

He’s known for portraying complex, dark characters on screen, such as a death-row inmate in “Dead Man Walking.”

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