The inelastic deformation and failure behavior of sheet metals is governed by plasticity and damage mechanisms governing the onset and evolution of failure. These mechanisms are strongly influenced by the stress state, the loading history, including non-proportional loading paths and load reversals, and by material anisotropy induced by manufacturing processes as well as prior deformation history. A reliable description of such effects requires a close coupling of advanced experimental techniques and physically motivated phenomenological models. This involves the process of material characterization, which is usually accompanied by numerical simulations that reveal local stress conditions, among other things. In this contribution, recent developments in the experimental and numerical characterization of plasticity and ductile damage in sheet metals are presented. A particular focus is placed on newly developed biaxial testing methodologies, which allow a systematic variation of stress triaxiality and Lode parameter under proportional, non-proportional and cyclic loading conditions. These experiments provide essential data for identifying stress-state-dependent material behavior and for revealing loading history effects that are difficult to capture by conventional uniaxial tests. On the modeling side, a phenomenological continuum damage model is discussed. Strategies for parameter identification based on uni- and biaxial experiments as well as numerical simulations are outlined. The predictive capabilities of the models are assessed by comparisons between experimental results and corresponding finite element simulations and the mutual enrichment between experiments and computational modeling is highlighted. The presented results underline the crucial role of biaxial experiments in reliable material characterization. In addition, an outlook to biaxial testing with newly designed geometries with heterogeneous strain fields is given.