Sean Penn won his third Oscar for Best Supporting Actor on Sunday night for his role as Colonel Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, but he was absent from the ceremony.
Penn was absent from the ceremony to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The Ukrainian leader posted a photo of them together and thanked the actor and activist. President Zelenskiy wrote: “Thanks to you, Sean, we now know what a true friend of Ukraine is. You were with Ukraine from the first day of the all-out war. This is still true today. And we know that you will always be with our country and people.”
Kieran Culkin, who won Best Supporting Actor last year, presented the award on Sunday night, saying, “Sean Penn was unable or unwilling to be here tonight, so I will accept the award in his place.”
Penn appeared on the variety show Actors on Actors last year and, in a conversation with Julia Roberts, said he ignored the Golden Globes’ no-smoking rules and lit a cigarette during the ceremony. At the 2026 Globe Awards, he lost the Best Supporting Actor award to Stellan Skarsgård for “Sentimental Value.” Penn subsequently won the Best Actor Award and the BAFTA Award, but refused to attend either ceremony.
At last year’s Lumiere Film Festival, Mr. Penn spoke about his work, including the documentary “Superpowers,” which he co-directed with Aaron Kaufman, and his encounter with Mr. Zelensky. Penn reflected on how his activities, filmmaking and carpentry all stem from the same impulse. “I can’t tell the difference between waking up in the morning and going to my workshop and making furniture, and going to a movie set and acting or directing a movie, or having worked in the NGO field or in the documentary ‘Superpowers’,” he said. “I feel like I’m always looking to add value. Sometimes it’s not, and sometimes I find myself inciting the situation. In everything, you have to weigh the risks and benefits, not against yourself but against the situation.”
