Sean Penn won his third Oscar Sunday night for supporting actor for his role as Colonel Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” but he was missing from the awards show.
Penn skipped the ceremony to meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian leader posted a photo of them together on X, thanking the actor and activist. Zelenskyy wrote, “Sean, thanks to you, we know what a true friend of Ukraine is. You have stood with Ukraine since the first day of the full-scale war. This is still true today. And we know that you will continue to stand with our country and our people.”
Sean, thanks to you, we know what a true friend of Ukraine is.
You have stood with Ukraine since the first day of the full-scale war.
This is still true today.
And we know that you will continue to stand with our country and our people. pic.twitter.com/wGneO1rqJI
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 16, 2026
Last year’s supporting actor winner Kieran Culkin presented the award Sunday night, saying “Sean Penn couldn’t be here this evening — or didn’t want to, so I’ll be accepting the award on his behalf.”
Penn appeared on last year’s Variety’s Actors on Actors in a conversation with Julia Roberts and said he skirted the no-smoking rules at the Golden Globes to light up a cigarette during the ceremony. At the 2026 Globes, he lost best supporting actor to “Sentimental Value’s” Stellan Skarsgård. Penn went on to win the Actor Award and BAFTA award, but declined to attend either ceremony.
At last year’s Lumiere Film Festival, Penn talked about his activism, including his documentary “Superpower,” co-directed with Aaron Kaufman, about his encounters with Zelensky. Penn reflected on how his activism, filmmaking and carpentry all come from the same impulse. “I don’t know that I differentiate between getting up in the morning and going to my workshop and building a piece of furniture from going to a movie set and acting or directing a movie, or anything I’ve done working in the NGO space or with the documentary ‘Superpower,’” he said. “It all feels like you’re always looking to be value added. Sometimes you’re not; sometimes you can catch yourself inflaming a situation. You have to weigh risk-benefit on everything – to the situation, not to oneself.”
