Behind the scenes at every Oscar ceremony, they make all of the year’s Oscar-winning actors pose together for photos. This year, only Michael B. Jordan, Jessie Buckley and Amy Madigan were there to pose together. But that worked out well – the vibe between those three was wonderful, and there are tons of cute photos of the three of them together, including posing in the Oscar photo-booth. Just know that if Sean Penn had been there, his ham-face would have killed the vibe spectacularly. He would have been grumpily chain-smoking and making everyone miserable. I’m actually glad he didn’t turn up for the Oscars, although it would have been better overall if the Best Supporting Actor award had gone to Delroy Lindo or Stellan Skarsgard. So where was Penn? As it turns out, he headed to Ukraine before the Oscars.

Sean Penn won the Academy Award for best supporting actor for his turn as a military zealot in Paul Thomas Anderson’s politically charged film “One Battle After Another.”

But he skipped the proceedings on Sunday and headed to Europe, where his plan as of late last week was to visit Ukraine, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

The people did not specify what he would be doing there or where precisely within the country he would be going. There remained some possibility that although Penn had left the United States by the time of the telecast, his itinerary might have changed. A representative for Penn declined to comment.

This was the sixth Oscar nomination and third win for Penn, 65, who was a favorite to take home the honor. The other contenders for best supporting actor were Stellan Skarsgard for his self-involved father in “Sentimental Value”; Jacob Elordi for his depiction of the doctor’s monstrous creation in “Frankenstein”; Delroy Lindo as a vampire-fighting blues musician in “Sinners”; and Benicio Del Toro for his portrayal of a karate instructor and revolutionary ally in “One Battle After Another.”

During the ceremony, the presenter for the supporting actor category, Kieran Culkin, said, “Sean Penn couldn’t be here this evening, or didn’t want to, so I’ll be accepting the award on his behalf.”

Penn’s performance garnered a BAFTA and an Actor’s Award from the Screen Actors Guild. But he skipped both of those ceremonies. With his win on Sunday, Penn joins a small club of actors who have won three Oscars. They include Meryl Streep, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jack Nicholson and Ingrid Bergman.

Penn has spent significant time in Ukraine since 2022, when he filmed a documentary, “Superpower,” about Russia’s invasion of the country.

[From The NY Times]

It’s actually a little bit crazy that Penn swept the major awards except for the Golden Globes, which was the only show he turned up for. Do you think that after he lost at the Globes, he was just like “f–k it” and decided to skip everything else? He barely campaigned for the Oscar as well, although he did a few things – a W Magazine cover, a Variety actors-on-actors thing (with Julia Roberts), an appearance at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. He went to two OBAA premieres and that was it. So… he did play the game a little bit, but nowhere near the level of other nominees. Oscar voters are really crazy, that’s all I’ll say. As for Penn heading to Ukraine… I will give him the benefit of the doubt, actually. I think he probably hoped he wouldn’t win and he didn’t want to ruin everyone else’s night.

Yesterday, Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy posted a photo with Penn:

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

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, screencap courtesy of CBS/Golden Globes.