He missed the Oscars because of a visit to Ukraine. Sean Penn arrived in Kyiv
16 March 19:10
Actor and director Sean Penn visited Ukraine, skipping the Academy Awards ceremony in the United States, which took place the day before. This was confirmed by Ukrzaliznytsia, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
The company stated that they kept the actor’s trip a secret “until the very last moment.”
“We know how to keep secrets, so we kept quiet about this trip until the very last moment. Now we’re saying it officially: Sean Penn chose Ukraine over the Oscars! And he arrived in Kyiv via Ukrzaliznytsia. And we can confirm: Sean Penn did not smoke in the vestibule,” reads the Ukrzaliznytsia statement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also announced the movie star’s official visit. The head of state posted a joint photo with Sean Penn on his official Telegram channel, taken during a meeting in his office.
At the same time, Zelenskyy thanked the Hollywood actor for his concern regarding the war in Ukraine against Russia.
“Thanks to you, Sean, we know what a true friend of Ukraine is. You have been with Ukraine from the first day of the full-scale war. And today. And we know that you will continue to stand with our country and our people,” wrote the President of Ukraine.
The day before, the American publication The New York Times reported, citing its sources, that Sean Penn had missed the Oscars ceremony due to a trip to Ukraine. The actor’s representative declined to comment on this information.
On March 16, the actor received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the film “One Battle After Another.”
The third President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, congratulated Hollywood actor and director Sean Penn on winning the third Oscar of his career. Viktor Yushchenko posted his congratulations to Sean Penn on social media.
“My friend Sean, dear Cossack! I sincerely congratulate you on your new Oscar! This is a well-deserved recognition of your great talent, strength of character, and dedication to your craft. You are one of those artists whose work goes far beyond the movie screen—it touches the heart, makes people think, and inspires. I rejoice in your success and am truly proud to call you my friend. Ukrainians know well your kind heart and your sincere support for Ukraine,” wrote Viktor Yushchenko.
Sean Penn recently won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the film *One Battle After Another* directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. This is the actor’s third Oscar. He received the previous two in the Best Actor category for the films *Mystic River* in 2004 and *Milk* in 2009.
This is far from Sean Penn’s first visit to Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. He was in Kyiv on the day of the invasion because he had arrived in Ukraine the day before with the intention of filming a documentary there. A year later, his documentary *Superpower* was screened at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival.
Additionally, in 2022, Sean Penn supported President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and called for a boycott of the Oscars ceremony due to Zelenskyy being denied the opportunity to speak during the announcement of the winners. He also brought one of his Oscars to Ukraine and left it there until the end of the war.
Sean Penn also contributed to the creation of the film anthology *War Through the Eyes of Animals*, which tells several stories of animals living amid the war in Ukraine. In particular, Penn played one of the roles in the anthology, for which he accepted a symbolic fee of one dollar, since, according to the rules of the Screen Actors Guild, actors cannot play roles without a fee.
