Sean Penn Becomes Fourth Actor to Win 3 Oscars

Sean Penn has won his third Oscar, this time, for supporting actor for his role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another.”

Penn didn’t attend the Oscar ceremony. Kieran Culkin presented the award, 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 may have been headed to Ukraine instead of hitting the Oscars, the New York Times reported.

The longtime activist traveled to Ukraine to co-direct the documentary “Superpower” in 2022.

Penn has two previous Oscars, both for best actor, playing gay activist and politician Harvey Milk in 2008’s “Milk” and an ex-con seeking vengeance in 2003’s “Mystic River,” as well as three other previous Oscar nominations, for “Dead Man Walking,” “Sweet and Lowdown," and “I Am Sam.”

This season, he had won the Actor Award and the BAFTA for his role as the menacing Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic revolutionary comedy.

Penn had begun the season as a participant in the drama: He appeared at Variety’s Actors on Actors in a conversation with Julia Roberts, and skirted no-smoking rules at the Golden Globes to light up a cigarette during the ceremony.

At the Globes, he lost supporting actor to “Sentimental Value’s” Stellan Skarsgård, but went on to win the Actor Award and the BAFTA awards, however, he declined to attend either ceremony.

Penn has an ambivalent relationship with the Oscars and had publicly mentioned  the idea of melting down the two Oscars he has to make bullets for the Ukrainian war effort.

Despite it all, he won over fellow nominees Stellan Skarsgård for “Sentimental Value,” Delroy Lindo for “Sinners,” Jacob Elordi for “Frankenstein” and Penn’s own “One Battle After Another” co-star Benicio Del Toro.