Actor Sean Penn, a face of Hollywood, won the 98th Academy Award for best supporting actor but did not attend the ceremony. Unlike his attendance at the Golden Globes in January, this was his third absence, following the recent British Academy Film Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
On the 15th (local time) at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles (LA), the 98th Academy Awards honored actor Sean Penn with best supporting actor for the film One Battle After Another (hereafter One Battle). The race in this category was expected to be a two-way contest with Stellan Skarsgard of the film Sentimental Value, but the trophy went to Penn.
One Battle is about a protagonist who once operated in an underground organization and lives in hiding, rescuing his daughter kidnapped by his nemesis. In this film, Sean Penn plays Col. Steven J. Lokzo, who espouses extreme white supremacist ideology.
The presenter said, "I don't know whether Sean Penn chose not to attend or was unable to, but I will make sure this award is delivered to him."
With this win, Penn became the eighth actor in Academy Awards history to win three or more acting prizes. He previously won best actor twice, for Mystic Lover (2004) and Milk (2009).
In particular, in 2022 Penn gifted one of his Oscar trophies to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a visit to Ukraine. At the time, Zelenskyy said he would return the trophy to Penn if they won the war.
Meanwhile, at the ceremony, Netflix's animated feature K-pop Demon Hunters won best animated feature.