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Sean Penn accepted the fifth annual Joel Siegel Award at the 17th annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards via satellite from Haiti.
George Clooney presented Penn with the honor.
The annual award, named after the late BFCA member and "Good Morning, America" film critic Joel Siegel, honors celebrity who use their status as a platform for good and humanitarian efforts.
"I want to thank the example of Joel Siegel and George Clooney. Watching the clips of Martin Scorsese's films, I was reminded that great filmmaking is truly a humanitarian act. The people of Haiti embrace that and they embrace the work that the committed among you do. And so I'm here as someone who often says tell it to a humanitarian because many of you in the room know me, and know that that's the last likely description of me but it is the absolute description of the people behind me," said Penn.
The actor founded the J/P Haitian Relief Organization in the immediate aftermath of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. Since then J/P HRO has led the effort to raise money and awareness in response to the disaster, which took more than 200,000 lives.