Feb 26, 2007, 13:34 GMT
Los Angeles - The following are brief profiles of the major Oscar winners Sunday night.
Clint Eastwood presents the Honorary Oscar to Ennio Morricone during the 79th Annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA, on Sunday, February 25, 2007. EPA/MICHAEL YADA / A.M.P.A.S.
Best picture: The Departed
Martin Scorsese's nail-biting examination of the personal struggles and torn loyalties that develop in an undercover battle between the Irish Mafia and the police in Boston. The movie centers on a mafia mole in the police and an undercover cop embedded deep in the local mob and their race to uncover each other. Featuring an all star cast including Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg, the movie was adapted from a Hong Kong thriller called Internal Affairs. A sequel is reported to be in the planning stages.
Best director: Martin Scorsese
Until this victory Scorsese was often regarded as the best American director never to win an Oscar. Born in November 1942 in Queens, New York, Scorsese took to filmmaking after a brief spell in a Catholic seminary convinced him that the priesthood was not for him. He studied film at New York University and quickly caught the eye of Hollywood when he co-edited the movie Woodstock in 1970.
He established his style of tormented individuals struggling in situations of violence in only his second movie, Mean Streets, which also saw him launch long-term collaborations with Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel. Among his other renowned movies are Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Taxi Driver, New York, New York, The Last Waltz and Raging Bull. More recent movies include the controversial The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Kundun, Gangs of New York and The Aviator.
Best actress: Helen Mirren in The Queen
Dame Helen Mirren was born in 1945 and has enjoyed a tremendous career on stage, in television and in film. Born in Essex, England to the son of a Russian aristocrat who fled the Russian revolution, she attended a convent school and was already a stage star in London at the age of 20 when she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Her first major film was in The Age of Consent in 1969. Other notable early movies included Caligula, The Long Good Friday and Cal. Her lack of inhibition about appearing nude on screen has given her a sexy image, without detracting from respect for her acting skills. Her TV roles have included prize-winning stints in the detective series Prime Suspect. More recent movies include The Madness of King George, Teaching Mrs Tingle, Gosford Park, Calendar Girls and Elizabeth I.
Best actor: Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland
Born in Longview, Texas, in 1961, Forest Whitaker was a successful college football player who trained as an operatic tenor before making the switch to acting. Whitaker made his film debut at the age of 21 in the raucous comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High in 1982. But he really caught the audience's attention until the 1986 movie The Colour of Money in which he played a naive-looking pool player who out-hustles Paul Newman's character. He followed this up with appearances in other popular movies like Platoon (1986), Stakeout (1987) and Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), and won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988 for his role as tortured jazz icon Charlie 'Bird' Parker in Clint Eastwood's passion project Bird.
Other notable roles came in the critically-lauded drama The Crying Game and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai in 1999.
He is married to actress Keisha Whitaker and has two children with her, in addition to another child from a previous relationship.
Best foreign language film: The Lives of Others
Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the movie is an observation of the surveillance culture under the communist regime of the former East Germany. Set in the 1980's, the film focuses on successful dramatist Dreyman and his longtime companion, a popular actress whose private thoughts don't always tow the party line.
The fallout comes when the Minister of Culture falls for Christa and assigns a secret service agent to find out more about her.
Best supporting actor: Alan Arkin
An acclaimed actor, author and director Arkin, 72, won the Oscar for best supporting actor for his portrayal of a rebellious and foul-mouthed grandfather in the indie comedy Little Miss Sunshine.
Born in New York, Arkin's first major role was in The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming in 1966, for which he earned his first Oscar nomination. He earned a second nomination for his role in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, but most critics agree that his greatest part came in the black anti-war comedy Catch-22.
Best supporting actress: Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Hudson won the Oscar for best supporting actress Sunday night for her role as soul singer Effie White in the movie Dreamgirls. The victory marked the pinnacle of a remarkable showbiz story for Hudson, 25, who was chosen for what was her first movie role after losing in the final stages of the third season of the hit reality TV show American Idol.
Born in Chicago in 1981, she cites singer Whitney Houston as her major influence. In March she is due to become the first American Idol singer and the first African-American singer to be featured on the cover of American fashion magazine Vogue.
Your Talkback on this Story