This year's Academy Award for best supporting actor has gone to George Clooney for his role in the CIA spy thriller Syriana. Rachel Weisz won the best supporting actress award for her role as a social activist in The Constant Gardener.
Clooney and Weisz were given the awards - the first ever for each - Sunday night at the 78th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood.
The much-anticipated ceremony, known as the Oscars, is being watched on television by millions of people around the world.
The British film Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit won the Oscar for best animated feature - while the Academy Award for best documentary went to March of the Penguins.
Among the movies nominated for several other awards this year are Taiwan-born director Ang Lee's film Brokeback Mountain about two homosexual cowboys who struggle with their relationship; the story of American writer Truman Capote's 1960's novel In Cold Blood depicted in the film Capote; and Good Night and Good Luck about veteran American newsman Edward R. Murrow.
Another strong contender is Crash, about racial and ethnic prejudice in Los Angeles.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.
