Los Angeles: Hollywoood actor Leonardo DiCaprio won the Oscar for the Best Actor for his film "The Revenant" and Brie Larson took home Best Actress in a Leading Role, beating out Jennifer Lawrence and Cate Blanchett for the top honour at the 88th Academy Awards ceremony held here on Sunday.
Alejandro G. Inarritu won Best Director for the second year in a row.
The director, who won previously for Birdman, took home gold for his historical masterpiece The Revenant.
'I can’t believe this is happening! it is amazing to reveice this award tonight. But it is more important to me to share it with the talented crazy crew members and cast. Leo you are The Revenant. Thank your for giving your very soul, your art, your life.'
Meanwhile, it was supposed to be his big night, But Sylvester Stallone was left heartbroken as he lost out in the Best Supporting Actor category to Mark Rylance, who took gold for his performance in Bridge Of Spies.
Rylance, 56, thanked his director Steven Spielberg before adding: 'If you ever asked if acting with Tom Hanks helps [your career] the answer is "yes it does!"'
Rylance was a first time nominee and won for his portrayal of Russian spy Rudolf Abel, who becomes part of a high-stakes prisoner exchange during the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union.
Meanwhile, it was the first time Stallone had been in Oscar contention since 1977 when Rocky, which he starred in, wrote and produced, was nominated for 10 statuettes and won three, including Best Picture and Best Director for John G. Avildsen.
Sly missed out on the Best Actor and Screenplay honours, which appears to be making this round of honours doubly sweet.
In the film Creed, Sylvester plays an ageing Rocky, who comes out of retirement to train promising young boxer Adonis Johnson, played by Michael B. Jordan, who is the son of his former rival, Apollo Creed.
Earlier in the evening, newcomer Alicia Vikander won Best Supporting Actress for The Danish Girl at the 88th annual Academy Awards on Sunday night.
She beat out the likes of Kate Winslet to take the gong for her role in the historical true story about a transgender woman (played by Eddie Redmayne) and his supportive wife (Vikander).
The 27-year-old took the stage and breathlessly delivered a heartfelt speech: 'Thank you so much to the Academy for this recognition. And Eddie - where are you? - there you are! Thank you for being the best acting partner. You raised my game!'
She then added: 'And my mum and dad - thank you for giving me the belief that anything can happen. Even though I would never have believed this!'
The Swedish born actress beat out previous winner Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs), Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight), Rooney Mara (Carol), and Rachel McAdams (Spotlight).
Pixar's Inside Out is the winner of the best animated feature film Academy Award.
The film tells the story of a young girl's emotions as her family relocates from Minnesota to San Francisco. Director Pete Docter has said the film, which mixes science with his experience, has also resonated with the parents of special needs children.
The film features an all-star vocal cast including Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Lewis Black and Mindy Kaling. The win is the studio's eighth in the category.
Bear Story won the best animated short Academy Award during Sunday's ceremony.
An intimate look at the life of late singer Amy Winehouse was the winner of the best feature documentary Academy Award.
Amy won the documentary honor at Sunday's ceremony. Director Asif Kapadia used archival footage and testimonials to offer new insights into Winehouse, who died in 2011 from accidental alcohol poisoning.
The film won the Grammy Award for best music film earlier this month.
The best documentary short Oscar was awarded to the film, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness.
Sam Smith won Best Original Song for Writing’s On The Wall for the film Spectre.
He beat out Lady Gaga. Smith said: 'I actually cannot breathe right now. Oh my god! I read an article last week where Sir Ian McKellen said no openly gay man has ever won an Oscar. Whether true or not I want to dedicate this award to the LGBT community.'
Celebs gathered at the Dolby Theater to toast another year in movies as they were honoured by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Chris Rock opened the ceremony with a rollicking monologue.
The show kicked off with a montage of the films from 2015 and the 51-year-old comedian referenced the clip as he took the stage.
'Man I counted at least 15 black people in that montage. I am here hosting at the Academy Awards otherwise known as the White People’s Choice Awards. If they nominated hosts I wouldn’t be your host. It’d be Neil Patrick Harris. People be like, "Chris you should boycott. You should quit." Only people without jobs say to quit something. And the last thing I need is to love another job to Kevin Hart. Porno stars don’t make movies that fast!'
'The big question is why are we protesting this year's Oscars?' Rock continued. 'It is the 88th Academy Awards.... At least 71 of them didn't have black actors nominated in the past.'
'Black people didn’t protest because we had real things to protest. Too busy being raped and lynched to worry about who won best cinematography. When your grandma’s hangin from a tree...'
He then went on to poke fun at Jada Pinkett who had said she was boycotting the Oscars ahead of the ceremony on Sunday: 'Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties! I wasn’t invited.'
He concluded: 'Is Hollywood racist? You're damn right it's racist! Hollywood is sorority racist. It's like: "We like you Wanda, but you're not a Kappa."'
Actress and Fox News personality Stacey Dash says she wants to bring a different kind of diversity to Hollywood - and that's why she participated in one of the oddest Oscar moments.
The former Clueless actress has attracted attention lately for her conservative viewpoints, including suggesting on Fox that there should not be a Black History Month. Dash, who is black, also spoke out against people complaining that the Oscars didn't reflect diversity.
She was jokingly introduced by host Rock as director of the Oscar's minority outreach program. Dash strode onstage to say 'I cannot wait to help my people out. Happy Black History Month!'
The joke fell flat, perhaps because many people in the audience didn't understand the reference.
Dash explained online why she did it, saying ideological diversity is much harder to achieve in Hollywood.
Later in the show the comedian some local Girls scouts sell cookies. He called out some celebs to put there money on the line as he said, 'C;mon, Leo you made $30 million!'
But he gave one actor some trouble for buying the cookies: 'Oh Lou Gossett watch out now! You got diabetes!' He revealed that he pulled in $65,243 in earnings from the cookie sales.
Later in the show Rock shared a video of asking people on the street in Compton, California. Interviewees had never heard of the nominees for Best Picture but all of them had seen Straight Outta Compton.
Vice President Joe Biden took the stage to a standing ovation as he introduced Lady Gaga for her performance of Til It Happens To You which was nominated for Best Original Song for the film The Hunting Ground.
Biden addressed sexual abuse on college campuses: 'I urge you to take the pledge, "I will intervene when consent cannot or will not be given." Let’s change the culture so that no woman or man will ever have to ask "what did I do?"'
'They did nothing wrong,' he added firmly. 'Folks I really mean this go online and take the pledge. Welcome my friend Lady Gaga.'
Lady Gaga produced and performed the haunting track, which she is said to have co-wrote with Diane Warren, for the soundtrack of documentary film The Hunting Ground which tackles issues surrounding campus rapes in American educational institutions.
Best original screenplay went to the newsroom drama 'Spotlight,' an ode to hard-nose, methodical investigative journalism penned by Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer. Backstage, a cord from a light suddenly fell behind the winners, prompting McCarthy - whose film shows the discovery of extensive sex abuse by Catholic priests - to exclaim in mock paranoia: 'That is the power of the Catholic Church, ladies and gentlemen!'
Adam McKay and Charles Randolph took best adapted screenplay for their self-described 'trauma-dy' about the mortgage meltdown of 2008. McKay thanked Paramount Pictures for taking a risk on a movie about 'financial esoterica.'
McKay, best known for broader comedies like Anchorman and Step Brothers, gave an election-year warning to power of 'big money' in the presidential campaign and government.
'Big money is taking over our government,' said McKay backstage.
Room's Jacob Tremblay and Beasts Of No Nation's Abraham Attah presented the award for Best Live Action Short Film. Rock brought out crates for the two young actors to reach the microphone.
'Thanks, Chris,' nine-year-old Tremblay began. 'I loved you in Madagascar! He was great. He played the Zebra.'
Up for Best Actress were some bright new stars and some awards show favorites. Cate Blanchett (Carol) and Jennifer Lawrence (Joy) led the nominees which included, Brie Larson (Room), Charlotte Rampling (45 Years), and Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn).
JLaw won Best Actress at the Oscars in 2013 for Silver Linings Playbook. This year she earned her fourth nomination for Joy, another film directed by David O. Russell. She has previously been nominated at the Oscars for American Hustle and Winter's Bone.
The Best Actor nominees included Bryan Cranston (Trumbo), Matt Damon (The Martian), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant), Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), and Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl).
However, DiCaprio's turn as a frontiersman was the clear favorite going into the Oscars, after the star sweeped the other big awards shows earlier this year.
Oscar gold has previously eluded the celebrated star, who has won plenty of other honours over his two decade long career.
Leo earned his first Oscar nomination in 1994 for What's Eating Gilbert Grape when he was just 20 years old.
He was then nominated for Best Actor (The Aviator) in 2004. He later earned a Best Actor nod for Blood Diamond in 2006. And most recently for the Wolf Of Wall Street in 2013.
- Leonardo DiCaprio won Best Actor for the Revenant
- Brie Larson won Best Actress for Room
- Alejandro G. Inarritu won Best Director for the second year in a row for The Revenant
- Alicia Vikander won Best Supporting Actress for The Danish Girl
- Mark Rylance won Best Supporting Actor for Bridge of Spies
- The Revenant won Best Cinematography
- Spotlight won Best Original Screenplay
- The Big Short won Best Adapted Screenplay
- Mad Max: Fury Road won Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling
- Ex Machina won Best Visual Effects
- Bear Story won Best Animated Short Film, which also marked the first Oscar for Chile
- Inside Out won Best Animated Feature Film
- Amy, about the late Amy Winehouse, won Best Documentary Feature
- Son Of Saul won Best Foreign Film
- Hateful Eight won Best Original Score
- Sam Smith won Best Original Song for Writing’s On The Wall, Spectre
