As the 82nd Annual Academy Awards hit its halfway mark, Mo'Nique, the comedienne who turned dramatic actress in "Precious," was invited to the stage to accept the award as best supporting actress.
Her fierce performance as an abusive mother made her only the fourth black actress to win in the category -- the first went to Hattie McDaniel for 1939's "Gone With the Wind" -- and Mo'Nique paid tribute to her predecessor by wearing gardenias in her hair.
A number of awards season commentators had criticized the actress for her refusal to visit every stop on the Oscar campaign trail, but she addressed that in her acceptance by thanking the Academy "for showing it can be about the performance and not the politics."
She went on to acknowledge McDaniel "for enduring all that she did so I would not have to." And she concluding with a special word of thanks to her husband, Sidney, "for showing me that sometimes you have to forgo doing what's popular in order to do what's right."
Christoph Waltz was named best supporting actor for his performance as a cruelly seductive Nazi in "Inglourious Basterds" in the first award of the night.
The Austrian-born actor used his moment in the spotlight to pay tribute to the movie's director, Quentin Tarantino, saying "with his unorthodox methods of navigation, this fearless explorer took this ship ... and brought it in with flying colors and that's why I'm here."
Tarantino, though, was denied the best original screenplay Oscar, which went to Mark Boal for "The Hurt Locker."
"You honor me and humble me with this," Boal said. Returning as a reporter from Iraq, he had an idea for a movie. But "the results wildly exceeded my expectations," he said -- a fact he attributed to the talent of director Kathryn Bigelow. The writer also offered a word for the troops, present and past, and well as his father, who passed away a month ago.
Geoffrey Fletcher earned the award for best adapted screenplay for "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire." In his emotional thank-you, he drew a blank, forgetting to mention the author, but did say, "this is for everybody who works on a dream every day, precious boys and girls everywhere."
Pixar's "Up" rose aloft with the prize for best animated feature film.
Its director Pete Docter thanked Pixar and Disney "for beleving in this oddball film," the tale of an old man who hitches his home to a flotilla of balloons and just floats away. "The heart of it came from home," he added as he dedicated the award to "our families."
Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett took home best song honors with their country-flavored tune "The Weary Kind" from "Crazy Heart."
Ben Stiller, in full "Avatar" drag, handed out the Oscar for best make-up, which went to Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow for "Star Trek."
"We thank (producer/director) J.J. Abrams," Hall said. "Your vision inspired us, your energy kept us going, and your insistence on perfection brought us here."
"Logorama," a satire of brand names run amok, captured the prize for best animated short, beating out the presumed frontrunner, Nick Park's Wallace & Gromit tale, "A Matter of Loaf and Death."
The documentary short prize went to "Music by Prudence," the portrait of a seriously handicapped Keynan woman who, through singing, transcends her situation.
"The New Tenants" followed on its heels as the winner of the live-action short prize.
Billed as a showdown between the mega-blockbuster "Avatar" and the micro-grossing "The Hurt Locker," this year's Oscar broadcast, which ABC is airing live from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, is looking to rope in the widest possible audience thanks to the fact that the Academy nominated ten movies, including crowd-pleasers like "Up," "The Blind Side" and "District 9," for best picture for the first time since 1943.
As if to emphasize the star power on hand, the show, produced by Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman, opened with all 10 nominees for best actor and best actress walking out on stage together.
Neil Patrick Harris then kicked off the proceedings by leading a kickline of chorus boys and girls, who in turn gave way to a Ziegfield-like entrance by the night's hosts, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, who descended from the rafters.
The full list of nominees (winners in bold):
Best picture
"Avatar"
"The Blind Side"
"District 9"
"An Education"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Precious"
"A Serious Man"
"Up"
"Up in the Air"
Best actor
Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"
George Clooney, "Up in the Air"
Colin Firth, "A Single Man"
Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"
Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker"
Best actress
Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"
Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"
Carey Mulligan, "An Education"
Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious"
Meryl Streep, "Julie & Julia"
Best supporting actor
Matt Damon, "Invictus"
Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"
Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"
Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"
Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds"
Best supporting actress
Penelope Cruz, "Nine"
Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air"
Maggie Gyllenhaal, "Crazy Heart"
Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air"
Mo'Nique, "Precious"
Best director
James Cameron, "Avatar"
Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"
Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"
Lee Daniels, "Precious"
Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"
Best foreign-language film
"Ajami," Israel
"El Secreto de Sus Ojos," Argentina
"The Milk of Sorrow," Peru
"Un Prophete," France
"The White Ribbon," Germany
Best adapted screenplay
Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, "District 9"
Nick Hornby, "An Education"
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, "In the Loop"
Geoffrey Fletcher, "Precious"
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, "Up in the Air"
Best original screenplay
Mark Boal, "The Hurt Locker"
Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"
Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, "The Messenger"
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, "A Serious Man"
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter and Tom McCarthy, "Up"
Best animated feature film
"Coraline"
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"The Princess and the Frog"
"The Secret of Kells"
"Up"
Best art direction
"Avatar"
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"
"Nine" "Sherlock Holmes"
"The Young Victoria"
Best cinematography
"Avatar"
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"The White Ribbon"
Best sound mixing
"Avatar"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Star Trek"
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"
Best sound editing
"Avatar"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Star Trek"
"Up"
Best original score
"Avatar," James Horner
"Fantastic Mr. Fox," Alexandre Desplat
"The Hurt Locker," Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
"Sherlock Holmes," Hans Zimmer
"Up," Michael Giacchino
Best original song
"Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog," Randy Newman
"Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog," Randy Newman
"Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36," Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas
"Take It All" from "Nine," Maury Yeston
"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart," Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Best costume design
"Bright Star"
"Coco Before Chanel"
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"
"Nine"
"The Young Victoria"
Best documentary feature
"Burma VJ"
"The Cove"
"Food, Inc."
"The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers"
"Which Way Home"
Best documentary short
"China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province"
"The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner"
"The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant"
"Music by Prudence"
"Rabbit a la Berlin"
Best film editing
"Avatar"
"District 9"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Precious"
Best makeup
"Il Divo"
"Star Trek"
"The Young Victoria"
Best animated short film
"French Roast"
"Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty"
"The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)"
"Logorama"
"A Matter of Loaf and Death"
Best live-action short film
"The Door"
"Instead of Abracadabra"
"Kavi"
"Miracle Fish"
"The New Tenants"
Best visual effects
"Avatar"
"District 9"
"Star Trek"
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