The OSCARS 2009: WINNERS GALLERY

The sixth time proved a charm for our English rose as she finally ended her Oscar nightmare by winning Best Actress for The Reader

What would we do in Blighty without the likes of Danny and Shane Meadows to prop up our film industry? Suffer, that's what. His infectious joy in bringing Slumdog to the screen got its reward with a Best Director Tinseltown golden guy

The much loved Spanish actress looked overwhelmed after taking home the Best Supporting Actress award for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. 

The reformed Hollywood bad boy now has two Best Actor statues and he celebrated this one with former winners Kingsley, De Niro, Brody, Douglas and Hopkins. Esteemed company for the actor, who starred in Milk.

It's over a year now since the Australian method actor passed away, but his mother Sally, father Kim and sister Kate all turned up to accept on his behalf. Not a dry eye in the house when it was made known his manic Joker won.

One of eight Oscars for the film, Chris looked overjoyed to get his mitts on the golden guy after his sterling work cobbling together the Slumdog footage in the dark, editing room.

The zany star of Documentary winner Man on Wire repeated his stage trick of balancing the statue on his chin, much to the amusement of the press ranks

It's not often that a film like The Duchess, which has been ignored in the other categories, notches a win on Oscar night. It's testament to Brit Michael's amazing costume design that he beat off the fierce competition to triumph.

The relatively young wordsmith was shepherded onto the stage by comedy's hottest star Tina Fey and veteran gagster Steve Martin. His script for Milk beat off the likes of In Bruges director Martin McDonagh's highly amusing Irish effort

Nominated, but defeated, for The Full Monty way back, Simon was pleased as punch to get his hands on a golden guy for his zippy and moving Slumdog script adaptation

Considered one of the great maverick cinematographers of our times, it was a big relief to see his phenomenal work on Slumdog given its due reward

Happy, Christian?! What a ride it's been for the British producer, who only months ago was looking at a straight-to-DVD release. Testament to his plucky British spirit that the underdog tale landed Best Picture with a certain Mr Steven Spielberg there to hand it over. Carpe diem everyone