Favourites Sean Penn and Charlize Theron have won the Best Actor and Actress Oscars at this year's Academy Awards.
Penn won for his performance in 'Mystic River'; he had been nominated in previous years for 'Dead Man Walking', 'Sweet and Lowdown' and 'I Am Sam'.
Theron was honoured for her performance in 'Monster' having also won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos.
Penn's 'Mystic River' co-star Tim Robbins won Best Supporting Actor.
Renee Zellweger was named Best Supporting Actress for her performance in 'Cold Mountain'.
'The Barbarian Invasions' was named Best Foreign Language Film with 'Finding Nemo' Best Animated Feature.
Sofia Coppola took the Best Original Screenplay award for her film 'Lost in Translation'.
Jim Sheridan's film 'In America', which was nominated in three categories, including Best Original Screenplay, did not win any awards.
'Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World' won the awards for Best Cinematography and Best Sound Editing.
The documentary 'Chernobyl Heart', which is based on the activities of a Cork-based charity organisation, won the award for the Best Short Documentary.
'The Fog of War' was named Best Documentary Feature.
Highlights of the 76th Annual Academy Awards will be shown on RTÉ Network 2 tonight at 9.30pm.
