There was disappointment once again for Saoirse Ronan at the Oscars in Los Angeles on Sunday with the Irish star losing out on Best Actress to Renée Zellweger, on a night when the history-making Parasite was the biggest winner.

After gracing the red carpet, Zellweger, the favourite, won Best Actress for her performance in Judy Garland biopic Judy. As expected, Joker star Joaquin Phoenix was also honoured with Best Actor for his portrayal of the super villain.

Zellweger, winning her second Oscar - she previously won Best Supporting Actress for Cold Mountain - paid tribute to Ronan and the other Best Actress nominees in her acceptance speech at the the Dolby Theater. 

"Cynthia (Erivo), Scarlett (Johansson), Charlize (Theron), Saoirse; I have to say, boy, it is an honour to be considered in your company."

An emotional Phoenix remembered his late brother, fellow actor River Phoenix, during his speech.

"When he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric, 'Run to the rescue with love and peace will follow'."

The favourites also won in the Supporting categories: Laura Dern was named Best Supporting Actress for Marriage Story, with Brad Pitt winning Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. 

There were four wins for the South Korean class satire Parasite: Best Picture, Best Director, Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay. It has made history by becoming the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture.

Parasite director Bong Joon Ho - vowing to "drink until next morning" - and 1917 filmmaker Sam Mendes had been at the centre of a fascinating contest to see which film would win Best Picture and Best Director, or if the awards would be split. In the end the two big awards headed east.

Ronan's Oscar nomination for Little Women was her fourth. She was previously shortlisted for Atonement (Best Supporting Actress, 2008), Brooklyn (Best Actress, 2016) and Lady Bird (Best Actress, 2018). She has some distance to catch up with Glenn Close, who has seven nominations and no win. 

The Oscars are on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player on Monday at 9:35pm.

Click here for all the red carpet glamour.

Click here for the best moments of the night.

The Winners in Full:

Best Actress
Renée Zellweger, Judy

Judy star Renée Zellweger

Best Actor
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

Joker's Joaquin Phoenix receives the Best Actor Oscar from last year's Best Actress winner, Olivia Colman

Best Supporting Actress
Laura Dern, Marriage Story 

Marriage Story's Laura Dern

Best Supporting Actor
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood 

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood's Brad Pitt

Best Picture
Parasite

The Parasite team savour their Best Picture win

Best Director
Bong Joon Ho, Parasite

Parasite director Bong Joon Ho

Best International Feature Film
Parasite

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jojo Rabbit, Taika Waititi

Jojo Rabbit's Taika Waititi

Best Original Screenplay
Parasite, Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won

Best Animated Feature Film
Toy Story 4 

Toy Story 4's Jonas Rivera, Mark Nielsen and Josh Cooley

Best Documentary Feature
American Factory

Best Cinematography
1917, Roger Deakins

Best Original Score 
Joker, Hildur Guđnadóttir 

Best Original Song 
(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again; from Rocketman Music by: Elton John Lyrics by: Bernie Taupin 

Best Film Editing
Ford v Ferrari, Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland

Best Short Film (Animated)
Hair Love

Hair Love director Matthew A Cherry and producer Karen Rupert Toliver

Best Short Film (Live Action)
The Neighbors' Window

Best Documentary (Short Subject)
Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl)

Best Production Design
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, Production Design: Barbara Ling; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood's (l-r) Nancy Haigh and Barbara Ling

Best Costume Design
Little Women, Jacqueline Durran

Little Women's Jacqueline Durran

Best Sound Editing
Ford v Ferrari, Donald Sylvester

Best Sound Mixing
1917, Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Bombshell, Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker

Best Visual Effects
1917, Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy

The Oscars, which saw Irish composer Eimear Noone become the first woman to conduct a section of the ceremony, are on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Plater tonight from 9.35pm.