The King’s Speech crowned big winner at Oscars

The King’s Speech won four Oscars, including best film, during Hollywood’s biggest night when many front-runners claimed glory including Colin Firth and Natalie Portman for best actor and actress.

The world’s top film honours from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences came packed with a lot of comedy onstage from show hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco but the attention, as always, was on awards and winners.

For more on the Oscars, view our blog The Social.

Portman was named best actress for her role as a young ballerina who grows into womanhood in Black Swan. She wiped tears from her eyes onstage collecting her Oscar as she thanked her family, co-stars and director Darren Aronofsky.

“This is insane and I truly, sincerely wish the prize was to get to work with my fellow nominees,” she said.

Firth won best actor for playing stammering British King George VI in The King’s Speech, in which the monarch must overcome his speech impediment to lead his country.

“I have a feeling my career just peaked,” Firth joked.

When Tom Hooper was named best director, he thanked his mom for being first to suggest he make The King’s Speech. ”The moral of the story is, listen to your mother,” Hooper said.

Melissa Leo and Christian Bale, playing a tough-minded mom and her drug-addicted son in boxing movie The Fighter, won supporting actress and actor, while The King’s Speech writer David Seidler” won for best adapted screenplay and Aaron Sorkin with The Social Network earned best original screenplay.

Franco and Hathaway, the first man and woman team to host the Oscars, got the show off to a comic start and continued to make audiences laugh. While they provided a youthful edge to the program — Hathaway, 28, was the youngest host ever — many of the show’s sequences harkened back to Hollywood’s history.

THE FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

Best picture — The King’s Speech

Best director — Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech

Best actor — Colin Firth for The King’s Speech

Best actress — Natalie Portman for Black Swan

Supporting actor — Christian Bale for The Fighter

Supporting actress — Melissa Leo for The Fighter

Original screenplay — David Seidler for The King’s Speech

Adapted screenplay — Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network

Foreign language film — In a Better World (Denmark)

Animated feature — Toy Story 3

Original song — “We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3 (Randy Newman)

Original score — The Social Network (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross)

Film editing — The Social Network (Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter)

Cinematography — Inception (Wally Pfister)

Sound Mixing — Inception (Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, Ed Novick)

Sound editing — Inception (Richard King)

Visual effects — Inception (Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Peter Bebb)

Art direction — Alice in Wonderland (Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara)

Costume design — Alice in Wonderland (Colleen Atwood)

Makeup — The Wolfman (Rick Baker, Dave Elsey)

Documentary feature — Inside Job

Documentary short subject — Strangers No More

Live action short film — God of Love

Animated short film — The Lost Thing