The 61-year-old actress may have the record of most nominations but she has not been so lucky when it comes to winning the golden trophy. Streep won her first Oscar for best supporting actress for ”Kramer vs.

Kramer” when she was 30 and her second win was the best actress trophy for her role in film ”Sophie”s Choice” in 1982. Hepburn won four lead-actress Oscars and Nicholson a pair of lead-actor Academy Awards as well as a supporting one, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Streep” losses include– ”Silkwood” (1983) to Shirley MacLaine; “Out of Africa” (1985) to Geraldine Page; “Ironweed” (1987) to Cher ; “A Cry in the Dark” (1988) to Jodie Foster ; “Postcards From the Edge” (1990) to Kathy Bates ; “The Bridges of Madison County” (1995) to Susan Sarandon; “One True Thing” (1998) to Gwyneth Paltrow ; “Music of the Heart” (1999) to Hilary Swank; “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006) to Helen Mirren; and “Doubt” (2008) to Kate Winslet. Streep lost her first supporting bid — “The Deer Hunter” (1978) — to Maggie Smith and “Adaptation” (2002) — to Catherine Zeta-Jones for “Chicago”.

If Streep wins on March 7, it will be 27 years since her previous victory.

But those watching the performance were sceptical as to whether Beyonce, a.k.a. Sasha Fierce, sang live or had some technical help.

“Was Beyonce lip-synching?” the Metro quoted one fan as asking.

Another disappointed fan claimed that she mimed, and did not performed live like Jackman.

“Beyonce mimed. Egregiously. I don’t understand…Hugh Jackman sang live, why couldn”t she?” the fan wrote in a post.

Among the Slumdog honours, Briton Danny Boyle was named best director for the often dark but ultimately hopeful tale about a poor Indian boy who competes for love and money on a TV game show, and writer Simon Beaufoy won adapted screenplay.

“You’ve been been so generous to us this evening, and I want to thank you for that,” Boyle said to the Academy Award audience when accepting his Academy Award.

Boyle also thanked his family, the film’s makers, and the entire city of Mumbai, where Slumdog was shot.

Kate Winslet was named best actress for her dramatic turn as a former Nazi prison guard who involves herself in a love affair with a teenage boy in The Reader. She fought back tears when accepting her trophy and remembered a time as an 8-year-old when she dreamed of winning one of the world’s top film award.

Sean Penn earned his second Oscar for best actor, portraying slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk in Milk.

Early honors went to Penelope Cruz who became the first Spanish actress to win an Academy Award for her supporting role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Heath Ledger was posthumously named best supporting actor for his villainous role as The Joker in Batman movie The Dark Knight.

But Slumdog was the big winner, also earning Oscars for best cinematography, sound mixing, film editing, original score for composer AR Rahman and best song, Jai Ho for Rahman and lyricist Gulzar.

In the night’s one big surprise, Japanese movie Departures beat the favorite, Israeli film Waltz With Bashir for foreign language film.

Article taken from Hindustan Times

Going zero-for-five on her previous Oscar nominations, best actress contender Kate Winslet said the experience has given her a “good losing face”. Penelope Cruz, with her second Oscar nomination, this time for supporting actress, said that winning would be great, but she simply wants to cherish the whole Oscar ride.

Robert Downey Jr. has not been up for an Oscar in the 16 years since he earned a best actor slot for the title role in Chaplin. Downey found irony in his supporting actor nomination for Tropic Thunder, in which he is cast as an obsessed actor who undergoes a medical procedure to darken his skin to play a black soldier.

“The funny thing is, I was playing an Oscar-crazed weirdo whose every motivation was somehow geared toward accolades,” he said.