McConaughey, Leto win acting prizes at Oscars

Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto took home acting prizes at the Oscars tonight (March 2) for their performances in Dallas Buyers Club.

McConaughey won Best Actor for his role as Ron Woodroof, a real-life Texas electrician who is told he is HIV-positive and only has one month to live. Leto picked up the Best Supporting Actor prize for his role as transgender AIDS activist Rayon.

In a memorable and affecting speech, Leto dedicated his win to the 36 million people worldwide who have lost their lives to AIDS.

12 Years A Slave was named Best Picture and one of its stars, Lupita Nyong’o, beat Jennifer Lawrence to the Best Supporting Actress trophy. Cate Blanchett took home the Best Actress award for her performance in Blue Jasmine, beating off strong competition from Judi Dench, Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and Sandra Bullock.

Disney’s Frozen was honoured with two gongs: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for Let It Go, which Idina Menzel sang live at the annual awards ceremony.

Ellen DeGeneres hosted for the second time and tested Twitter to its limit by tweeting a group A-list selfie featuring Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Meryl Streep and many more.

Other performers at the 86th Annual Academy Awards, which were held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, included Pink, Bette Midler and U2.

> Oscars 2014: The winners in full
> Jared Leto dedicates Oscar win to 36m AIDS victims
> Ellen DeGeneres instigates incredible A-list selfie at Oscars
> Pink performs ‘Over the Rainbow’ at Oscars
> Bette Midler sings ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ at Oscars