The winners are...

Dame Helen Mirren is crowned Best Actress at the Oscars - plus get the full list of winners

Dame Helen Mirren was crowned best actress at the Oscars for her performance in The Queen.

"My sister told me all kids love to get gold stars - this is the biggest and best gold star I've ever had in my life," said a beaming Dame Helen as she gazed at her award.

The 61-year-old dedicated her win to the monarch. She ended her acceptance speech by holding up the Oscar statuette and saying: "Ladies and gentlemen - the Queen."

Sixth time lucky

The Departed won the best picture Oscar and best director for Martin Scorsese, while fellow American Forest Whitaker was named best actor for his role as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland.

Full list of winners

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed - WINNER 
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Best Director
Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed - WINNER

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland - WINNER

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen - WINNER
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls - WINNER
Rinko Kikucki, Babel

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine - WINNER
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Best Foreign Language Film
Efter Brylluppet (aka After the Wedding), Denmark
Indigenes (aka Days of Glory), Algeria
El Laberinto del Fauno (aka Pan's Labyrinth), Mexico
Das Leben der Anderen (aka The Lives of Others), Germany - WINNER
Water, Canada

Best Animated Feature Film
Cars
Happy Feet - WINNER
Monster House

Best Adapted Screenplay
Borat
Children of Men
The Departed - WINNER
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal

Best Original Screenplay
Babe
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine - WINNER
The Queen
Pan's Labyrinth

Best Music (score)
Babel - WINNER
The Good German
Notes on a Scandal
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

Best Music (song)
I Need to Wake Up - An Inconvenient Truth (Melissa Etheridge) - WINNER
Listen - Dreamgirls
Love You I Do - Dreamgirls
Our Town - Cars
Patience - Dreamgirls

Best Documentary Feature
Deliver Us From Evil
An Inconvenient Truth - WINNER
Iraq In Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country

Best Documentary Short Subject
The Blood of Yingzhou District - WINNER 
Recycled Life
Rehearsing A Dream
Two Hands

Best Visual Effects
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - WINNER
Poseidon
Superman Returns

Best Cinematography
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan's Labyrinth - WINNER 
The Prestige

Best Art Direction
Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Pan's Labyrinth - WINNER
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Prestige

Best Animated Short Film
The Danish Poet - WINNER 
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time for Nuts

Best Short Film
Binta and the Great Idea
Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)
Helmer & Son
The Saviour
West Bank Story - WINNER 

Best Costume Design
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette - WINNER
The Queen

Best Make-Up
Apocalypto
Click
Pan's Labyrinth - WINNER

Best Sound Mixing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls - WINNER
Flags of our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Sound Editing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Letters from Iwo Jima - WINNER
Flags of our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Best Film Editing
Babel
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
The Departed - WINNER
United 93

Honorary Award
Ennio Morricone