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It was a night of many firsts for the 82nd Academy Awards. For one, all four winners of the major acting awards were either nominated for the first time, or, in the case of one, had been nominated countless times but had won only now.

First time nominee Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) edged out seasoned actresses Helen Mirren (The Last Station, Academy Awards Best Actress in 2007 for The Queen) and Meryll Streep (Julie and Julia), who holds the record for most Oscar "Best Actress" nominations with 16.

Bullock portrayed the life story of '80s American interior decorator Leigh Anne Roberts Tuohy, whose remarkable love for her three adoptive children have made them successful in their chosen fields. The film was adapted from Michael Lewis's 2006 book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game.

“I would like to thank what this film was about for me, which are the moms who take care of their babies and the children no matter where they come from,” said a teary-eyed Bullock in her speech.

A highly-emotional Bullock thanked her mother Helga for not letting her “ride in cars with boys” until she was 18.

“She was right,” said the first-time Oscar best actress. “I would have done what she told me I was gonna do.”

"Groovy" actor finally snatches an Oscar

After five nominations and a film career spanning over four decades, 60-year-old character actor Jeff Bridges finally took home an Oscar as Best Actor for his stellar performance as drunkard musician Otis “Bad” Blake in "Crazy Heart."

“Thank you, mom and dad, for turning me on to such a groovy profession,” he said towards the end of his speech. “This is honoring them as much as it is me.”

Bridges' parents Dorothy Simpson and Lloyd Bridges were both actors.

The “bad guys” win big, too

Playing menacingly dark villainous roles have earned Precious co-star Mo'Nique and Inglorious Basterds co-star Christoph Waltz their first Oscar trophies for Best Supporting Actress and Actor, respectively.

Mo'Nique played the “heartless, abusive welfare mother of an illiterate teen" (played by Gabourney Sidibe in her onscreen debut) in the Harlem drama Precious.

The movie, adapted from the novel Push by Sapphire and directed by Lee Daniels, was the first film directed by an African-American to be nominated for Best Picture. The film also won Best Adapted Screenplay for Geoffrey Fletcher.

“I would like to thank the academy for showing that it can be about performance and not the politics,” she said in her speech.

Mo'Nique also sent her gratitude to the first black actress to ever win an Oscar Supporting Actress award, Hattie McDaniel, for Gone With the Wind in 1939.

“I want to thank Miss Hattie McDaniel for enduring all that she had to do so that I would not have to,” said Mo'Nique, who wore a gardenia flower as hair accessory to her cobalt blue gown in honor of McDaniel.

Waltz's award was presented by Latin-American actress Penelope Cruz, who gave the winner a congratulatory kiss on the cheek as he took the stage.

“Oscar and Penelope. That's uber bingo,” Waltz joked to an amused audience.

Waltz, who played the “prattling and ruthless Jew-hunter Hans Landa” in Quentin Tarantino's World War II saga Inglorious Basterds, was a veteran stage and TV actor in Europe but a relative unknown in Hollywood until he starred in the film.

Hurt Locker rakes awards, Bigelow best director

It was a night of firsts, indeed. But the biggest revelation of all came with the announcement of Best Director, which went to Kathryn Bigelow, director of The Hurt Locker.

Bigelow is the first woman to receive the Academy's top prize for filmmakers. She was also the first woman to win both Best Picture and Best Director, and the second American woman to be nominated for best director; the other being Sofia Coppola in 2003 for Lost in Translation.

And in a more symbolic note, Bigelow's victory came like a tribute to all the women in the world as it arrived on the eve of International Women's Day (March 8, Monday).

Bigelow beat ex-husband James Cameron, director of Avatar, for the award. During an earlier interview with Associated Press, Cameron said he wished his former wife the best of luck.

Cameron and Bigelow were married for two years (1989 to 1991).

Avatar and The Hurt Locker were neck and neck at the start of the awards night, tied with nine nominations each, including Best Picture and Best Director. In the end, Bigelow's Iraq war drama trumped Cameron's sci-fi offering – winning both Best Picture and Best Director along with four other awards: Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing.

Avatar took home three wins, including Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Visual Effects.

 

Here is the full list of winners in the 82^nd Academy Awards:

Best Picture:

The Hurt Locker

Best Director:

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Best Actress:

Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

Best Actor:

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Best Supporting Actor:

Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress:

Mo'Nique, Precious

Best Foreign Language Film:

El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Argentina

Best Film Editing:

The Hurt Locker, Bob Murawski and Chris Innis

Best Documentary Feature:

The Cove

Best Visual Effects:

Avatar, Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones

Best Original Score:

Up, Michael Giacchino

Best Cinematography:

Avatar, Mauro Fiore

Best Sound Mixing:

The Hurt Locker, Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett

Best Sound Editing:

The Hurt Locker, Paul N.J. Ottosson

Best Costume Design:

The Young Victoria, Sandy Powell

Best Art Direction:

Avatar, Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious

Best Make-up:

Star Trek, Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow

Best Short Film (Live Action):

The New Tenants, Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Best Documentary (Short Subject):

Music by Prudence, Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett

Best Short Film (Animated):

Logorama, Nicolas Schmerkin

Best Original Screenplay:

Mark Bowl, The Hurt Locker

Best Original Song:

"The Weary Kind," theme from Crazy Heart

Music and Lyrics by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best Animated Feature Film:

Up

Honorary Academy Awards:

Laurel Bacall

Roger Corman

Gordon Willis

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award:

John Calley

 

 

Photos: "Sandra Bullock" by John Griffiths c/o Flickr, Some Rights Reserved.

"Kathryn Bigelow" by El Enigma c/o Flickr, Some Rights Reserved.

"The Hurt Locker" by Design House c/o Flickr, Some Rights Reserved.