Hudson, Mirren and Arkin Among Academy Award Winners

Jennifer Hudson, Helen Mirren and Alan Arkin are among the winners of the 79th Annual Academy Awards.

Hudson was awarded Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for her performance as Effie in Dreamgirls.  Arkin, of Little Miss Sunshine, received an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor (winning over Dreamgirls star Eddie Murphy).  Mirren was honored with a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in the title role of The Queen (Forest Whitaker won Best Actor for a similarly regal performance in The Last King of Scotland).

Although Dreamgirls was nominated for three songs – "Listen," "Patience," and "Love You I Do" – Melissa Etheridge's title song from the documentary An Inconvenient Truth was awarded Best Original Song.  With the exception of Hudson's and an award for Best Sound Mixing, the movie musical, based on the 1981 Broadway classic, failed to win awards in its eight nominated categories.

Martin Scorcese (after six previous nominations) was honored as Best Director for his crime thriller The Departed, which also received the Oscar for Best Picture.

The Oscars were broadcast live on ABC from the Kodak Theatre in L.A. on February 25^th.

Visit www.oscars.com for more information and a full list of winners.

Photo of Jennifer Hudson by Retna Ltd.