Meryl Streep, Milk and Wall-E Win at Critics Choice Awards

The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) announced the winners of the 14th annual Critics' Choice Awards at a star-studded ceremony earlier this evening at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and which aired live on VH1.

Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner with five wins for Best Picture, Best Director for Danny Boyle, Best Writer for Simon Beaufoy, Best Young Actor/Actress for Dev Patel and Best Composer for A.R. Rahman. Sean Penn and Milk received two awards, Best Actor and Best Ensemble. Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) and Meryl Streep (Doubt) tied in the lead actress category, marking only the second tie in a lead actor category.

Heath Ledger made history with his posthumous win for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Dark Knight, the first posthumous award in the history of Critics' Choice Awards. The Dark Knight also received the first Best Action Movie award.

Kate Winslet was honored with the Best Supporting Actress award for her work in The Reader. Bruce Springsteen received the award for Best Song for "The Wrestler" from The Wrestler. Wall-E received Best Animated Feature and Tropic Thunder won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Comedy. Best Picture Made for Television went to "John Adams," Best Foreign Language Film was bestowed to Waltz with Bashir, and Man on Wire won Best Documentary Feature.

Richard Gere, an international film star and an accomplished advocate for human rights, was presented with the second annual Joel Siegel Award. The BFCA created this award to honor those in the film community whose work both on and off screen inspires and contributes to the good of humanity. This special award pays homage to beloved "Good Morning America" film critic and BFCA member Joel Siegel, who lost his long struggle with cancer in June of 2007.

Nominees in attendance included: Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Simon Beaufoy, Kate Beckinsale, Dustin Lance Black, Danny Boyle, Josh Brolin, Philippe Claudel, Patrick Creadon, Penelope Cruz, Viola Davis, Alexandre Desplat, Rosemarie Dewitt, Clint Eastwood, Aaron Eckhart, Danny Elfman, Dakota Fanning, Ari Folman, Anne Hathaway, Taraji P. Henson, Emile Hirsch, James Newton Howard, Ron Howard, Richard Jenkins, Angelina Jolie, Frank Langella, Melissa Leo, Peter Morgan, Christopher Morgan, Thomas Newman, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, A.R. Rahman, Mickey Rourke, John Patrick Shanley, Andrew Stanton, Ben Stiller, Marisa Tomei, Gus Van Sant, and Hans Zimmer.

Presenters at the gala included: Amy Adams, Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Banks, Angela Bassett, Kate Beckinsale, Kristen Bell, Corbin Bleu, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Josh Brolin, Amanda Bynes, Common, Laura Dern, Rosemarie Dewitt, Aaron Eckhart, Brendan Fraser, Sally Hawkins, Dustin Hoffman, Diane Lane, Melissa Leo, Eva Longoria, Chris Noth, Virginia Madsen, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, KaTy Perry, Jason Segel, Sarah Silverman, Ben Stiller, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Marisa Tomei.

Jason Alexander opened the show as Special Guest and the show featured the rock band Rooney as this year's house band.

The largest film critics' organization with more than 200 members in the United States and Canada on television, radio and the Internet, the BFCA selected nominees for awards in each of 17 categories. The Critics' Choice Awards were created by the BFCA to recognize excellence in cinematic achievement. Eligible films were released in 2008. The accounting firm of Gregory A. Mogab tallied the written ballots. Historically, the Critics' Choice Awards are the most accurate predictor of the Academy Award nominations.

WINNERS OF THE 14TH ANNUAL CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS

BEST PICTURE
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ACTOR
Sean Penn - Milk

BEST ACTRESS - Tie
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
and
Meryl Streep - Doubt

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kate Winslet - The Reader

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
Milk

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire

BEST WRITER (Original or Adapted Screenplay)
Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Wall-E

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS (Under 21)
Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ACTION MOVIE
The Dark Knight

BEST COMEDY
Tropic Thunder

BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
"John Adams"

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Waltz With Bashir

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Man On Wire

BEST SONG (performer/writer, film)
"The Wrestler" - Bruce Springsteen/Bruce Springsteen - The Wrestler

BEST COMPOSER
A.R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire

Joel Siegel AWARD
Richard Gere

Photo: Meryl Streep by Walter McBride