Cate Blanchett was named Best Actress at the Oscars tonight (02.03.14).
The Australian star picked up the trophy for her role in Woody Allen's 'Blue Jasmine' and paid tribute to all the other nominees as she was handed her award.
She said: "As random and as subjective as this award is, it means a great deal in a year, yet again, of extraordinary performances by women.
"Amy Adams, everything you do, but your performance in 'American Hustle' blew my mind. And Meryl [Streep] what can I say? Sandra [Bullock], I could watch that performance to the end of time, and I sort of felt I had.
"Julia [Roberts] hashtag suck it! You know what I mean? And [dame] Judi Dench. What a career. And she's not here tonight, because at the age of 79 because she's in India doing a sequel to her film."
Cate - who also won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2005 for her role in 'The Aviator' - also showed her support for 'Blue Jasmin's director, Woody Allen, who has endured a turbulent time recently after historical sexual abuse claims against him were raised.
She added: "I am here excepting an award in an extraordinary screenplay by Woody Allen, thank you so much Woody for casting me, I truly appreciate it.
"I'm so very proud that Blue Jasmine stayed in the cinemas for as long as it did ... And to the audiences who went to see it. And perhaps those in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the centre are niche experiences. They are not, audiences want to see hem and in fact they earn money. The World is round, people!
"Thank you to my mum, my sister, to my brother, to my three glorious sons, I would not be standing her without you. To my husband, Andrew, you are a legend."

Matthew McConaughey dedicated his Best Actor Oscar to God.
The overjoyed star was delighted to accept the trophy for his role in 'Dallas Buyers Club' - which saw him lose 50lbs to play A.I.D.S. patient Ron Woodroof - and kissed his wife and hugged fellow nominee Leonardo DiCaprio as he went to accept the award.
He said: "First off I want to thank God, because he's the one I look up to, he's graced my life with opportunities which I know are not of my hand or any other human hand.
"He has shown me that it's a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates. In the words of the late [British actor] Charlie Laughton, who said, 'When you got God you got a friend and that friend is you.' "
Mathew then went on to thank his family, including his mother, Mary, his father, James, his wife, Camila Alves, and their three children, Levi, five, Vida, four and Livingston, 14 months.
He added: "To my family, that's who and what I look forward to. To my father, I know he's up there right now with a big pot of Gumbo, he's got a lemon meringue pie, he's probably up there in his underwear, he's got a cold can of Miller lite and he's dancing right now.
"To my dad, you taught me what it means to be a man, to my mother, who's here tonight, you taught me and my two older brothers, demanded, that we respect ourselves. What we in turn learned was, we were then better able to respect others."
Matthew, 44, also thanked his cast mates, including Jared Leto, who earlier in the night won Best Supporting Actor for his role in the same movie.
He said: "Thank you to the other nominees, all these performances were impeccable in my opinion. I didn't see a false note anywhere.
I want to thank Jean-Marc Vallée, our director. I want to thank Jared Leto and Jennifer Garner, who I worked with daily."

'12 Years a Slave' was named Best Picture at the Oscars.
The film - based on the real life account by Solomon Northup, a free man who was sold into slavery in 1841 - took home the most coveted prize of the night, and was accepted by an ecstatic cast and crew including director Steve McQueen, producer and actor Brad Pitt, and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong'o.
Brad started the acceptance speeches, saying: "Thank you for this incredible honour bestowed upon our film tonight. I know I speak for everyone behind me when I say it has been an absolute privilege to work on Solomon's story. We all get to stand up here tonight because of one man who brought us here to tell that story, and that is the indomitable Mr. Steve McQueen."
Steve then took to the podium to give his thanks, reading out a list of collaborators.
He added: "I'd like to thank this amazing historian, Sue Aitken, who gave her life to preserving Solomon's book.
"And I'd like to thank my partner Bianca ... My mother, my mum's up there, and my children, Alex and Dexter, and my father.
"Everyone deserves not just to survive, but to live. This is the most important legacy of Solomon Northup. I dedicate this award to all the people who have endured slavery, and the 21 million people who still suffer slavery today."
'12 Years a Slave' also took home two further prizes at the Academy Awards, with Luptia winning Best Supporting Actress and John Ridley winning Best Adapted Screenplay.

Jennifer Lawrence fell over on the Oscars red carpet last night (02.03.14).
The 23-year-old actress, who famously took a tumble when she went to collect her award at last year's ceremony, slipped again in her heels ahead of the Academy Awards and was helped up by her boyfriend, actor Nicholas Hoult.
The 'American Hustle' star, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film, fell in front of photographers and fans and held on to a friend as she dropped to her knees.
The shocked beauty, who wore a stunning red Dior gown for the event, threw her head back and laughed before bowing to the crowd as they applauded her.
Jennifer and Nicholas, 24, then made their way into the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, and Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres joked about her clumsiness during her opening monologue.
She said: "If you win tonight we should just bring the Oscar to you."
Jennifer, who lost out to '12 Years a Slave' star Lupita Nyong'o at this year's awards, insisted she'd tested her gown on the stairs to make sure she wouldn't embarrass herself again.
After slipping over, she admitted: "So I guess I'm not safe".
Jennifer, who fell over after collecting her award for Best Actress for 'Silver Linings Playbook' last year, claims it's now all she remembers about the event.
She said: "I look back to Oscar night and all I think about is falling flat on my face - it's not a good memory. I feel like a jerk."

Lupita Nyong'o has been named Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars.
The Kenyan star took home the award for her first major film role, as cotton field worker Patsey in '12 Years a Slave'.
Accepting her trophy with a voice quivering with emotion, she said: "It doesn't escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else's. So I want to salute the spirit of Patsey for her guidance and for Solomon thank you for telling her story and your own.
Steve [McQueen, director] you charge everything you fashion with a breath of your own spirit.
"Thank you so much for putting me in this position it has been the joy of my life.
I'm certain that the dead are standing about you and watching and they are grateful, and so am I.
Lupita, 31, also thanked her co-star, Chiwetel Ejiofor, who played the lead role of Solomon Northup, who wrote the book the film is based on, about real events in his life.
She added: "Chiwetel, thank you for your fearlessness and for how deeply you went into telling Solomon's story. Michael Fassbender thank you so much, you were my rock. Alfie and Sarah it was a thrill to work with you. Joe Walker the invisible performer in the editing room ... I could not be here without your work. "When I look down at this golden statue may it remind me and every little child that no mater where you are from your dreams are valid. Thank you."

Jared Leto paid tribute to his mother and brother as he collected his first Oscar tonight (02.03.14).
The star won the Best Supporting Actor trophy for his role as Rayon in 'Dallas Buyers Club' - taking home the award the first time he'd been nominated, and for his first role in six years - and gave an emotional acceptance speech.
He said: "I'm so proud to share this trophy with you, I'm in awe and have so much respect to you all. To The Academy, thank you
"In 1971 in Bossier City Louisiana there was a teenage girl who was pregnant with her second child. She was a high school dropout and a single mom. But somehow she managed to make a better life for herself and her children. She encouraged her kids to be creative, to work hard and to do something special.
"That girl is my mother and she's here tonight. And I just want to say I love you mom and thank you for teaching me to dream."
Referring to his brother, who joins him in rock band, 30 Second to Mars, he added: "And to Shannon, the best big brother in the world, you are a true artist, thank you for sharing this insane and amazing adventure which is 30 Seconds to Mars, and for being my best fiend, I love you and thank you."
Jared also addressed the current political unrest in Ukraine and Venezuela and warned people never to give up on their dreams.
He added: "To all the dreamers out there around the world watching this tonight in places like Ukraine and Venezuela, I want to say we are here and as you struggle to make your dreams happen, to live the impossible, we're thinking of you tonight."

Gary Barlow performed at a pre-Oscar party on Saturday night (01.03.14). The Take That star sang a selection of songs from the musical 'Finding Neverland', which he co-wrote the lyrics for - at Harvey Weinstein's bash, held in Beverly Hills, Californ...

Jennifer Lawrence is worried about falling over again at this year's Oscars.
The star memorably tripped as she went to collect her award for Best Actress for her role in 'Silver Linings Playbook' at last year's event and even though she has done a "stair test" ahead of tonight's (02.03.14) show, she's worried about the same thing happening.
Speaking on the red carpet ahead of this year's show, she told ABC news: "This year I did a stair test on the back staircase, but found it a little dusty but it worked. For then. But I did trip over a cone, so I guess I'm not safe."
The 23-year-old star - who is wearing a Dior dress to the Oscars this year - is nominated again for her role as Rosalyn Rosenfeld in 'American Hustle' and says is the most memorable character she has played so far.
She added: "I think she was my favourite character ever, there was nothing that she wouldn't do, so there really was really nowhere not to go.
"[But] I had acrylic nails but I had to wear them all the time and I felt like I had to keep explaining to people, 'This isn't mine, I don't like this'."

Leonardo DiCaprio says Jonah Hill "changed the dynamic" of 'The Wolf of Wall Street'.
The actor praised his co-star in the movie - which has five nominations at tonight's (02.03.14) awards, including Best Actor for himself, and Best Supporting Actor for Jonah - because of the way he works on set.
Speaking to ABC news on the red carpet, he said: "Martin [Scorsese, director] always looks for people that feel like they are the character and the second I met Jonah he said, 'I know who this guy is, I know who these people are, there's no-one that can play this role except for me.' And he met with Marty and in two hours he gave him the role.
"It was unbelievably to work with an actor like that who brings so much to the table, he really improvised every single day and changed the dynamic of our shoot and changed the narrative ultimately, and he's become a great friend in the process."
Leonardo added he spent many years getting the movie into production and became "obsessed" with, Jordan Belfort, the disgraced New York stockbroker who wrote the novel the movie is based on.
He added: "It was really a six or seven year process to get this made since I optioned the book, and I became completely obsessed with Jordan Belfort's novel. It's a movie about our times and wealth and this idealistic image we have with money, and I wanted to put this culture up on the big screen, and I knew only Martin Scorsese could be the director to bring the sort humanity to this that it needs.
"There has only been two films in my life that I've fought tooth and nail to put up on the screen and both of them were directed by Marty, one was the Aviator and the other was this. So I've very honoured to be here tonight and to have our film acknowledged in this way."

Lupita Nyong'o spent her birthday with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt yesterday (01.03.14).
The '12 Years A Slave' star celebrated turning 31 by gorging on a glamorous dinner, hosted by Grey Goose, at the Sunset Tower Hotel in Los Angeles along with her co-star and his long-time love.
A source told E! news: "Angie looked gorgeous per usual. She and Brad were adorable and talked to everyone!"
The couple - who have been together since 2005 - were reportedly the first of the guests to leave, but they "stayed for a nice amount of time".
Also in attendance was Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Steve McQueen and Lupita's close friends and family.
The stunning actress took to her Instagram account after the festivities to share a picture of her friends and the yummy gluten-free cake they had arranged for her.
Lupita accompanied the photograph with the caption: "Birthday surprise from the #12YearsASlave family. Feeling the love. (sic)".
It was a double celebration for the stars last night as their slavery movie received five prizes - including Best Feature, Best Screenplay, Best Director for Steve, Best Supporting Actress for Lupita and Best Cinematography - at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Meanwhile, the '12 Years A Slave' cast look set for another busy night tonight (02.03.14) as the film has been nominated for nine accolades at the Oscar Awards, held in Los Angeles.

Hayden Panettiere doesn't want to "rush" her wedding plans.
The 24-year-old actress got engaged to her fiancé Wladimir Klitschko last October after an on/off five-year relationship, but she insists she's not in a hurry to tie the knot.
She said: "We are very laid-back about the wedding plans; we don't want to rush anything. We want the day to be fun, happy and stress-free. Growing up, the thought of not getting married never crossed my mind. It was always: I'm going to get married and then I'm going to have a family."
The 'Nashville' star met her beau through a mutual friend back in 2009, before splitting in 2011, and rekindling last year, but she admits it wasn't Wladimir's good looks that drew her to him.
She explained to April's edition of Cosmopolitan magazine: "You could be the most beautiful man on the planet, but if you have nothing to back that up then there is nothing sexy about you.
"I've met guys and gone from, 'You're beautiful,' to, 'I could not be less attracted to you if I tried'. I want to be with somebody who opens my eyes to the world and helps me to become a better person in every way.
"Wladimir is not just a boxer; he's smart and caring. It's been a ride!"

Uma Thurman thinks having a baby in your forties is "stunning".
The 43-year-old actress - who has 19-month-old daughter Rosalind, Maya, 15, and Levon, 11 - feels more "volatile" having a child in the fourth decade of her life than when she had her other children.
She said: "I was so surprised at how many things seemed new again. You're a different person. When you have a child in the early side of your child-bearing years - which for a New Yorker means there's still a two in front of your age, as opposed to a three or a four - you're changing so much as a person; you're so volatile.
"You think you're grown up, but you're a child yourself. It's different to be at a point in your life where it's just... Stunning. Having a child is like having your heart get out of your ribcage and walk around the room. But then your heart gets car keys - and lipstick."
The 'Nymphomaniac' star took a two-year hiatus from her career while Rosalind was a baby, but she admits she's able to throw herself into more work now that her children are a little older.
She told Net-a-porter magazine: "Now that two of my children are older, I can work away for the first time in a long time."