Teen idol Hilary Duff takes the title for movie actress on Saturday night at the 18th annual Kids Choice Awards. (Fiel photo)

BEIJING, April 5 -- The green slime poured down on celebrities and fans alike Saturday night at a raucous 18th annual Kids Choice Awards broadcast on the Nickelodeon children¡¯s cable network.

Rapper-actor Will Smith kicked off the evening with a spirited performance of the song Switch accompanied by a supporting cast that included breakdancers and throngs of people in feathered costumes.

Hilary Duff and her US actress Hilary Duff and her elder sister (Dayoo.com)Special: Stars and their siblings

Host Ben Stiller arrived in a tricked-out miniature convertible, dressed from head to toe in a silver jumpsuit he said would prevent him from being that year¡¯s celebrity slime victim.

Last year¡¯s co-host, Cameron Diaz, immediately pelted him with cream pies.

A number of awards were handed out between bouts of silliness, including the ¡°Wannabe Award,¡± for the celebrity kids most want to be like. This year¡¯s trophy, a silver blimp, went to Queen Latifah.

¡°I thank all of you so much for letting me do what I do for a living. I so love what I do,¡± Latifah said.

Other top winners included Adam Sandler for favorite movie actor, teen idol Hilary Duff for movie actress, Usher for male singer and Smith for voice from an animated movie.

Most of the winners offered brief words of thanks, but Usher and Smith delivered advice to their young fans.

¡°Make sure you brush your teeth, say your prayers, eat your vitamins,¡± Usher told the audience of some 10,000 screaming youngsters at UCLA¡¯s Pauley Pavilion. ¡°You can be anything you want to be in life. All you have to do is believe in yourself.¡±

Smith encouraged the crowd to make reading a habit, telling them books contain all the answers they would ever need.

Will Ferrell was the evening¡¯s first slime victim, having buckets of the green goo dumped on him after he challenged soccer star Mia Hamm to a soccer kickoff.

Later, the audience got it after the punk-pop group Simple Plan finished their song, Shut Up. They told the audience they would do another song, but had rigged their instruments to spray green slime, which they fired on the crowd.

The evening concluded with Johnny Depp coming on stage supposedly to slime Stiller, but getting the green goo dumped on himself. Stiller, saying he was jealous, dove onto the stage and rolled in the slime.

Award winners are chosen by fans who vote up until the day of the show, casting ballots online, by phone and through Nickelodeon¡¯s magazine.

(SD-Agencies)