Special report: The 80th Academy Awards

Actor Javier Bardem accepts the Oscar for best supporting actor for "No Country for Old Men" during the 80th annual Academy Awards, the Oscars, in Hollywood Feb. 24, 2008. (Photo: chinadaily.com.cn/Agencies) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Feb. 25 -- Spanish performer Javier Bardem won the Oscar as best supporting actor on Sunday for his chilling portrait of a psychopathic killer in "No Country For Old Men."

    Bardem, 38, who has won virtually every movie award this season for his performance, claimed the Oscar in his second bid for the film industry's highest honor.

    He previously was a best leading actor candidate for his role as a Cuban poet in the 2000 biopic "Before Night Falls," becoming the first Spaniard so nominated.

    In "No Country," a violent modern western thriller directed by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, Bardem plays a mostly silent but ruthless killer who often decides the fate of random victims with the toss of a coin.

    A household name in his native Spain with four Goyas -- the Spanish equivalent of the Oscars -- and a movie and television career stretching back 18 years, Bardem has moved into mainstream Hollywood in recent years with movies like "Collateral" and "Love in the Time of Cholera."

    He is the youngest in a Spanish family of actors and started acting at the age of 6. His breakthrough performance came in "Before Night Falls" (2000) in which he was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas.

    Bardem lives in Madrid and has recently been romantically linked with Spanish actress Penelope Cruz.

    (Source: chinadaily.com.cn/Agencies)

Actress Tilda Swinton accepts the Oscar for best supporting actress for "Michael Clayton" during the 80th annual Academy Awards, the Oscars, in Hollywood Feb. 24, 2008. (Photo: chinadaily.com.cn/Agencies) Photo Gallery>>>

"Ratatouille" wins Academy Award for best animated film

The Oscar Academy Award for best animated feature film went to the rat tale "Ratatouille" directed by Brade Bird Sunday. (File Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Oscar Academy Award for best animated feature film went to the rat tale "Ratatouille" directed by Brade Bird Sunday.

    It was the second Oscar win in the category for director Bird who also won the animation Oscar for 2004's "The Incredibles." Full story

Oscars commence with fanfare, wisecracks

    BEIJING, Feb. 25 -- Steady rain was a mere annoyance at Sunday's Academy Awards, which got under way as a dual celebration honoring the best in film and signaling that life in Hollywood was good again after a debilitating writers strike.

    The show began with a fanfare and an effects-laden opening segment showing key characters and creatures from Hollywood's past lining Hollywood Boulevard. Full story

Oscars arrive in a relieved Hollywood

    BEIJING, Feb. 25 -- Even buckets of rain couldn't put a serious damper on Hollywood's glitziest show of the year. 

    As rain fell throughout much of the day, thousands of fans packed the bleachers and streets around the Kodak Theatre, hoping to catch a glimpse of Hollywood's biggest stars as they arrived for Sunday's 80th annual Academy Awards.

    The rain, often heavy, arrived hours before the stars did, drenching fans on Hollywood Boulevard. But the red carpet remained dry under a hastily erected tent, as did the bleachers where people lucky enough to win tickets by lottery sat waiting to cheer on their favorite stars. Full story