"The Artist" won in 5 categories of the 84th Annual Academy Awards Sunday night including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor.

Octavia Spencer wins Oscar for Best Supporting Actress


Source: www.mtime.com

The film also got the Oscar statuettes for Costume Design and Original Score.

It is the first time a mostly silent film to win best picture since "Wings" won at the first Oscar ceremony in 1929. And it is also the first black-and-white movie to win best picture since "Schindler's List" in 1994.

The film beat out "The Descendants," "Hugo," "The Help," "Moneyball," "War Horse," "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," "Midnight in Paris" and "The Tree of Life" to be the Best Picture.

Additionally, it is the first time in Academy Awards history that a French actor and a French filmmaker took the top acting and directing awards.

Michel Hazanavicius won the Best Director and Jean Dujardin, who plays the silent film star George Valentin won the award for Best Actor.

The film also won awards of the Producers Guild of America, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and best motion picture musical or comedy from the Golden Globes.

It was nominated in 10 categories of the Academy Awards.

* Meryl Streep wins Oscar for Best Actress

Meryl Streep, who plays in "The Iron Lady," won the Oscar for Best Actress at the 84th Annual Academy Awards ceremony held at Hollywood & Highland Center in downtown Los Angeles Sunday night.

Actress Meryl Streep arrives on the red carpet for the 84th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, the United States, Feb. 26, 2012. (Xinhua/Yang Lei)

It was the third time that Streep won the Oscar Statuette. The last time was 29 years ago when she also won the top acting prize for her lead role in "Sophie's Choice."

She has been nominated 17 times for the Academy Awards, more than any other performers.

Streep beat out pre-ceremony favorite Viola Davis from "The Help" for her excellent portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

"When they called my name, I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, 'Oh no, why her again?' But whatever," said the 62-year-old actress in her acceptance speech.

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