The first Oscars of the 86th Academy Awards were bestowed on Sunday to heavy favorites, with Jared Leto named best supporting actor and Frozen best animated film, in a night expected to yield few surprises apart from the tight race for best picture.

Dressed in a tuxedo, returning host Ellen DeGeneres opened the live telecast taking friendly jabs at the star-studded audience and nominees, from Jennifer Lawrence for her tripping on the stage last year to Meryl Streep, nominated for the 18th time.

Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron won the Oscar for best director for the space thriller Gravity in which an astronaut fights for survival  after being cut loose from her space shuttle.

It was the first Academy Award for Cuaron, 52, whose film starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney mixed dazzling special effects, suspense and human drama.

Lupita Nyong'o won the Oscar for best supporting actress on Sunday for her role as the hardworking slave Patsey in drama 12 Years a Slave, capping a breakout awards season for the Yale-trained Kenyan actress.

Nyong'o, 31, won the Oscar in her first feature film role, earning a thunderous standing ovation from the Hollywood audience. She beat fellow frontrunner Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of a loopy housewife in caper American Hustle in one of the most closely-watched Academy Award races this year.

"Yes!'' the actress exclaimed when accepting the award after hugging her brother, 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen and other actors in the film.

"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, and so I want to salute the spirit of Patsey, for her guidance.''

 Nyong'o, who earned the same award from her peers at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in January, was chosen for the role from some 1,000 young actresses who auditioned.

She received plaudits from critics for her depiction of suffering as a field-working slave and the object of sexual desire from her master.

 The award marks Nyong'o's coronation into the top echelon of dramatic actresses working in Hollywood. She has also burnished her image as a new emblem of high fashion with her styles on the red carpet.

12 Years a Slave, by British director McQueen, is based on the memoir of Solomon Northup, a 19th century free black man tricked and sold into slavery.

Nyong'o's Patsey, who is able to pick more pounds (kilos) of cotton per day than the stronger male slaves, embodies resilience in the drama even as the primary recipient of physical and sexual violence.

 "There was an underlying stream of grief at all times even in the lighter scenes,'' Nyong'o said last year while promoting the film. "There is a deep pain in Patsey throughout and living in that pain was not easy.''

Earlier, Jared Leto, who returned to acting after a six-year break with his portrayal of the transgender woman Rayon in the AIDS drama Dallas Buyers Club, took the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Leto thanked his mother and paid tribute to all those who have perished from worldwide HIV epidemic.

"This is for the 36 million people out there who have lost the battle to AIDS,'' Leto said in his acceptance speech.

Leto also brought international political unrest into the Dolby Theatre by voicing his support for protesters battling their governments in Ukraine and Venezuela.

 Dallas Buyers Club also won the Oscar for makeup and hairstyling in representing the characters from the real-life story of AIDS activists in the 1980s.

 The remake of the classic The Great Gatsby claimed the trophy for best costume design, a category that film was heavily favored to win.

In one of the strongest years for film in recent memory, the Oscars are expected to be scattered widely among the many acclaimed movies.

But two distinct films have dominated the race for the coveted best picture Oscar, the final award of the night: the slavery drama 12 Years a Slave is the presumed frontrunner but the space thriller Gravity has a strong chance.

Bedecked in gowns, tuxedos and even shorts, the world's top actors and actresses strode down the red carpet right after the sun broke through four days of heavy rain that threatened to put a damper on on Hollywood's top honors.

"It has been raining. We're fine. Thank you for your prayers,'' said DeGeneres in making fun of Los Angeles' aversion to rain.

One of the most notable names on the awards season fashion radar this year, best supporting actress nominee Lupita Nyong'o, wore a blue custom-made Prada.

"It's a blue that reminds me of Nairobi and I wanted to have a little bit of home,'' said the Kenyan actress who plays the hardworking slave, Patsey, in 12 Years a Slave.''

British best actor nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays the slave Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave, showed up in the classic tuxedo, while singer Pharrell Williams wore a Lanvin tux with shorts rather than trousers.

Predictable outcomes

 Sunday was the culmination of an unusually long awards season, extended by the Winter Olympics, and for many of the nominees it spelled the end to months of campaigning and years of work on a film.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences could make history this year if it chooses 12 Years a Slave for best picture. It would be the first time that the top film honor goes to a movie by a black director in the 86 years of the Oscars.

Other awards are expected to produce more predictable outcomes, from Gravity filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron's likely win of the best director statuette to the virtual shoo-in of Frozen for best animated film.

Among the other best picture contenders is 1970s crime caper American Hustle from director David O. Russell, which scored 10 nominations. For the second year in a row, Russell has achieved the rare feat of having his actors nominated in all four acting categories. Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, a tale of financial greed and excess, has also been a hit with audiences and critics.

A total of nine films are competing for best picture, including Somali piracy thriller Captain Phillips, the adoption drama Philomena, the heartland comedy Nebraska, the computer-age romance Her, and the AIDS activist biopic Dallas Buyers Club.

Cate Blanchett is heavily favored to win her first best actress Oscar for her portrayal of the disgraced socialite in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine.

Matthew McConaughey is also a solid bet for best actor for his role as the unlikely AIDS activist in Dallas Buyers Club, for which he lost some 50 pounds (23 kg).

Of the four acting races, the best supporting actress race might be the most compelling. Newcomer Nyong'o is favored but she faces a serious challenge from Jennifer Lawrence as the loopy housewife in American Hustle. [Read More]

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Source: VOA News: War and Conflict