She credited her fellow actors and crew members for making The Reader a top film.

"There was no division between the cast and the crew on this film and that's what made it so special, to have been surrounded by remarkable group of people who provided an unbroken chain of support," she said.

At 33, Winslet is the youngest actress to earn six Oscar nominations. The record was previously held by actress Bette Davis, who was 34 when she received her sixth nomination for Now, Voyager in 1942.

The late Heath Ledger won the Oscar for best supporting actor for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight, while Penelope Cruz was named best supporting actress for her steamy performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Ledger, who died of an accidental overdose of prescription medication on January 22, 2008, had already posthumously won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for his role as the mentally tortured Joker in the Batman sequel.

Ledger's father Kim, mother Sally and sister Kate accepted the award on his behalf, and they received a standing ovation as they walked to the Kodak Theatre stage.

"This award tonight would have humbly validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here, his peers, within an industry he so loved," Kim Ledger said.

Cruz was named best supporting actress for her role as Maria Elena in the Woody Allen film Vicky Cristina Barcelona. She was nominated for best actress in 2007 for "Volver", but this was her first win.

"Has anybody ever fainted here? I might be the first one," Cruz said as she accepted the award. She thanked Allen for "trusting me with this beautiful character".

"Thank you for having written over all these years some of the greatest characters for women," she said.

Cruz said she would always watch the Oscar ceremony while growing up in Spain.

"And always the night of the Academy Awards, I stay up to watch the show and I always felt that this ceremony was a moment of unity for the world because art, in any form, is and has been and will always be our universal language and we should do everything we can ... to protect its survival," she said.

Best Picture

Slumdog Millionaire, Christian Colson, producer

Actor

Sean Penn, Milk

Supporting Actor

Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Actress

Kate Winslet, The Reader

Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Animated Film

WALL-E

Art Direction

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,  Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo

Cinematography

Slumdog Millionaire, Anthony Dod Mantle

Costume Design

The Duchess, Michael O'Connor

Director

Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Documentary

Man on Wire

Documentary Short Subject

Smile Pinki

Film Editing

Slumdog Millionaire, Chris Dickens

Foreign Language Film

Departures, Japan

Makeup

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Greg Cannom

Original Score

Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman

Original Song

Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire, Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar

Animated Short Film

La Maison en Petits Cubes

Live Action Short Film

Spielzeugland (Toyland)

Sound Editing

The Dark Knight, Richard King

Sound Mixing

Slumdog Millionaire, Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty

Achievement in visual effects

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron

Adapted Screenplay

Slumdog Millionaire, Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Original screenplay

Milk, Written by Dustin Lance Black

(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2009)