Daniel Day-Lewis has made Oscar history after becoming the first man to win the best actor trophy three times.
The British-born actor was honoured for his portrayal of President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s historical drama.
He spent a year preparing for the role and, in his customary method, remained in character during the production.
Accepting his Oscar from Meryl Streep, Day-Lewis said: “I really don’t know how any of this happened, I do know I’ve received more than my fair share of good fortune in my life.”
He joked Streep had been the first choice to play Lincoln and he had been committed to play Margaret Thatcher – the role that won Streep an Oscar last year – before tearfully thanking his mother.
He previously won in 1989 for My Left Foot and in 2007 for There Will Be Blood.
It was a good night for British talent with Adele winning the Oscar for best original song for her Bond theme Skyfall.
The tearful singer thanked her songwriting partner Paul Epworth for “believing in me all the time, and my man, I love you baby”.
She wowed the audience of A-listers in the Dolby Theatre with her first ever live performance of the 23rd Bond film’s title track.
Ben Affleck’s Iran hostage thriller, Argo, won the Oscar for best picture, despite the star being snubbed in the best director category.
The nominees for best film were introduced by First Lady Michelle Obama from the White House, before she named Argo as the winner.
Affleck, who also starred in the film, paid tribute to the “genius” Spielberg whose film, Lincoln, lost out in the category.
Referring to his success with 1997’s Good Will Hunting, he said: “I never thought I would be back here and I am because of so many of you who are here tonight.”
He added: “It doesn’t matter how you get knocked down in life, all that matters is that you get up.”
It was the first time since Driving Miss Daisy in 1990 that a film won the top prize at the Oscars without its director also being nominated.
The show’s host Seth MacFarlane, the man behind hit cartoon Family Guy, started proceedings by poking fun at the Academy for not nominating Affleck, saying the plan was “so top secret the film’s director is unknown to the Academy”.
Taiwanese director Ang Lee picked up the statuette for best director for Life of Pi, beating Spielberg who many expected would collect the award for Lincoln. Lee collected the same award for Brokeback Mountain in 2005.
In a night that was otherwise short on shocks Jennifer Lawrence claimed the best actress gong for Silver Linings Playbook.
The 22-year-old fell as she climbed the steps to the stage to claim her prize.
Some had predicted the award would go to French actress Emmanuelle Riva who starred in Amour and at 86 was the oldest woman ever to be nominated. She won a Bafta award earlier this month for the role.
Anne Hathaway picked up the best supporting actress statue for her role in the musical Les Miserables.
The star, who only featured as Fantine in the film for around 15 minutes, fought back tears as she said “it came true” and thanked her husband and everyone who worked on the film.
She had been widely predicted to win the award in a tough category where Sally Field, Helen Hunt, Amy Adams and Jacki Weaver were also nominated.
Christoph Waltz won the first award of the night, best supporting actor, for his role in Django Unchained.
Waltz offered thanks to his character and “to his creator and the creator of his awe-inspiring world, Quentin Tarantino”.
It was the second time in three years he has won the category – his first Oscar was for his role in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.
Waltz beat off stiff competition from Alan Arkin, Robert De Niro, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Tommy Lee Jones.
Tarantino went on to collect the prize for best original screenplay.
Brave, the Scottish story of a rebellious, red-headed princess, won the Oscar for best animated feature.
Amour, a French-language film about an elderly couple won best foreign language film which was accepted by its Austrian director Michael Haneke.
Skyfall also won the trophy for best sound editing, which was tied with Zero Dark Thirty. It is only the third time in Oscar history that winners have been tied.
The night of British success started with Jacqueline Durran winning for her costume design on Anna Karenina and the make-up and hairstyling award went to Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell for Les Miserables.
The presentation of awards was broken up by a series of musical performances including Catherine Zeta-Jones singing All That Jazz from Chicago and Jennifer Hudson performing I’m Telling You from Dreamgirls.
A tribute to the Bond films and music made up of classic clips of 007’s adventures was introduced by one-time Bond girl Halle Berry.
And 76-year-old Dame Shirley Bassey took to the stage in a gold dress to sing Goldfinger which received a standing ovation.
But it was a medley of Les Miserables songs sung by the cast that left the audience with goosebumps.
Oscars 2013:Oscars winner list
BEST PICTURE
Amour
Argo – WINNER
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
BEST ACTOR
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln – WINNER
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight
BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook – WINNER
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin, Argo
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained – WINNER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables – WINNER
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
BEST DIRECTOR
Michael Haneke, Amour
Ang Lee, Life of Pi – WINNER
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal, Zero Dark Thirty
John Gatins, Flight
Michael Haneke, Amour
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained – WINNER
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Tony Kushner, Lincoln
David Magee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Chris Terrio, Argo – WINNER
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Brave – WINNER
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Anna Karenina, Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained, Robert Richardson
Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda – WINNER
Lincoln, Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall, Roger Deakins
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran – WINNER
Les Misérables, Paco Delgado
Lincoln, Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror, Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman, Colleen Atwood
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man – WINNER
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Inocente, Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine – WINNER
Kings Point, Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
Mondays at Racine, Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
Open Heart, Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
Redemption, Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
BEST FILM EDITING
Argo, William Goldenberg – WINNER
Life of Pi, Tim Squyres
Lincoln, Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook, Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty, Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg
BEST FOREIGN FILM
Amour, Austria – WINNER
Kon-Tiki, Norway
No, Chile
A Royal Affair, Denmark
War Witch, Canada
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Hitchcock, Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
Les Misérables, Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell – WINNER
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli
Argo, Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi, Mychael Danna – WINNER
Lincoln, John Williams
Skyfall, Thomas Newman
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Before My Time” from Chasing Ice, Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from Ted, Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
“Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi, Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
“Skyfall” from Skyfall, Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth – WINNER
“Suddenly” from Les Misérables, Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Anna Karenina, Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
Les Misérables, Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
Life of Pi, Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Lincoln, Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson – WINNER
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Adam and Dog, Minkyu Lee
Fresh Guacamole, PES
Head over Heels, Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly
Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare, David Silverman
Paperman, John Kahrs – WINNER
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Asad, Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
Buzkashi Boys, Sam French and Ariel Nasr
Curfew, Shawn Christensen – WINNER
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw), Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
Henry, Yan England
BEST SOUND EDITING
Argo, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
Django Unchained, Wylie Stateman
Life of Pi, Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
Skyfall, Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers – WINNER
Zero Dark Thirty, Paul N.J. Ottosson – WINNER
BEST SOUND MIXING
Argo, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
Les Misérables, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes – WINNER
Life of Pi, Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
Lincoln, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
Skyfall, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
Life of Pi, Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott – WINNER
Marvel’s The Avengers, Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
Prometheus, Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
Snow White and the Huntsman, Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson.
Oscars 2013 Video
[media id=841 width=610 height=340] [adrotate banner=”46″]