Jean Dujardin has won the Oscar for best actor at the Academy Award ceremony currently taking place at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. His film The Artist has been the runaway favourite in every award ceremony since debuting at Cannes last year, but Dujardin still faced a struggle to defeat his close rival, George Clooney in The Descendants.

Dujardin also came out ahead of acting luminaries Gary Oldman and Brad Pitt, as well as the Mexican actor Demián Bichir. This is the first time Dujardin has been nominated for the best actor Oscar, and he has added it to his Bafta and Golden Globe wins for the same role.

The Artist sees Dujardin play George Valentin, a silent movie star struggling to come to terms with the arrival of the talkies. Bérénice Bejo, who is married to The Artist's director Michel Hazanavicius, co-stars as Peppy Miller, whose star is in the ascent as Valentin's fades.