Britain’s Benedict Cumberbatch and the A-list veteran Julianne Moore took top honours on Friday at the Hollywood Film Awards, billed as the official start of Tinseltown’s annual prizes season.
The best film award went to the thriller Gone Girl starring Ben Affleck as a husband accused of murdering his wife, played by Rosamund Pike.
Other British stars who had a good night included Keira Knightley, Jack O’Connell and Eddie Redmayne, for his portrayal of the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking.
Cumberbatch was named best actor for his role as the Second World War Nazi codebreaker Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, with his co-star Knightley earning best supporting actress.
“Oh my, oh my, oh my,” said the heartthrob Sherlock actor, accepting his prize at Hollywood Palladium theatre in Los Angeles, adding backstage that “this is just the beginning, so who knows?” when asked about the looming awards season.
Moore, a three-time Oscar nominee, was named best actress for Still Alice, a heart-rending film about a linguistics professor stricken with Alzheimer's Disease.
Best supporting actor went to Robert Duvall for his role in The Judge with Robert Downey Jr, who presented the prize.
The top ensemble award went to Foxcatcher, a rare dramatic outing for the comic actor Steve Carell in a real-life story centred on the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.
O'Connell won best new Hollywood actor award for his role in Angelina Jolie's Unbroken.
The awards, which have trademarked the term “The Official Launch of the Award Season,” were televised for the first time by CBS, a rival to ABC, which broadcasts the Academy Awards and NBC, which features the Golden Globes.
