Slumdog Millionaire Sweeps Oscars With 8 Wins, Penn Wins Best Actor In Upset

Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner at tonight’s Academy Award’s, picking up eight Oscars.

Slumdog won best picture, best director for Danny Boyle, best adapted screenplay, best cinematography, best sound mixing, best original score, best original song and best film editing, every category the film was nominated in.

The biggest upset of the night came in the best actor category, with short priced favorite Mickey Rourke losing out to Sean Penn for his role as Harvey Milk in Milk. Penn finished his speech with a big shout out to Rourke, praising him for his role in The Wrestler and his amazing comeback.

Kate Winslet won best actress for The Reader, Penelope Cruz best supporting actress, and as we reported earlier, Heath Ledger became only the second actor in Academy Awards history to win an Oscar posthumously for his role as The Joker in The Dark Night. Notably the only other person to win the award beyond the grave was fellow Australian Peter Finch who won for his role in the 1974 film Network.

Hugh Jackman shone in his role as host, bringing a real talent to the stage while managing to connect with his natural charm.