Kate Winslet won a Leading Actress film Bafta for The Reader, as Slumdog Millionaire cleaned up at the awards with seven gongs including Best Film. Orange British Academy Film Awards winners:

Academy Fellowship Terry Gilliam

Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Pinewood Studios/Shepperton Studios

Best Film Slumdog Millionaire

Outstanding British Film Man On Wire

The Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer for their First Feature Film Steve McQueen director/writer - Hunger

Director Slumdog Millionaire - Danny Boyle

Original Screenplay In Bruges - Martin McDonagh

Adapted Screenplay Slumdog Millionaire - Simon Beaufoy

Film Not In The English Language I've Loved You So Long - Yves Marmion/Philippe Claudel

Animated Film Wall.E - Andrew Stanton

Leading Actor Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Leading Actress Kate Winslet - The Reader

Supporting Actor Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

Supporting Actress Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Music Slumdog Millionaire - AR Rahman

Cinematography Slumdog Millionaire - Antony Dod Mantle

Editing Slumdog Millionaire - Chris Dickens

Production Design The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Donald Graham Burt/Victor J Zolfo

Costume Design The Duchess - Michael O'Connor

Make Up & Hair The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Jean Black/Colleen Callaghan

Sound Slumdog Millionaire - Glenn Freemantle/Resul Pookutty/Richard Pryke/Tom Sayers/Ian Tapp

Special Visual Effects The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Eric Barba/Craig Barron/Nathan McGuinness/Edson Williams

Short Animation Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf And Death - Steve Pegram/Nick Park/Bob Baker

Short Film September - Stewart le Marechal/Esther May Campbell

The Orange Rising Star Award (voted for by the public) Noel Clarke

The night of British triumphs saw Danny Boyle win the Director prize for Slumdog Millionaire, the rags-to-riches tale set in the slums of Mumbai.

Slumdog has already taken Hollywood by storm and is poised for Oscar success, having received 10 nominations.

The Orange British Academy Film Awards, one of the most glamorous events in the film calendar, saw A-listers including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Sharon Stone, Penelope Cruz, Daniel Craig, Ron Howard and Michael Sheen brave the downpour to dazzle on the red carpet.

Appearing breathless, Winslet said in her acceptance speech: "Okay! Thank you very, very much.

"To be given this award at home, this really means a great deal to me.

"Thank you Bafta, thank you. I want to thank everybody involved in the making of this film.

"They all know who they are and they all deserve a big fat piece of this.

"I want to thank my friends and my family, especially my mum and dad, who I will not look at right now, otherwise I will burst into tears.

"Thank you mum and dad so much for your love and support.

"I want to share this with two producers on this film, I know I'm not alone when I say I can't believe they're no longer with us, Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack.

"You are much missed today, and you will be much missed for many years to come, and this is for you. Thank you. Thank you."

Winslet, who plays a concentration camp guard in The Reader, beat Jolie for Changeling, Kristin Scott Thomas for I've Loved You So Long and Meryl Streep for Doubt.

She also faced stiff competition from herself - having also been nominated in the category for her role in Revolutionary Road, which reunited her with Titanic co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.

The triumph for double Golden Globe winner Winslet will ignite the Oscar buzz around the star, who is in the running for Best Actress for her role in The Reader at the Oscars later this month.

Winslet had promised to be more prepared tonight than she was at the Golden Globes, when the 33-year-old gave a gushing speech, saying she had "a habit of not winning things".

Her last and only previous Bafta win was more than a decade ago - as Supporting Actress for Sense and Sensibility.

She has previously been nominated for Baftas five times.

Frost/Nixon, which received six nominations and centres around Sir David Frost's verbal jousting with disgraced former US president Richard Nixon, failed to pick up a single gong.

Changeling, which had eight nods, also left empty handed.

Eyes were also on the ceremony's host Jonathan Ross, fresh from his suspension over the Andrew Sachs lewd phone calls row, though it was Mickey Rourke who turned the air blue, saying he had been "f****** up my career for 15 years".

Rourke was named Leading Actor for his comeback role in The Wrestler, beating Dev Patel for Slumdog, Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Sean Penn for Milk and Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon.

Accepting the award, Rourke paid tribute to co-star Marisa Tomei, saying she was brave to take her clothes off, adding: "I enjoyed looking at her."

Ross joked to the audience: "After that speech, he's now suspended for three months."

Heath Ledger was posthumously awarded the Supporting Actor prize for his role as the menacing Joker in Batman film The Dark Knight.

Goldie Hawn introduced the award, which was accepted by Charles Roven, who worked with Ledger on two films, including The Dark Knight.

He said that Ledger was "as an actor and a professional and a human being one of a kind".

Roven said that Ledger would have been "humbled just to be in the company of the other performances nominated this evening".

Cruz won the Supporting Actress prize for her role in the Woody Allen film Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

With her hair piled on her head and wearing a pair of sparking earrings, Cruz dedicated her award to the film's cast - "the most talented and generous group of actors that you can dream of".

She said she wanted to share the award with the other women nominated with her tonight.

In his acceptance speech, Boyle told how the wiring in his father's house blew last night and he gave "a big shout out" to everyone who helped to put an extension cable in so he could watch the show.

Thanking his family, there was a cry of: "I love you dad," from the audience.

As well as winning Best Film and Director, Slumdog also won awards for Adapted Screenplay, Music, Cinematography, Editing and Sound.

Slumdog star Dev Patel, who lives with his parents and sister in Harrow, north west London, said he is still overwhelmed by his star status.

"I'm 18 years old and I'm at the Baftas" he said on the red carpet.

"Every year I used to watch it on TV and now I'm here. I can't believe it."

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which received 11 Bafta nominations, putting it at level pegging with Slumdog, took home three awards - for Production Design, Make Up & Hair and Special Visual Effects.

Hollywood golden couple Pitt and Jolie said on the red carpet that they tried not to get competitive over their acting roles.

"But we do arm wrestle," Pitt joked.

Star of Doctor Who and Adulthood Noel Clarke was the people's choice, taking home the Orange Rising Star Award, voted for by the public.

Clarke, who thanked a lengthy number of people, also paid tribute to his young fans and voters.

He told them: "You can do this if you work hard".

In Bruges took home the award for Original Screenplay, and The Duchess won the Costume Design Bafta.

Steve McQueen received The Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement for Hunger, based on IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, which has already won numerous awards.

McQueen said in his acceptance speech: "I just want to say to my mum you were right, you have to work twice as hard."

Man On Wire won the Bafta for Outstanding British Film.

I've Loved You So Long took home the Film Not in the English Language and the Animated Film Animated Film went to Wall.E.

Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death won the Short Animation award and the Short Film Award went to September.

The ceremony took place at London's Royal Opera House.