The 74th Academy Awards was full of surprises, Sept. 11 rhetoric and the breaking down of racial barriers. The big winners of the night were "A Beautiful Mind" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," which each received four awards.

The Best Picture Award went to "A Beautiful Mind," the story of mathematician John Forbes Nash. Ron Howard also won the award for Best Director for "A Beautiful Mind."

The acting awards this year break the long tradition of unofficial snubbing of black actors and actresses that has plagued the Academy Awards. The Best Actor Award went to Denzel Washington for his role as the unstable but charismatic Alonzo Harris in "Training Day."

Halle Berry was one of the biggest upsets of the night with her win for Best Actress for "Monsters Ball" over favorite Sissy Spacek for her role in "In the Bedroom." Berry gave a teary and, at times, hysterical speech in which she thanked everyone from her agent to Oprah Winfrey.

Jennifer Connelly won the award for Best Supporting Actress. She was the favorite for her role as Alicia Nash in "A Beautiful Mind."

Proving once again that no one can boss the Academy around, Jim Broadbent got the award Best Supporting Actor for his role in "Iris," winning over frontrunners Ben Kingsley and Ian McKellen, and the Best Foreign Film Award, which most had already assumed would go to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Amelie," went to the Bosnian film "No Man's Land."

The best comic relief in the show came not from Whoopi Goldberg, whose comic timing was off the entire night, but from Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller. The stars of "The Royal Tenenbaums" dressed up as Harry Potter and Gimli the Dwarf from "Lord of the Rings" to present the award for Best Costume Design, but Stiller soon began complaining that he looked like a "ZZ Top troll-boy" in his outfit, and after trading insults about their various less-than-successful films, Stiller stormed off with Wilson crying out "Writer, director, actor, quitter!" The Best Make-Up Award went to Peter Owen and Richard Taylor for "Lord of the Rings" for their interpretation of creatures from Hobbits to Orcs. Andrew Lesnie won the award for Best Cinematography for "Lord of the Rings," in which he used the diverse landscape of New Zealand to create the mystical world of Middle Earth. "Rings" also won for Best Visual Effects.

The winners for Best Costume were Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie for "Moulin Rouge." Martin and Brigitte Broch also won an Oscar for Art Direction for "Moulin Rouge."

One of the other upsets of the night came with the Best Editing Award, which Pietro Scalia, who previously won for "JFK," received for "Black Hawk Down." Although "Moulin Rouge" or "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" were expected to take the Oscar, Scalia's fast-paced, frantic style, which is similar to the Oscar-nominated techniques he used in "Gladiator," captured both the intensity of the battles in the film and the Academy's attention. "Black Hawk Down" also won the award for Best Sound.

Pearl Harbor walked away with its one and only Oscar for Sound Editing.

The first winner of the Best Animated Feature Award was the bizarre anti-fairy tale "Shrek." The only real competition in this category was "Monsters, Inc.," and upon the announcement of the winner, Sulley and Mike of "Monsters, Inc." were shown grimacing and clapping for the victors.

The winner for Best Documentary Feature was "Murder on a Sunday Morning," and the award for Best Documentary Short was "Thoth." The award for Best Live Action Short went to "The Accountant," and Best Animated Short went to "For the Birds," which ran theatrically with "Monsters, Inc."

The award for Best Score went to Howard Shore for his epic and mysterious "Lord of the Rings" soundtrack.

Randy Newman, one of the greatest and most versatile songwriters ever, has been nominated 16 times in the last 20 years for the Academy Awards. He finally won his first Oscar for "If I Didn't Have You " from "Monsters, Inc."

The award for Best Original Screenplay went to Julian Fellowes for the convoluted and quirky "Gosford Park," and Akiva Goldsman got the Best Adapted Screenplay award for "A Beautiful Mind." Sidney Poitier received an honorary Academy Award to celebrate his over 50 year career and his place as the first true black movie star. The Academy honored director, actor and founder of the Sundance Institute Robert Redford with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Woody Allen paid homage to his hometown of New York City with an earnest and rambling monologue in which he joked about the Academy asking for his Oscars back. Following his speech was a tribute to New York - a montage of classic scenes from New York-based movies.

Later, Kevin Spacey called for a moment of silence in memory of those who died on Sept. 11.