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Titanic... Bafta wins for Kate and Leo

By Hannah Furness ARTS CORRESPONDENT

Kate Winslet scooped Best Supporting Actress at the Baftas for her role in Steve Jobs and Leonardo DiCaprio, her co-star in 1997’s Titanic, has won his first Best Actor Bafta. He won the award for The Revenant, which was also named Best Film

LEONARDO DICAPRIO is on course to make it fifth time lucky at the Oscars after more than 20 years of trying, after finally winning his first Bafta award for best actor.

DiCaprio, star of The Revenant, has famously missed out on a series of Oscars and Baftas despite multiple nominations, and has this year been hotly tipped to break his run of bad luck after a high-profile publicity campaign.

On Sunday he took his first step to securing that glory after picking up the award for Best Lead Actor at the Royal Opera House, and dedicated an emotional speech to his mother, who was celebrating her birthday, and “fiercely loyal” friend and co-star Tom Hardy.

DiCaprio and Brie Larson, a fellow American, took home the two leading awards, beating the likes of Eddie Redmayne and Dame Maggie Smith in a night that otherwise saw home-grown British talent shine. Mark Rylance, Kate Winslet and John Boyega triumphed over their US rivals in some of the most important categories. Rylance won his first Bafta film award as he beat Idris Elba to Best Supporting Actor for his role in Bridge of Spies, in a year the film industry has been under scrutiny for its lack of diversity.

The Oscars have been heavily criticised for the lack of non-white actors represented. The Baftas were also targeted by activists for the same reason.

On Sunday it appeared to lay down the gauntlet by announcing John Boyega, the Peckham-born actor who was propelled to global fame in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as the winner of the EE Rising Star award, voted for by the public.

Thanking God as he accepted it, he joked it “would look great on the Millennium Falcon” as he dedicated the awards to “all the young dreamers who are determined, hardworking and quite frankly amazing”.

Hopes of any major statement by Bafta voters were later dashed, however, as all the major categories were won by white actors. Kate Winslet took home her third Bafta honour as Best Supporting Actress for Steve Jobs. Speaking backstage, Winslet dedicated her award to all the young women who doubted themselves, revealing she had been told as a 14-year-old that she “might do OK” if she was willing to “settle for fat girl parts”. “Any young women who has ever been put down by a teacher or a friend or a parent, don’t listen to any of it,” she said. “That’s what I did: I didn’t listen and I kept on going to overcome a lot of my fears.”

Elsewhere, the award for Outstanding British Film was won by Brooklyn.

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https://dailytelegraph.pressreader.com/article/281535110047714

Daily Telegraph