Leonardo DiCaprio has finally won his first Oscar for survival epic The Revenant, after six nominations.
He was named best actor at the 88th Academy Awards, with Brie Larson named best actress for Room.
Spotlight took home the best picture Oscar with Mad Max: Fury Road picking up the most awards of the night, with six accolades.
Mark Rylance won the best supporting actor Oscar, with fellow Briton Sam Smith winning best original song.
The ceremony had been boycotted by some Hollywood figures protesting about the lack of ethnic diversity among this year’s nominees, as all 20 nominees in the best acting or supporting acting categories are white.
Host Chris Rock addressed the controversy head on as he launched the ceremony, and it was a theme that was returned to several times during the night.
Rock commented he had “counted at least 15 black people” in the montage that opened the ceremony, before welcoming people to the “white People’s Choice awards”.
“You realise if they nominated hosts, I wouldn’t even get this job,” he quipped. “Y’all would be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now.”
Rock added: “Everyone wants to know is Hollywood racist? You have to go at it the right way. Is it burning-cross racist? Fetch-me-some-lemonade racist? No.
“It’s a different kind of racist. Is Hollywood racist? You’re damn right it’s racist but it’s sorority racist. It’s like: We like you Rhonda, but you’re not a Kappa.”
Among the winners for Mad Max: Fury Road – nominated for 10 Oscars including best director for George Miller – was British designer Jenny Beavan, for best costume design.
The Revenant won three of the 12 awards for which it was nominated. Alejandro Inarritu also won best director and Emmanuel Lubezki won his third Oscar for cinematography in a row, having won in 2015 for Birdman and 2014 for Gravity.