The Brits Win Big At The BAFTAs

British actors Carey Mulligan and Colin Firth won the top BAFTA acting awards last night at the ceremony in London. "Hurt Locker" was named best film as well as winning five other awards during the night, including best director for Kathryn Bigelow, who is the first woman to win the prize.

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Mulligan won Best Actress for her role in "An Education" and said that she "didn't imagine in a million years that this would happen." Firth won Best Actor for his portrayal as a gay academic in Tom Ford's "A Single Man," which is set in 1960s Los Angeles. When accepting the award, Firth, 49, thanked the director for leaving him "resuscitated, a little more worldly, better groomed, more fragrant and more nominated than one has ever been before."

The 3-D flick "Avatar" was nominated for eight awards but only received two, with James Cameron being snubbed by his ex-wife for the Best Director Award. "Up In The Air" took best adapted screen play, whilst Christoph Waltz won best supporting actor for his role in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds."

The only award voted for by the public was the rising star award, which was awarded to Kristen Stewart. At the start of the night's proceeding, Prince William was announced as the new president of BAFTA and during his introductory speech, he joked that he had to "keep this brief" otherwise Mickey Rourke "might wrestle me off the stage."