Kenneth Branagh wins his first Oscar after 8 nominations

Sir Kenneth Branagh won his first Oscar on Sunday (March 27).

The actor-and-director - who has been nominated eight times - took the Best Original Screenplay honour for his movie Belfast and hailed the accolade an 'enormous honour'.

He said: "Thank you Academy voters, my fellow nominees I salute you."

"This is an enormous honour for my family, it's a great tribute to an amazing city and fantastic people..."

"This story is the search for joy and hope in the face of violence and loss. We lost some people along the way, Johnny Sessions, Jim Dornan, Leah Newman. We miss them, we love them, we will never forget them and we will never forget all of those in the heartbreaking, heartwarming, human, and amazing story of 'Belfast' on the fabulous island or Ireland."

"This means a lot, thank you so much."

The Best Adapted Screenplay accolade went to Coda filmmaker Sian Hader and she admitted working on the movie had been "truly life-changing".

She said: "Oh my God, this was an independent film and it was incredibly hard to get made so I want to thank my team, my producers, all of you for believing in me."

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"I want to thank Sundance for starting this journey, I want to thank Apple for being amazing partners on this ride."

"Writing and making this movie was truly life-changing as an artist and a human being, I want to thank all my collaborators in the deaf community and the Coda community for being my teachers..."

"My incredible cast…you guys are incredible, you're my family, and I want to thank my real family My mom and dad are here up there somewhere, my sister, you guys are artists, you made me an artist, you made me make things."

"My husband David, I couldn't do this without you, it's so hard to be a director and a mom and you make it possible. My kids, Nico and Milo, I love you guys so much, I love you forever."