Rediff Entertainment Bureau

History is made at the spanking new Kodak Theatre at Los Angeles. And Russell Crowe, last year's Academy Award winner (Gladiator), is a closest witness to it, as he gives away the Best Actress Award to Halle Berry for her aggressive performance as a widow in Monster's Ball.

This is the first time an African American actress has won an Oscar for best actress. In a very tearful speech, she jerks out, "This moment is so much bigger than me. It's for every nameless, faceless woman of colour who now stands a chance because now the door has been opened. I'm so honoured.

"This movie-making experience [Monster's Ball] was magical for me. I gotta take 74 years [of Academy Awards] away!"

"It has been a very large door [the bias against African-Americans]. And I am glad Halle Berry kicked it down," says host Whoopi Goldberg.

Last year's Oscar winner Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich) announces cheekily, "I kissed Sidney Poitier tonight!" before she moves on to present the Best Actor Award to Denzel Washington.

The second African American to win Best Actor, the charming and suave Washington (Training Day), says, "Forty years I've been chasing Sidney [Poitier]. And what do they do? They give the award to him the same night. I'll always been chasing you, sir.

"I wanted to be the best actor in the world. Life has taught me to be the best that I can be. I thank the Academy for showing me that. [I told my children] if I lost tonight, I would come home and celebrate. If I win, I'd come home and celebrate. Well, I have won and we'll celebrate tonight."

Oscar history is made: two African Americans are best performers in the same year: Halle Berry and Denzel Washington.