eastwood s baby scoops top oscars clint eastwood s million dollar baby beat martin scorsese s the aviator to the top awards at the oscars on sunday.  the boxing drama was named best picture and eastwood pipped scorsese to best director  while its stars hilary swank and morgan freeman won acting awards. the aviator took five prizes including best supporting actress for cate blanchett. the biopic of howard hughes led the nominations with 11. jamie foxx picked up best actor for playing soul star ray charles in ray. many expected this to be scorsese s year - but he was unsuccessful in the best director category for the fifth time in his career.  he has never won despite being nominated for such films as raging bull and goodfellas. instead  eastwood took his second oscar for best director after winning for unforgiven in 1993.  it was a wonderful adventure   eastwood said.  to make a picture in 37 days  it takes a well oiled machine. i am lucky to be here and lucky to be still working. i ve got a lot of stuff to do yet.  hilary swank picked up her second best actress oscar for playing a female boxer in million dollar baby  beating stars including annette bening  kate winslet and imelda staunton.  i don t know what i did in this life to deserve this   she told the audience.  i m just a girl from a trailer park who had a dream.  morgan freeman beat actors including clive owen  jamie foxx and alan alda to the prize for best supporting actor. he thanked eastwood and described the film as  a labour of love . this was the fourth nomination of his career but his first win. backstage  he said:  a lot of people say you re due - maybe you are  maybe you aren t - it s an accolade.  million dollar baby s success was the night s biggest surprise after the aviator seemed to have the advantage until the end of the ceremony.  cate blanchett  who won for playing late screen legend katharine hepburn in the aviator  said her award was  an indescribable surprise and honour . of hepburn  she said:  the longevity of her career is inspiring to everyone.  blanchett also paid tribute to the film s director martin scorsese  telling him:  i hope my son will marry your daughter.  the aviator s other awards came for cinematography  film editing  art direction and costume design. and jamie foxx  who had two nominations this year  paid tribute to the  beautiful legacy  of soul legend ray charles  who died last year  and thanked director taylor hackford.  you took a chance  man   he said.  that love for ray charles was deep down in the earth somewhere and you opened it up.  everybody s drowning in this love. thank you for taking a chance and thank you for waiting 15 years to get me to do it.   he broke down in tears when speaking about being whipped by his grandmother  whom he described as his first acting teacher  when he was young. in other awards  cartoon hit the incredibles won best animated feature and best sound editing. bittersweet comedy sideways won best adapted screenplay while the original screenplay prize went to eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. born into brothels  about the children of prostitutes in calcutta  was named best documentary  the sea inside was named best foreign language film and finding neverland got the accolade for best musical score. spider-man 2 triumphed in the visual effects category  ray won best sound mixing and lemony snicket s a series of unfortunate events picked up best make-up. former british tv presenter andrea arnold  who hosted children s shows motormouth and number 73 in the 1980s  won best short film for wasp. comedian chris rock  who hosted the ceremony for the first time  received a standing ovation before getting the show under way.