Natalie Portman has won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

The Jerusalem born actress was honoured for her performance in ballet drama Black Swan, gaining another trophy to add to her recent Golden Globe and Bafta.

A heavily pregnant and tearful Ms Portman, wearing a burgundy dress by Rodarte, said on accepting the award: “I am so grateful to get to do the job I do.”

Thanking her parents, she said of the film’s director Darren Aronofsky: “You are a fearless leader and visionary. I am blessed to have got to work with you.

Hosted by Jewish actor James Franco, the awards saw both the hotly-tipped favourite The King’s Speech and its rival The Social Network pick up trophies.

Both were written by Jewish writers; David Seidler for the former, Aaron Sorkin for the latter. Mr Seidler was awarded the trophy for Best Original Screenplay, while Mr Sorkin won Best Adapted Screenplay for his version of Ben Mezrich’s book The Accidental Billionaires.

Despite several nominations, it was an unsuccessful night for the Coen Brothers. The filmmaking duo, who won in 2009 for No Country For Old Men, did not see their triumph repeated for True Gritand walked away with nothing,

Dane Susanne Bier picked up the prize for Best Foreign Film, In a Better World, while the Tel Aviv set documentary Strangers No More was named Best Documentary Short.

Take a look at our Oscars live blog for more detailed coverage here

IN PICTURES: Natalie Portman: a life on film