Chiwetel Ejiofor Trumps Leonardo DiCaprio For BAFTA, DiCaprio Applauds

Chiwetel Ejiofor triumphed at Sunday night’s BAFTA honours ceremony, beatings his fellow nominees for the best actor award (obviously, that’s how award shows work). The 12 Years a Slave actor beat out The Wolf of Wall Street’s Leonardo Dicaprio, Nebraska's Bruce Dern, American Hustle lead Christian Bale and two time Oscar winner Tom Hanks, but all of them took it in stride. Leonardo DiCaprio in particular was very sportsmanlike. When the winner was revealed at last night’s ceremony in Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House, DiCaprio proved there were no hard feelings and gave Ejiofor a standing ovation along with the rest of the room.

Ejiofor took home a well-deserved BAFTA - one of only two awards for 12 Years.

In contrast, Ejiofor was visibly flustered, when he took the stage to accept his very first BAFTA. The actor seemed overwhelmed by the reaction and as he thanked "my mother who is here and my father who is not here, I love you too", along with his director Steve McQueen and the all-star cast of the movie. 12 Years a Slave also won Best Picture, but missed out on the six other awards it was nominated for.

Leonardo DiCaprio took it in stride.

Part of the reason why DiCaprio proved to be such a gracious loser may be that he’s still firmly in the running for the biggest honor of the season – the best actor Oscar. As the dust settles from the awards race, Ejiofor, DiCaprio and Dallas Buyers Club’s Matthew Mcconaughey have emerged as the frontrunners for Best Actor. With the Oscars in two weeks, it’s anyone’s game.

Then again, he's probably use to it by now *cough*Oscars*cough*.