Director David O Russell’s con-artist caper ‘American Hustle’ took home the award for best comedy or musical at the 71st annual Golden Globe Awards, alongwith stars Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence, who walked away with prizes in the lead and supporting actress categories, respectively.

 Adams won for her role as an accent-swapping con artist while Lawrence took home the evening’s first award for her work as a bitter, unintentionally funny housewife.

It was Russell, who also directed Lawrence in her Globe and Oscar-winning role last year in ‘Silver Linings Playbook’.

’12 Years a Slave’, a compelling and unique peek into the terrors of slavery, took home the award for best film – drama.

Directed by Steve McQueen, the film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup, a free black man in 1840s New York who, after an ill-fated trip to the South, is sold into slavery.

‘Gravity’s’ Alfonso Cuaron was crowned best director in a tough race for his work on the outer space thriller, beating the likes of Russell, McQueen (’12 Years a Slave’) and Spike Jonze (‘Her’).

Leonardo DiCaprio won the trophy for best actor in a musical or comedy film for his role as a hedonistic broker in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’.

Cate Blanchett took home the award for best actress in a motion picture – drama for her role in Woody Allen’s ‘Blue Jasmine’.

The 44-year-old actress has two previous Golden Globes, for playing Queen Elizabeth I in 1998 Shekhar Kapur directed ‘Elizabeth’ and Bob Dylan in 2007’s ‘I’m Not There’.

Blanchett topped Sandra Bullock (‘Gravity’), Judi Dench (‘Philomena’), Emma Thompson (‘Saving Mr Banks’) and Kate Winslet (‘Labor Day’) for the award.

Matthew McConaughey took home the award for best actor in a motion picture – drama for ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ beating the likes of Chiwetel Ejiofor (’12 Years a Slave’), Idris Elba (‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’), Tom Hanks (‘Captain Phillips’) and Robert Redford (‘All Is Lost’).

This is McConaughey’s first Globe nomination or win.

He has seen a steep career surge over the past couple of years, choosing to distance himself from the fluffy rom-coms he was previously known for in favour of dramatic work like ‘Buyers Club’, ‘Mud’ and last year’s ‘Magic Mike’.

In other film awards, Spike Jonze won for his original screenplay for the quirky romance ‘Her’, about a man who falls in love with the voice of his computer’s operating system.

Jared Leto won best supporting actor in a feature film for playing a transgender woman with AIDS in ‘Dallas Buyers Club’.

Alex Ebert won for best original score for ‘All Is Lost’.

 Best song honours went to ‘Ordinary Love’, U2’s song for ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,’ which was picked up by Bono and the Edge.

‘Frozen’ won best animated film. And Italy’s ‘The Great Beauty’ won for best foreign film.

Woody Allen was honoured with the Cecil B DeMille Award.

The awards show at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles marked a good send-off for TV series ‘Breaking Bad’.

The acclaimed drama about a high school teacher turned ruthless meth maker, which ended its run last fall, won best drama, and the show’s star, Bryan Cranston, who plays Walter White, won best actor.

It was the first Globe for the show and Cranston.

Poehler won for best actress in a comedy series for ‘Parks & Recreation’.

Robin Wright won her first Golden Globe for best actress in a drama series for the political drama ‘House of Cards’.

Jon Voight, 75, won the Golden Globe for best supporting actor in a series, miniseries or TV movie for the drama series ‘Ray Donovan’.

New comedy ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ beat out established shows such as ‘Girls’ and ‘Modern Family’ to win the best television series- comedy or musical award, while lead actor Andy Samberg also won for best actor in a TV comedy as wacky detective Jake Peralta.

‘Behind the Candelabra’, HBO’s drama about flamboyant pianist Liberace and his young boyfriend, won best miniseries or TV movie.

Elisabeth Moss won her first ever Golden Globe for best performance by an actress in a TV miniseries or movie for the thriller ‘Top of the Lake’.

And Jacqueline Bisset won a best supporting actress trophy for the TV miniseries ‘Dancing on the Edge’.