Oscars recap: Leo finally gets his Oscar, Spotlight takes top prize

Nicole Rocklin, from left, Michael Sugar, Blye Pagon Faust, Steve Golin, and cast and crew of “Spotlight” accept the award for best picture for “Spotlight” at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

The 88^th Academy Awards delivered plenty of memorable moments: Host Chris Rock’s takedown of racism and inequality in Hollywood, Leonardo DiCaprio’s long-awaited Best Actor win and a surprise Best Picture winner.

For all the Oscars 2016 highlights, revisit our live blog below:

12:00 a.m. In a surprise to many who expected The Revenant to sweep the big categories, Spotlight wins Best Picture.

11:54 p.m. As expected, Leonardo DiCaprio wins the Oscar for Best Actor. He used his speech to draw attention to the issue of climate change. “Climate change is real. It is happening right now," he said. "We need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.”

11:45 p.m. The Oscar for Best Actress goes to Brie Larson for her role in Room. She thanks her young co-star, Jacob Tremblay, in her speech.

11:38 p.m. The Best Director award goes to Alejandro G. Inarritu for The Revenant. "Leo, you are The Revenant," he told Leonardo DiCaprio from the stage. He finished his speech by saying, "Let's hope the colour of our skin becomes as irrelevant as the length of our hair."

11:27 p.m. The Oscar for Best Original Song goes to Sam Smith’s The Writing’s On The Wall, from Spectre. Smith dedicates the award to the LGBT community. "I stand here tonight as a proud gay man," he said.

11:20 p.m. The Oscar for Best Original Score goes to The Hateful Eight.

11:15 p.m. Lady Gaga delivers a powerful performance of her Oscar-nominated song “Til It Happens to You.” She was joined on stage by survivors of sexual assault and brought some audience members to tears.

11:10 p.m. United States Vice President Joe Biden makes an appearance (and gets a brief standing ovation) to talk about sexual abuse on college campuses. He is asking people to take the pledge to prevent sexual assault at ItsOnUs.org. He introduced Lady Gaga’s performance.

11:08 p.m. The Best Foreign Language Film award goes to Hungary’s Son of Saul.

11:05 p.m. The Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film, co-presented by Canadian Jacob Tremblay, goes to Stutterer.

11:00 p.m. David Bowie, Leonard Nimoy and Alan Rickman were among those honored during the In Memoriam segment as Dave Grohl sang “Blackbird.” Actress Juliette Lewis tweeted that her father should have also been included.

10:50 p.m. Chris Rock provides the final tally for the Girl Scouts cookie haul: over $65,000.

10:43 p.m. The Best Documentary Feature award goes to Amy, which explores the life of the late singer Amy Winehouse.

10:40 p.m. The Oscar for Best Documentary, Short Subject goes to A Girl in The River, by Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

10:32 p.m. The Oscar for Best Supporting Actor goes to Mark Rylance for his role in Bridge of Spies. "It's a wonderful time to be an actor and I'm proud to be a part of it," he says.

10:19 p.m. Canada’s own The Weeknd performs his Oscar-nominated song “Earned It,” from the Fifty Shades of Gray soundtrack. During the performance, global search interest for The Weeknd increased by 488 per cent, according to Google Canada.

10:13 p.m. Google Canada tells us that searches for Mad Max have started to outpace Google searches for The Revenant. No surprise there, given Mad Max’s incredible night at the Oscars so far.

10:12 p.m. Best Animated Feature Film award goes to Inside Out.

10:09 p.m. The Oscar for Best Animated Short Film goes to Bear Story.

10:05 p.m. Chris Rock is now asking those in attendance to buy his daughters’ Girl Scouts cookies. “Leo! You made $30 million, come on!” he shouted as several  young girls ran up and down the aisles, handing out boxes of cookies.

9:56 p.m. The Oscar for Best Visual Effects goes to Ex Machina.

9:49 p.m. The Oscars for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing go to Mad Max: Fury Road.

9:45 p.m. Chris Rock presents another clip mocking #OscarsSoWhite. This one, dubbed “Black History Month Minute,” had Angela Bassett list off a number of accomplishments seemingly attributed to Will Smith, including many of his movies. But in the end, it turns out the video is “honouring” Jack Black – not black actors.

9:41 p.m.  Mad Max: Fury Road is on a roll – the movie just picked up the Oscar for Film Editing.

9:38 p.m. The award for Best Cinematography goes to The Revenant.

9:27 p.m. Another Oscar for Mad Max – this time for makeup and hairstyling.

9:23 p.m. The Oscar for Best Production Design goes to Mad Max: Fury Road.

9:20 p.m. The Academy Award for Best Costume Design goes to Mad Max: Fury Road.

9:13 p.m. The Oscar for Best Supporting Actress goes to Alicia Vikander for her role in The Danish Girl. “I share this with our fabulous crew and cast,” she said in her speech.

9:05 p.m. The first musical performance of the night goes to Sam Smith, who sang the theme song for the latest James Bond movie, Spectre – “The Writing’s On The Wall.”

9 p.m. Chris Rock presents a video montage mocking the lack of black actors in Oscar-nominated movies. In one of the clips, he stars as a black astronaut left behind in space – just like Matt Damon in The Martian – but the NASA officials on the ground refuse to spend “white dollars” to save him.

8:52 p.m. The award for Best Adapted Screenplay goes to The Big Short.

8:50 p.m.  The Oscar for Best Original Screenplay goes to Spotlight.

8:40 p.m. “Is Hollywood racist? You’re damn right Hollywood is racist,” Rock continues his monologue. “We want opportunity. We want black actors to get the same opportunities – and that’s it.”

8:35 p.m.  Host Chris Rock opens the show with a zinger: “Welcome to the Academy Awards, otherwise known as White People’s Choice Awards.”

He said “people went mad this year” over the lack of diversity and the #OscarsSoWhite controversy.  He also took aim at Jada Pinkett Smith, who is boycotting the show.