Blanchett, McConaughey win Globe best actors

This image released by NBC shows Cate Blanchett accepting the award for best actress in a motion picture drama for her role in “Blue Jasmine” during the 71st annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014, in Beverly Hills, Calif. AP

LOS ANGELES – Australian Cate Blanchett won the Golden Globe for best drama actress Sunday for Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” while Matthew McConaughey got the best actor award for his work in “Dallas Buyers Club”.

Blanchett beat Sandra Bullock (“Gravity”), Judi Dench (“Philomena”), Emma Thompson (“Saving Mr. Banks”) and Kate Winslet (“Labor Day”) in the highly competitive category at the 71st annual Golden Globes.

“It’s been an extraordinary year for women’s roles,” said Blanchett, who returns to the silver screen in February in the star-studded World War II comedy-drama “The Monuments Men” directed by George Clooney.

Blanchett, 44, heaped praise on Allen, the absentee recipient of the Golden Globes’ Cecil B. DeMille award for lifetime achievement, saying he wrote and directed films “with such alarming regularity that we almost take him for granted.”

“Thank you for calling me and not one of the other incredible women in the room this evening,” she added.

McConaughey,  who portrayed as an AIDS sufferer who smuggles drugs for other patients.

In “Dallas Buyers Club” defeated Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years A Slave”), Idris Elba (“Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom), Tom Hanks (“Captain Phillips”) and Robert Redford (“All Is Lost”).

Originally posted at 12:47 pm | Monday, January 13, 2014