The 78th Academy Awards, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:00 p.m. PST / 8:00 p.m. EST. The ceremony was scheduled one week later than usual to avoid a clash with the 2006 Winter Olympics. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 24 categories honoring films released in 2005. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gil Cates and directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Comedian Jon Stewart hosted the show for the first time. Two weeks earlier in a ceremony at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California held on February 18, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Rachel McAdams.

Crash won three awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included Brokeback Mountain, King Kong, and Memoirs of a Geisha with three awards and Capote, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Constant Gardener, Hustle & Flow, March of the Penguins, The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin, Six Shooter, Syriana, Tsotsi, Walk the Line, and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit with one. The telecast garnered nearly 39 million viewers in the United States.

Winners and nominees The nominees for the 78th Academy Awards were announced on January 31, 2006, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in the academy's Beverly Hills headquarters by Sid Ganis, president of the academy, and actress Mira Sorvino. Brokeback Mountain earned the most nominations with eight total; Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck, and Memoirs of a Geisha tied for second with six nominations each. For the fourth time in Oscar history since the Best Picture nominees roster was limited to five films, all five nominees received corresponding Best Directing nominations. Additionally, for the second time all Best Picture nominees received corresponding directing and writing nominations (which previously happened only on the 37th Academy Awards in 1965).

The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on March 5, 2006. Crash was the first Best Picture winner since 1976's Rocky to win only three Oscars and the first Best Picture winner since 1981's Chariots of Fire to not win Best Directing or any for acting. Best Directing winner Ang Lee became the first non-white winner of that category. For the third time since introducing supporting acting categories, all four acting winners were first-time nominees. At age 20, Keira Knightley was the second-youngest Best Actress nominee for her performance as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice. Best Supporting Actor winner George Clooney was the fifth person to receive acting, directing, and screenwriting nominations in the same year and the first person to earn acting and directing nominations for two different films. By virtue of his nominations for both Memoirs of a Geisha and Munich, composer John Williams earned a total of 45 nominations tying him with Alfred Newman as the second most nominated individual in Oscar history. "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp" became the second rap song to win Best Original Song and the first such song to be performed at an Oscars ceremony.

Awards

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.

Crash – Paul Haggis and Cathy Schulman, producers Brokeback Mountain – Diana Ossana and James Schamus, producers Capote – Caroline Baron, William Vince and Michael Ohoven, producers Good Night, and Good Luck – Grant Heslov, producer Munich – Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg and Barry Mendel, producers | valign="top" width="50%"|

Ang Lee – Brokeback Mountain Bennett Miller – Capote Paul Haggis – Crash George Clooney – Good Night, and Good Luck Steven Spielberg – Munich Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote as Truman Capote Terrence Howard – Hustle & Flow as DJay Heath Ledger – Brokeback Mountain as Ennis Del Mar Joaquin Phoenix – Walk the Line as Johnny Cash David Strathairn – Good Night, and Good Luck as Edward R. Murrow Reese Witherspoon – Walk the Line as June Carter Cash Judi Dench – Mrs Henderson Presents as Laura Henderson Felicity Huffman – Transamerica as Sabrina "Bree" Osbourne Keira Knightley – Pride & Prejudice as Elizabeth Bennet Charlize Theron – North Country as Josey Aimes George Clooney – Syriana as Bob Barnes Matt Dillon – Crash as Officer John Ryan Paul Giamatti – Cinderella Man as Joe Gould Jake Gyllenhaal – Brokeback Mountain as Jack Twist William Hurt – A History of Violence as Richie Cusack Rachel Weisz – The Constant Gardener as Tessa Quayle Amy Adams – Junebug as Ashley Johnsten Catherine Keener – Capote as Harper Lee Frances McDormand – North Country as Glory Dodge Michelle Williams – Brokeback Mountain as Alma Beers Del Mar Crash – Screenplay by Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco; Story by Paul Haggis Good Night, and Good Luck – George Clooney and Grant Heslov Match Point – Woody Allen The Squid and the Whale – Noah Baumbach Syriana – Stephen Gaghan Brokeback Mountain – Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana based on the short story by Annie Proulx Capote – Dan Futterman based on the book by Gerald Clarke The Constant Gardener – Jeffrey Caine based on the novel by John le Carré A History of Violence – Josh Olson based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke Munich – Tony Kushner and Eric Roth based on the book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by George Jonas Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit – Nick Park and Steve Box Howl's Moving Castle – Hayao Miyazaki Tim Burton's Corpse Bride – Mike Johnson and Tim BurtonTsotsi (South Africa) in Afrikaans – Gavin Hood Don't Tell (Italy) in Italian – Cristina Comencini Joyeux Noël (France) in French – Christian Carion Paradise Now (Palestine) in Arabic – Hany Abu-Assad Sophie Scholl – The Final Days (Germany) in German – Marc Rothemund March of the Penguins – Luc Jacquet and Yves Darondeau Darwin's Nightmare – Hubert Sauper Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room – Alex Gibney and Jason Kliot Murderball – Henry-Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro Street Fight – Marshall Curry A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin – Corinne Marrinan and Eric Simonson The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club – Dan Krauss God Sleeps in Rwanda – Kimberlee Acquaro and Stacy Sherman The Mushroom Club – Steven Okazaki Six Shooter – Martin McDonagh Cashback – Sean Ellis and Lene Bausager The Last Farm – Rúnar Rúnarsson and Thor S. Sigurjónsson Our Time Is Up – Rob Pearlstein and Pia Clemente The Runaway (Ausreißer) – Ulrike Grote The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation – John Canemaker and Peggy Stern 9 – Shane Acker Badgered – Sharon Colman The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello – Anthony Lucas One Man Band – Andrew Jimenez and Mark Andrews Brokeback Mountain – Gustavo Santaolalla The Constant Gardener – Alberto Iglesias Memoirs of a Geisha – John Williams Munich – John Williams Pride & Prejudice – Dario Marianelli "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp" from Hustle & Flow – Music and Lyrics by Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman and Paul Beauregard "In the Deep" from Crash – Music by Kathleen "Bird" York and Michael Becker; Lyrics by Kathleen "Bird" York "Travelin' Thru" from Transamerica – Music and Lyrics by Dolly Parton King Kong – Mike Hopkins and Ethan Van der Ryn Memoirs of a Geisha – Wylie Stateman War of the Worlds – Richard King King Kong – Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – Terry Porter, Dean A. Zupancic and Tony Johnson Memoirs of a Geisha – Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Rick Kline and John Pritchett Walk the Line – Paul Massey, D.M. Hemphill and Peter Kurland War of the Worlds – Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Ron Judkins Memoirs of a Geisha – Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gretchen Rau Good Night, and Good Luck – Art Direction: Jim Bissell; Set Decoration: Jan Pascale Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – Art Direction: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan King Kong – Art Direction: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Dan Hennah and Simon Bright Pride & Prejudice – Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer Memoirs of a Geisha – Dion Beebe Batman Begins – Wally Pfister Brokeback Mountain – Rodrigo Prieto Good Night, and Good Luck – Robert Elswit The New World – Emmanuel Lubezki The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – Howard Berger and Tami Lane Cinderella Man – David LeRoy Anderson and Lance Anderson Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith – Dave Elsey and Nikki Gooley Memoirs of a Geisha – Colleen Atwood Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Gabriella Pescucci Mrs Henderson Presents – Sandy Powell Pride & Prejudice – Jacqueline Durran Walk the Line – Arianne Phillips Crash – Hughes Winborne Cinderella Man – Mike Hill and Dan Hanley The Constant Gardener – Claire Simpson Munich – Michael Kahn Walk the Line – Michael McCusker King Kong – Joe Letteri, Brian Van't Hul, Christian Rivers and Richard Taylor The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – Dean Wright, Bill Westenhofer, Jim Berney and Scott Farrar War of the Worlds – Dennis Muren, Pablo Helman, Randal M. Dutra and Dan Sudick

Honorary Award To Robert Altman in recognition of a career that has repeatedly reinvented the art form and inspired filmmakers and audiences alike.

Films with multiple nominations and awards

+ Films that received multiple nominationsNominationsFilm8 Brokeback Mountain6 Crash Good Night, and Good Luck Memoirs of a Geisha5 Capote Munich Walk the Line4 The Constant Gardener King Kong Pride & Prejudice3 Cinderella Man The Chronicles of Narnia:The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe War of the Worlds2 A History of Violence Hustle & Flow Mrs Henderson Presents North Country Syriana Transamerica

+ WinsFilm3 Brokeback Mountain Crash King Kong Memoirs of a Geisha

Presenters and performers The following individuals presented awards or performed musical numbers.

Presenters