Oscar Winners - 2007 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ellen DeGeneres

Clad in suits of red, then white, then blue, Ellen DeGeneres brought an interesting balance of irreverence and respect to the proceedings. She often wandered the audience, once with a vacuum cleaner in her hands, and chatted to some of the celebrities seated therein.
DeGeneres is host of her own talk show which has been running for four seasons (as of February 2007). She was the voice of the forgetful Dory in 2003's "Finding Nemo".

Answer: The Departed

Produced by Graham King and directed by Martin Scorsese, "The Departed" told the violent tale of two moles, one a police officer recruited by an Irish mob boss to be an informant, and the other an undercover police officer infiltrating that boss' organization. "The Departed" took home four Oscars out of five nominations.
Also nominated were "Babel", "Letters from Iwo Jima", "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The Queen".

Answer: Happy Feet

Directed by George Miller, "Happy Feet" told the story of a rather unusual, tap dancing Emperor Penguin. "Cars" and "Monster House" were also nominated for Best Animated Feature Film, while "The Danish Poet", directed and written by Torill Kove, won the Oscar for Best Short Film, Animated.

Answer: Alan Arkin

Proving the old adage that third time is the charm, Arkin won the coveted statue, with his third nomination, for the foul-mouthed, porn-loving, heroin-snorting grandfather, in "Little Miss Sunshine".
Eddie Murphy was nominated for "Dreamgirls", Mark Wahlberg for "The Departed", Djimon Hounsou for "Blood Diamond" and Jackie Earle Haley for "Little Children".

Answer: Jennifer Hudson

Scoring an Oscar your first time out of the gate is quite a way to break into the business! Hudson won for her powerful performance as Effie White in "Dreamgirls", a film loosely based on the story of the Supremes. Hudson played the girl with the best voice in the group, who was eventually passed over and pushed out because she was not as beautiful as the others.
Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi were both nominted for "Babel", Abigail Breslin was nominated for "Little Miss Sunshine" and Cate Blanchett was nominated for "Notes on a Scandal".

Answer: Little Miss Sunshine

Written by Michael Arndt "Little Miss Sunshine" told the story of a very dysfunctional family trying to get to a beauty pageant in a VW van with a faulty clutch, so that the daughter could compete. Every time they came to a stop, the family members had to get out and push start the vehicle, jumping in once it was running.
The quirky family members included a teenaged son who had taken a vow of silence, a grandfather kicked out of his old age home for snorting heroin, and an uncle just released from hospital after a suicide attempt.
"Letters from Iwo Jima" was also nominated, along with the three incorrect answer choices.

Answer: Helen Mirren

Mirren won her Oscar for her performance of Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen". She has rather made a career out of playing royalty, as this is her sixth performance as a queen, including both Queen Elizabeths.
Judi Dench was nominated for "Notes on a Scandal", Penelope Cruz for "Volver", Kate Winslet for "Little Children" and Meryl Streep for "The Devil Wears Prada".

Answer: Forest Whitaker

Forest Whitaker's performance as Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, in "The Last King of Scotland" brought him Oscar gold. Often cast as the gentle giant, this role was a bit of a new direction for Whitaker.
Canadian Ryan Gosling was nominated for "Half Nelson", Will Smith for "The Pursuit of Happyness", Peter O'Toole for "Venus" and Leonardo DiCaprio for "Blood Diamond".

Answer: I Need to Wake Up

Written and performed by Melissa Etheridge for the film "An Inconvenient Truth", "I Need to Wake Up" also addressed the issue of the need to do something for our planet before it's too late.
"Our Town" was nominated from the movie "Cars", and "Listen", "Love You I Do" and "Patience" were all nominated from "Dream Girls".

Answer: Martin Scorsese

Although nominated five times, this was Scorse's first Oscar, which he took home for directing "The Departed". Scorsese began working in film only after deciding against entering the priesthood, which is rather ironic, when you consider how violent his films tend to be!
Clint Eastwood was nominated for "Letters from Iwo Jima", Stephen Frears for "The Queen", Paul Greengrass for "United 93" and Alejandro Gonzales for "Babel".