Sean Penn

WINNER: Sean Penn
WON FOR: 'Mystic River'
SHOULD HAVE WON FOR: 'Dead Man Walking,' the 1995 two-hander that saw Penn's co-star, Susan Sarandon, honoured as Best Actress while Penn lost to Nicolas Cage in 'Leaving Las Vegas.' Now, no one's saying Cage didn't deserve it, but the lopsided recognition of 'Dead Man Walking' meant Academy voters spent a while waiting for Penn to come back into play. They couldn't bring themselves to reward his cynical bid for glory in 'I Am Sam' - this isn't the Golden Globes, people - but things fell nicely into place when Penn played a bereaved and vengeful father in 'Mystic River.' Better still, his co-star was his 'Dead Man Walking' director Tim Robbins, who went home with the Best Supporting Actor prize. Don't you love when that happens?