<P> The Artist won five awards, including Best Actor for Jean Dujardin, Best Director for Michel Hazanavicius, and Best Picture, the first silent feature to win an Academy Award for Best Picture since 1927's Wings, the inaugural winner in 1929 . Other winners included Hugo also with five awards, The Iron Lady with two awards, and Beginners, The Descendants, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Help, Midnight in Paris, The Muppets, Rango, Saving Face, A Separation, The Shore, and Undefeated with one . The telecast garnered more than 39 million viewers in the United States . </P> <P> The nominees for the 84th Academy Awards were announced on January 24, 2012, at 5: 38 a.m. PST (13: 38 UTC) at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, by Tom Sherak, president of the Academy, and the actress Jennifer Lawrence . Hugo led all nominees with eleven nominations; The Artist came in second with ten . </P> <P> The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on February 26, 2012 . The Artist was the second silent feature to win Best Picture . The 1927 film Wings was the first such film to achieve this distinction at the inaugural awards ceremony in 1929 . Moreover, it was also the first black - and - white feature to win Best Picture since 1993's Schindler's List . Best Actor winner Jean Dujardin became the first French actor to win an Oscar . With her latest win for Best Actress, Meryl Streep became the fifth performer to win at least three acting Oscars . At age 82, Best Supporting Actor winner Christopher Plummer also made Oscar history by becoming the oldest ever performer to win a competitive acting Oscar . </P> <P> Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (). </P>

Who won the oscar for best actress in 2012