Anna Paquin's family in New Zealand proudly watched the actress accept a Golden Globe award for her role in vampire television series True Blood yesterday.
The Canadian-born, Kiwi-raised actress was named best actress in a television drama her second high-profile award after her Oscar for The Piano 16
years ago.
"We are absolutely thrilled and very proud of Anna," said her sister Katya Paquin's partner, Green Party co-leader Russel Norman, who spoke on behalf of the family.
Di Rowan, the agent who found Paquin and cast her as Flora in the 1993 Jane Campion film, said she was "thrilled to bits" for her.
>>Anna Paquin's acceptance speech for The Piano
She said Paquin's win reinforced what she had always said: "New Zealand actors and actresses are as good as any in the world".
Now living in Los Angeles, the 26-year-old blonde is a far cry from the nine-year-old girl who won audiences' hearts for her role in The Piano and delivered a breathless acceptance speech when she won an Oscar for it.
She has since starred in Jane Eyre, X-Men movies and the period mini-series Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, which also earned her a Golden Globe nomination.
In the HBO series, which will screen on Prime television this year, Paquin plays a mind-reading waitress who falls in love with a vampire.
She was a surprise winner over Sally Field from Brothers and Sisters, Law and Order actress Mariska Hargitay, The Closer's Kyra Sedgwick and Mad Men's January Jones.
Other Golden Globe winners included Kate Winslet, Colin Farrell and Sally Hawkins.
Top films included Slumdog Millionaire, which won four awards including best film drama, Woody Allen's musical comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Israel's Waltz with Bashir and the animated film Wall-E.
Nearly a year after his death, Heath Ledger won a supporting-actor Golden Globe for his diabolical turn as the Joker in the Batman movie The Dark Knight.
The Globes, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are an indicator of possible Oscar contenders, often singling out deserving newcomers who might have been overlooked among bigger-name stars.
