Dwight Henry Wins L.A. Film Critics Award for 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'

Steve Pond

Dwight Henry of "Beasts of the Southern Wild" has been named the year's best supporting actor by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, kicking off its annual voting with a typically idiosyncratic choice.

Henry had never acted before being chosen for Benh Zeitlin's low-budget indie set in the Louisiana bayous, and has been largely absent from the awards circuit because of his day job running a bakery in New Orleans.

"Beasts" was also honored for its score, while "The Master" won the award for production design.

Also read: 'Searching for Sugar Man' Rocks the IDA Awards

Although a few times in recent years the LAFCA has gone along with the year's critical consensus (picking, for instance, "The Social Network" and "The Hurt Locker"), it typically is one of the more adventurous and idiosyncratic groups. Its last three best-actress winners, for instance, have been Yoon Jeong-hee for "Poetry," Kim Hye-ja for "Mother" and Yolande Moreau for "Seraphine," all of whom went unmentioned in most other year-end awards.

The group's unusual choices may be due to a voting system that is not used by other major critics groups: Rather than casting votes secretly, LAFCA members are called on ramdonly to stand and announce their picks, a process that allows off-the-beaten-track contenders to gain momentum over the course of a single round.

TheWrap will continue to update the winners as they are announced.

The winners:

Picture: Director: Actor: Actress: Supporting actor: Dwight Henry, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Runner-up: Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained" Supporting actress: Screenplay: Foreign-language film: Animation: Documentary/Non-fiction film: Cinematography: Music/score: Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Runner-up: Jonny Greenwood, "The Master" Production design: David Crank and Jack Fisk, "The Master" Runner-up: Adam Stockhausen, "Moonrise Kingdom" Independent/Experimental film/video: New Generation:

Related Articles:

Independent Box Office: 'Hyde Park' Averages $20K Per Theater