Deborah Mailman won Best Actress for her leading role in Rachel Perkins’ film Radiance. This was also the year that Rowan Woods won Best Direction for The Boys and Hugo Weaving won Best Actor for his leading role in The Interview.

1998 Deborah Mailman

1999 Heath Ledger & Rose Byrne

Gregor Jordan’s tale of crime and retribution, Two Hands, picked up a swag of awards this year, and also launched the careers of two bright young stars: Heath Ledger and Rose Byrne (pictured).

Pia Miranda won hearts with her Best Actress performance in Kate Woods’ Looking for Alibrandi. The film’s other awards included Best Film, Best Supporting Actress (Greta Scacchi) and Best Screenplay (Melina Marchetta). This was also the year of Chopper – which won Best Direction (Andrew Dominik), Best Actor (Eric Bana) and Best Supporting Actor (Simon Lyndon).

2000 Pia Miranda

2002 David Gulpilil

David Gulpilil won Best Actor for his mischevious and powerful turn in Rolf de Heer’s The Tracker. Gulpilil also appeared in that year’s winner of Best Film Award, Phil Noyce’s Rabbit-Proof Fence.

With its stories of contemporary love, lust and family life, Love My Way made a big impression this year, collecting Best Actress in a Television Drama (Claudia Karvan, pictured), Best Television Drama Series, Best Direction in Television (Jessica Hobbs) and Best Screenplay in Television (Jacquelin Perske).

2005 Claudia Karvan