Julianne Moore won the best actress Oscar on Sunday for her role as a university professor with Alzheimer's disease in Still Alice .

The win marked Moore's first Academy Award after being nominated four times previously. The 54-year-old actress was favoured to win this year's prize after picking up Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and BAFTA awards earlier this year.

"I read an article that said that winning an Oscar could lead to living five years longer," Moore said while accepting her award. "If that's true I'd really like to thank the Academy because my husband is younger than me."

In Still Alice , the veteran actress plays a brilliant lecturer and beautiful redhead who is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at 50. The small budget film was picked up for distribution by Sony Pictures only in September, thanks to Moore's award-winning potential.

Last year, she said she was attracted to the role because she had never seen Alzheimer's portrayed from the point of view of the patient.

The film was adapted from the novel Still Alice by Lisa Genova and was directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland.

Moore has been among Hollywood's most celebrated actresses for the last 20 years, earning Oscar nominations for previous roles in Boogie Nights , The End of the Affair , The Hours , and Far from Heaven .

She also won an Emmy in 2012 for her acclaimed turn as politician Sarah Palin in the television movie Game Change ."

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Published on February 23, 2015