In a surprise turn attonight's Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, Johnny Depp won the prizefor best film actor for his comic performance in Pirates Of The Caribbean:The Curse Of The Black Pearl,defeating frontrunners Bill Murray and Sean Penn.

The upset adds an element ofintrigue to next Sunday's Academy Awards race which so far looks like it willhold few surprises as The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King is expected to win in picture and directorcategories and Charlize Theron is favourite to win best actress for Monster.

Theron indeed won best filmactress tonight and the cast of The Return Of The King won the ensemble acting award.

Other Oscar favouritesconfirmed their lead in the supporting categories - Tim Robbins won for bestsupporting actor for Mystic Riverwhile Renee Zellweger won for best supporting actress for Cold Mountain.

In TV categories, the HBOseries Sex And The City won thebest ensemble award for a comedy series coinciding with the series finale ofthe hit show tonight. Another HBO series Six Feet Under won the ensemble in a drama award, while Al Pacinoand Meryl Streep repeated their Golden Globe wins for best actor and actress ina TV movie or miniseries for HBO's Angels In America.

Other TV winners includedTony Shalhoub for best actor in a comedy in Monk, Megan Mullally as bestactress in comedy for Will And Grace, Kiefer Sutherland for best actor in a TV drama for 24 and Frances Conroy for best actress in a drama for SixFeet Under.