The movie Chicago has won three major prizes at the Golden Globe Awards, including best musical or comedy film as well as acting awards for its stars Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger.

Nicole Kidman was also among the main winners, picking up the best dramatic actress prize for her role as author Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry's The Hours, which also won best dramatic film.

	:	Awards pictures
Stars dazzle on Hollywood's golden night

Jack Nicholson faced stiff competition from Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis for best dramatic actor - but won, saying: "I don't know whether to be happy or ashamed since we started off making a comedy."

GOLDEN GLOBES 2003

Best dramatic film - The Hours Best dramatic actress - Nicole Kidman Best dramatic actor - Jack Nicholson Best musical or comedy - Chicago Best musical or comedy actor - Richard Gere Best musical or comedy actress - Renee Zellweger

Click here for the full list of winners

The best director award was won by Hollywood veteran Martin Scorsese for his epic movie Gangs of New York, set against the backdrop of the city's gangster feuds in the 1860s.

"This picture's been a dream of mine - this is really, maybe, a dream come true," said Scorsese, 60, who is famed for making Taxi Driver and Goodfellas.

Renee Zellweger, who beat Zeta Jones to win best actress in a musical or comedy for Chicago, told her co-star as she collected the prize: "You're a goddess and I'm so glad the world now knows what you can do."

Gere, who admitted he had not originally wanted to be in the 1920s jazz musical, added: "I'm literally totally shocked. I don't win anything," as he collected the prize for best actor in a musical or comedy.

I was seven when I first heard the stories about this time in history and it's taken about 40 years to get it done Gangs of New York director Martin Scorsese

Accepting her award, Kidman called on Hollywood to continue to create strong roles for women.

"This year there's been an enormous amount of really good performances by women in television and in cinema," she said.

"Writers, please keep writing for us because we're very interesting. And directors, please keep giving us complicated wonderful types of women for the screen."

Meryl Streep won the third Golden Globe of her career for her supporting role in black comedy Adaptation, as a somewhat unstable writer interviewing an orchid hunter.

Her co-star Chris Cooper won best supporting actor as the orchid hunter, and said: "You've given millions and millions of stringy-haired and toothless people hope," referring to his character's appearance.

I didn't have anything prepared because it's been like since the Pleistocene era that I won anything Meryl Streep

And Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar's film Talk to Her, about the bizarre relationship struck up between two men who meet in hospital, won best foreign film.

"In this moment of my life and career, this award represents an enormous reward. I would like to dedicate it to the American audience, that's you," he said.

A surprise winner in the TV section was police drama The Shield, which beat firm favourites The West Wing, Six Feet Under and The Sopranos to the best TV drama prize.

Jennifer Aniston, who stars in hit TV show Friends, won best actress in a musical or comedy TV series, beating Sex and the City's Sarah Jessica Parker and Will and Grace's Debra Messing.

This wouldn't even be happening if it weren't for what I learned from you guys Jennifer Aniston to her Friends co-stars

Veteran actor Albert Finney was named best actor in a mini-series or TV movie for playing Winston Churchill in World War II drama The Gathering Storm, which was also named best mini-series or TV movie.

The glittering evening also saw some big films lose out, including Peter Jackson's fantasy epic Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Quiet American, an adaptation of the Graham Greene novel starring Michael Caine.

Veteran Gene Hackman was chosen to receive the prestigious Cecil B DeMille Award, which honoured the star of The Royal Tenenbaums and Crimson Tide for his career spanning nearly 80 films.

Golden Globes winners are picked by a panel of 90 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.