The LA Confidential Magazine’s annual Oscar Party brought out a lot of big name celebrities including Forest Whitaker, Vanessa Williams, Ben McKenzie, Mary J. Blige, Angie Harmon (with husband Jason Sehorn), and Isaiah Washington.

The festivities were held at the Skybar at Mondrian on Thursday night in Hollywood.

Forest was honored at the party for being an Academy Award nominee. He is also featured on the March Oscar cover of Los Angeles Confidential and opens up to the magazine about keeping grounded through all the glitz and glamour saying, “I’m trying to have a good time and celebrate. [My kids] aren’t really that aware of what’s going on — they know me more as a soccer dad.” You can read more of Forest’s interview with LA Confidential here.

Check out these great portraits from theNew York Times, their “photographic portfolio of the actors and actresses who defined excellence in the past year.” Celebrities featured include:

Christian Bale, The Prestige

Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson

Ken Watanabe, Letters form Iwo Jima

Cate Blanchett, Babel & Notes on a Scandal

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed & Blood Diamond

Brad Pitt, Babel

Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat

Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal

Annette Benning, Running with Scissors

Vin Diesel, Find Me Guilty

Eddie Murphy, Norbit

Ivana Baquero, Pan’s Labyrinth

Maggie Cheung, Clean

Peter O’Toole, Venus

Helen Mirren, The Queen

Abbie Cornish, Somersault

Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Gael Garcia Bernal, The Science of Sleep

Paul Dano, Little Miss Sunshine

Penelope Cruz, Volver

You can check out the rest of the New York Times portraits here.

Here are some more pictures from last night’s BAFTA Awards! Pictured (l-r): Daniel Craig with girlfriend Satsuki Mitchell, Penelope Cruz (with director Pedro Almodovar), Forest Whitaker, Thandie Newton, Eva Green, and James McAvoy. Kate Winslet is also pictured below.

Of note: Little Miss Sunshine picked up Best Original Screenplay. Happy Feet picked up Best Animated Feature Film.