Oscar-winning The Theory Of Everything actor Eddie Redmayne found himself in the unusual position of being pipped to an award tonight.

Eddie, who took the best actor Oscar and Bafta award for playing science genius Stephen Hawking, saw his clean sweep of award wins ended by Lord Of The Rings star Andy Serkis at the 2015 Jameson Empire Awards.

Andy was named best actor for his motion-capture performance as chimpanzee Caesar in Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, the style of acting that brought him to popular attention when he played Gollum in Peter Jackson’s trilogy and more recently in the first Hobbit film.

Andy Serkis collects the Best Actor Award from Olga Kurylenko at the Jameson Empire Film Awards 2015
Andy Serkis collects his best actor award from Olga Kurylenko (Ian West/PA)

The British star, who also played King Kong in Jackson’s 2005 remake of the Hollywood classic, also beat stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Armitage and Bradley Cooper to be named best actor at the award ceremony at the Grosvenor Park hotel in London.

Andy said: “I’m really thrilled and excited because finally, performance capture is respected across the board and considered on par as any other actor.”

Speaking about Eddie and his fellow nominees, he continued: “You can’t compare performances. They’re all different characters telling different stories.

“But to have a character where the actor is manifested on screen by a digital avatar, is incredibly gratifying and that it can touch and move an audience as much as a live-action performance and be recognised for doing so, is fantastic.”

Think it’s fair to say he was pretty made up with the honour.