The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES € ''Braveheart,'' the epic about a 13th-century Scottish patriot, won five Oscars last night, including best picture and best director for its star Mel Gibson.

Like Gibson, Emma Thompson also won an Oscar in another area of her craft, adapting the Jane Austen novel ''Sense and Sensibility'' for the screen.

Susan Sarandon, who played a nun trying to redeem a condemned killer in ''Dead Man Walking,'' took best actress honors and Nicolas Cage was named best actor for his role as a suicidal alcoholic in ''Leaving Las Vegas.''

Gibson, a plaid vest flashing from between the lapels of his tuxedo, thanked writer Randall Wallace and producer Alan Ladd Jr. for bringing the script of the early Scottish epic to a ''fiscal imbecile.''

''Like most directors, what I really want to do is act,'' said Gibson. He granted his own wish, casting himself as the wild-haired warrior who drove the English from Scotland.

''Braveheart'' was Gibson's second outing as a director, the first being ''The Man Without a Face'' in 1993. He follows a line of actors-turned director who have won Oscars: Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Woody Allen, Kevin Costner.

Thompson, who won the best actress award for ''Howard's End'' in 1992, collected her second Oscar.

The English actress told of visiting author Austen's grave at Winchester Cathedral ''to pay my respects and tell her about the grosses,''

She concluded by dedicating her award to Ang Lee, who directed the film but was overlooked for an Oscar nomination though the film was up for best picture.

Supporting actor awards went to Kevin Spacey, the verbal con man in ''The Usual Suspects,'' and Mira Sorvino, who played a hooker in ''Mighty Aphrodite,'' won the Academy Awards for supporting actor and actress Monday night.

Spacey thanked his mother for driving him to acting classes when he was 16: ''I told you it would pay off, and here's the pudding.''

Sorvino thanked her father as the veteran actor sobbed in the audience.

''When you give me this award you honor my father, Paul Sorvino, who taught me everything I know about acting,'' she said. The elder Sorvino, a character actor, has appeared in TV's ''Law & Order,'' and the movie ''Goodfellas,'' among others.

In other awards, ''Braveheart'' was honored for makeup, sound effects and cinematography. ''Restoration'' won for costume and art direction, and ''Apollo 13'' for film editing and sound. ''Babe'' took the visual effects Oscar.

''Antonia's Line,'' the story of a Dutch woman and her multi-generational family, scored honors as the best foreign language picture.

"That ("Antonia's Line") should win an Oscar is a fairy tale come true for all of us involved in its making,'' said director Marleen Gorris.

The Oscars were voted on by 5,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations are made by specific branches (actors nominate actors, cinematographers nominate cinematographers) while winners in almost all categories are decided by the entire Academy. To vote in the documentary, foreign-language and short film categories, members must have seen all the nominated works.