I awoke this morning to find long-running frontrunner Sandra Bullock had been handed the Best Actress crown at the Academy Awards on Sunday night. Her first Oscar nomination has become her first win and it is well earned for a woman who has been working at her artistic craft all her life.

No matter the material, Sandra has always been pretty darn good. From a cop in Demolition Man, to a computer geek in The Net, to a witch in Practical Magic, her performances have alleviated a movie’s flaws, cheesy lines and factual errors. Sandra’s name was often the lone, above-the-title billing – rare for female actresses in the 90s – and thus she received most of the flak if a movie bombed.

Many place her in the same acting league as fellow American sweetheart Julia Roberts, who similarly won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2001 on a tidal wave of critical acclaim. This isn’t apt, in my opinion, because Sandra is simply a better actress, more self-aware and astute. She was never content to slip away into obscurity after the flops and bad reviews kept on coming; for every role as pretty prop (Speed 2: Cruise Control), there is a matching, on the money portrayal (Infamous).

Today, Sandra Bullock reigns supreme with a golden statuette in her hands and a vault of box office gold, coming off The Proposal and The Blind Side’s strong American domestic box office cumes. Let us hope that this is a reign that lasts.