British actress Janet McTeer has been named best actress for her role in Tumbleweeds in a ceremony which traditionally kicks off the movie awards season.

The US National Board of Review of Motion Pictures voted for McTeer, still best-known in the UK for her lead role in the 1995 ITV drama The Governor.

The board, a 90-year-old group which includes critics, film teachers and film students, also named American Beauty as best film of 1999, and Russell Crowe as best actor for his part in The Insider.

Tumbleweeds is McTeer's first major role in an American film. She plays Mary Jo Walker, a woman from the Deep South who has been married four times and keeps picking the wrong man.

The film chronicles her relationship with her latest boyfriend, and also explores the bond between her and her 12-year-old daughter, played by Kimberly J Brown.

National Board director Lois Ballon said: "It was a very tight race this year, it was a difficult decision. And total excitement about Janet McTeer, we think she's quite amazing."

Another British victory was Anthony Minghella's best director prize for The Talented Mr Ripley. Starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett, it will be released in the US on Christmas Eve.

American Beauty headed the board's Ten Best Films list. Directed by acclaimed British theatre director Sam Mendes, it stars Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening.

The powerful film tells the story of a just-murdered man who describes how he turned his life around and changed people around him as a result. It is released in the UK on 28 January.

The other films in the top 10 were The Talented Mr Ripley, Magnolia, The Insider, The Straight Story, Cradle Will Rock, Boys Don't Cry, Being John Malkovich, Tumbleweed and Three Kings.

Russell Crowe won best actor for playing a former tobacco company executive and whistle-blower in The Insider, which is about a TV news documentary on the tobacco industry.

Writer and director Tim Robbins won the Special Achievement for Film-making for Cradle Will Rock, while Julianne Moore won best supporting actress for four films: An Ideal Husband, A Map Of The World, Cookie's Fortune and Magnolia.

The best supporting actor prize went to Philip Seymour Hoffman for his parts in Magnolia and The Talented Mr Ripley, while Clint Eastwood won a career achievement award.

The five best foreign films were All About My Mother, Run Lola Run, East-West, Cabaret Balkan and The Emperor And The Assassin.

The announcement of the awards is the curtain raiser to the US film awards season, which continues later this month with gongs from critics in New York and Los Angeles, the Golden Globes in January, and the Oscars on 26 March.

The National Board's awards ceremony will take place in New York on 18 January.