Colin Firth: "My career's just peaked"

Colin Firth has joked that he has hit the pinnacle of his career after winning an Academy Award.

The double BAFTA winner claimed the Oscar for 'Best Actor' for his portrayal of King George VI in The King's Speech.

"I have a feeling my career's just peaked," he began. "My deepest thanks to the Academy.

"I'm afraid I have to warn you that I'm experiencing stirrings somewhere in the upper abdominals which are threatening to form themselves into dance moves - which, joyous as they may be for me, would be extremely problematic if they make it to my legs before I go off stage."

Firth thanked his co-stars Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter and Guy Pearce, adding that Pearce's virtuosity "made it very difficult for me to be as bad as I was planning to be".

He joined director Tom Hooper in paying tribute to writer David Seidler, saying that Seidler's own experiences with a speech impediment in his childhood "have given so many people the benefit of his very beautiful voice".

Firth also expressed gratitude to Tom Ford, adding that he owed "a very big piece of this [award]" to the director of A Single Man.

He concluded by thanking his family, including wife Livia Giuggioli "for putting up with my fleeting delusions of royalty... now, if you'll all excuse me, I have some impulses I have to tend to backstage".

> Complete Coverage: Oscars 2011