Natalie Portman is being praised for subtly criticising the lack of female representation in the Best Director category she was presenting at the Golden Globes.

The Oscar-winning star was announcing the winner of Best Director alongside director Ron Howard when she highlighted that fact the five nominees were all male after the surprising snub for Lady Bird filmmaker Greta Gerwig and Wonder Woman's Patty Jenkins.

"Here are all the male nominees," she said as the names of Christopher Nolan, Martin McDonagh, Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott and eventual winner Guillermo del Toro were reeled off.

Many viewers praised the moment on social media.

The moment arrived after an empowering speech from Oprah Winfrey which had the entire audience on their feet; she was this year's recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille award.

This year's ceremony is hosted by Seth Meyers whose opening monologue directly addressed the sexual harassment scandal to have rocked Hollywood in recent months, dishing out a joke about Harvey Weinstein which drew gasps from the audience.

Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Show all 32 1 /32 Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Emma Stone Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Natalie Portman Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Sophie Turner Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Evan Rachel Wood EPA Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Zoe Saldana EPA Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Octavia Spencer Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Sarah Jessica Parker Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Priyanka Chopra Reuters Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Naomie Harris Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Drew Barrymore EPA Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Sofia Vergara Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Chrissy Teigen and John Legend Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Kerry Washington Reuters Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Emily Ratajkowski EPA Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Viola Davis Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Blake Lively Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Meryl Streep EPA Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Musician/Actress Janelle Monae Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Lily Collins Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Millie Bobby Brown Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Ryan Gosling Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Jessica Biel and singer Justin Timberlake Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Donald Glover Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Musician Pharrell Williams and Mimi Valdes Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Tom Hiddleston Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Mahershala Ali and wife, Amatus Sami-Karim Reuters Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Andrew Garfield Reuters Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Jonah Hill Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Casey Affleck Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Hugh Laurie Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Musician Questlove Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson Getty

The evening's biggest winners so far include TV shows Big Little Lies and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as well as film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri which saw Sam Rockwell beat out frontrunner Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project) to win Best Supporting Actor.