Nonwhite winners take home the gold

THIS year’s Golden Globes went far beyond the traditional Hollywood mainstays of Jack, Clint and Warren. A cavalcade of nonwhite winners signaled a rousing embrace of multiculturalism in every aspect of filmmaking.

The international drama “Babel” and the Motown-inspired “Dreamgirls” were the night’s big winners for motion pictures, scoring wins for best films in their respective drama and musical or comedy categories. Both featured largely foreign or minority casts.

Forest Whitaker of “The Last King of Scotland” won best actor in a drama, and Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy, respectively, won supporting actress and supporting actor in a musical or comedy, for “Dreamgirls.”

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who directed “Babel,” was ecstatic as he thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. for honoring a movie that was filmed in four countries and five languages. He also praised other directors, such as “Pan’s Labyrinth’s” Guillermo del Toro, who are the heart of the Mexican film industry.

ABC’s “Ugly Betty,” about a young Latina struggling in the fashion industry, earned honors for musical or comedy TV series, and its star, America Ferrera, triumphed over a field that included veterans such as Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for best actress in a TV drama.

The medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy,” which won for best dramatic TV series, was created by Shonda Rhimes, who is African American.

And Prince won for original song in a motion picture for “The Song of the Heart” from “Happy Feet.”

 *

 greg.braxton@latimes.com