As anticipated, "The Social Network" won the Golden Globe for best motion picture drama on Sunday night, beating "The King's Speech."
"The Social Network", a story of the founding of Facebook, also took home the Golden Globe for screenplay and best director for David Fincher.
Natalie Portman and Colin Firth were named best actress and actor for their respective roles in "Black Swan" and "the King's Speech."
"The Social Network" was nominated for a total of six awards, while "The King's Speech," which tells of British King George VI's stammering problem, won seven nominations.
Scott Rudin, producer of "The Social Network", thanked his cast and crew, and Aaron Sorkin for writing "a brilliant, brilliant script, an astonishing achievement in screenwriting." He also thanked the subject of the film, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Sorkin, who won the award for best screenplay for writing the film's script, also offered thanks to Zuckerberg.
The Best Performance Award went to Colin Firth, 50, for his role as an English king struggling to overcome a stammer as he
rises to power in "The King's Speech."
"Getting through your mid-stage of your life with your dignity and your judgement intact can be somewhat precarious and sometimes all you need is a little bit of gentle reassurance to keep
you on track," Firth said.
The Golden Globes split the major film categories between dramas and comedies/musicals, with the top film honor for comedy or musical going to "The Kids Are All Right," the story of two lesbian women struggling to raise two teenagers who meet the sperm donor who led to their birth.
The best actress award in a television series went to Katey Sagal for her role in "Sons Of Anarchy" "I've just been working so many years and I'm so honored to be up here," Sagal said.
She said the tough-talking drama about a motorcycle club is a rare topic for late-night drama.
"It's a subculture that hasn't been explored a lot on TV," she said.
Sagal, who will turn 57 on Wednesday, earned four consecutive nominations for best actress in a television comedy from 1991-1994 for her role as Peggy Bundy in "Married with Children."
Christian Bale, who played a boxer struggling with drug addiction in film drama "The Fighter," won the award for best supporting actor.
He heaped praise on his co-star, Mark Wahlberg.
HBO's prohibition-era drama "Boardwalk Empire" won the Golden Globe Award for best drama series, while the series' Steve Buscemi was named best actor in a television drama. The win
ended the three-year winning streak of AMC's "Mad Men."
Joining the winners was also "Toy Story 3", which won the Golden Globe for best animated feature film.
"In a Better World" of Denmark has won the Golden Globe for best foreign-language film.
The ceremony for Golden Globe awards was held in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.
The awards, which are given out by the roughly 80 members of the HFPA, are one of the major Hollywood awards shows leading to the film industry's most-prized honors, the Oscars, which are given away by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Days before Sunday's ceremony, the Los Angeles Superior Court filed a lawsuit against the HFPA, accusing the group of corruption and orchestrating a massive payola scheme.
The lawsuit claims that the roughly 80 members of the HFPA accept money, vacations and gifts from entertainment companies in exchange for nominating their TV shows and movies for
awards.
Former HFPA publicist Michael Russell claims the group owes him two million dollars in lost salary and other damages.
The lawsuit, which was filed last week and a copy of which was posted online by thewrap.com, claims that Russell was fired after
he told the HFPA that its defective business practices could jeopardize its lucrative contract with NBC television, estimated to be worth 26 million dollars in 2012.