Baftas 2015: Julianne Moore wins Best Actress for Alzheimer's performance in Still Alice

Moore played a professor dealing with being diagnosed with Alzheimers in the film

Actress Julianne Moore poses after receiving the award for best leading actress for "Still Alice" (REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett)

Julianne Moore has won the Bafta for Best Actress for her role in hard-hitting drama Still Alice.

Winners list in full

The actress, 54, played Dr Alice Howland: a renowned linguistics professor at Columbia University who must deal with early-onset Alzheimers disease, and struggle to hang onto her sense of self.

To claim the prestigious award, Moore beat fellow bookies' favourites Felicity Jones for The Theory of Everything, Amy Adams for Big Eyes, Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl and Reese Witherspoon for Wild.

Moore had already won a Golden Globe for Best Actress – Drama, a Critics Choice Movie Award and a SAG Award for her portrayal of a struggling academic.

As the Baftas is often seen as an indicator for Oscar winners, the veteran actress now stands in pole position to win Best Actress at the awards ceremony later this month.