Golden Globes: A look at some of the lesser-known winners

Some Golden Globe winners like 'Boyhood' and 'House of Cards' may be well-known to watchers, but shows in their freshman season or lesser-seen movies like 'Still Alice' may have left viewers baffled when their titles were read onstage. Here's a look at these less-famous winners.

'Still Alice' stars Julianne Moore.

Linda Kallerus/Sony Pictures Classics/AP

January 13, 2015

Movies like “Boyhood” and “The Theory of Everything” have been all over the awards season conversation and most TV watchers are at least aware of Kevin Spacey’s “House of Cards” character Frank Underwood. But some lesser-known winners may have left viewers scratching their heads when the titles were announced at the Golden Globes on Jan. 11.

The Showtime drama “The Affair” was a big winner at the Golden Globes, with the show taking the best TV drama series award at the ceremony and “Affair” actress Ruth Wilson taking the best actress in a TV drama series prize. “Affair” debuted its first season on Showtime this past fall and just concluded its season on Dec. 21. The show follows a couple, Noah (Dominic West) and Alison (Wilson), who are having an affair. The events of the show are often different when told by different characters. “Affair” also stars Joshua Jackson and Maura Tierney.

The film “Still Alice,” which was released on Dec. 5, hasn’t been in the conversation for a Best Picture Oscar nomination, but “Alice” actress Julianne Moore has been considered a frontrunner for the Oscar Best Actress prize and picked up the Best Actress in a Drama Golden Globe for her role. “Alice,” which is based on the book of the same name by Lisa Genova, stars Moore as a linguistics professor who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. The film co-stars Alec Baldwin as her husband and Kristen Stewart as one of her children. Monitor film critic Peter Rainer gave the movie a B grade, writing that “Julianne Moore is startlingly good… Alice’s decline is rendered essentially from her own point of view, but by focusing so intently on her, the co-writing and directing team of Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland skimp on the realities one might reasonably expect from this story… It’s a strange movie – simultaneously rawly realistic and airbrushed.” 

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Meanwhile, if you don’t regularly tune into the CW, you may not have come across the show “Jane the Virgin" – “Jane” actress Gina Rodriguez picked up the best actress in a musical or comedy series prize. The show debuted this past fall and is still airing its first season. It's based on a soap opera from Venezuela and stars Rodriguez as Jane. The show also co-stars Justin Baldoni, Andrea Navedo, and Brett Dier.