The film tells of the dramatic rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis,
Affleck was also crowned Best Director while William Goldenberg won an award for the film’s editing.
The awards ceremony, which took place at London’s Royal Opera House, was hosted by Stephen Fry and broadcast on BBC One and BBC One HD.
Film fans who braved the rain to line the Red Carpet were rewarded with the chance to see Hollywood icons including George Clooney and Tim Burton.
British talent on show included Dexter Fletcher, nominated for the Outstanding Debut award, composer David Arnold and Helena Bonham-Carter.
Skyfall, the most successful of the entire James Bond run, was named Outstanding British Film and also scooped the Best Original Music for Thomas Newman’s score.
Ahead of the ceremony former Bond composer Arnold said he’d enjoyed Newman’s work and the opportunity to enjoy the completed film in the cinema but was open to returning to the franchise in the future.
Daniel Day-Lewis was named Leading Actor for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s biopic Lincoln while and Emmanuelle Riva won the Actress accolade for Amour.
Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained took the Original Screenplay gong while Christoph Waltz was named Best Supporting Actor.
Les Misérables won four awards, including Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway, Best Production Design and Best Sound.
Other technical award winners Jacqueline Durran who won the Best Costume accolade for her work on Anna Karenina and Life of Pi which took the Cinematography and Special Visual Effects awards.
British film director Sir Alan Parker was awards the Fellowship, the highest accolade which the Academy can bestow, for a career which includes Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, Evita and The Commitments.
Newcomer Juno Temple won the EE Rising Star Award, the only BAFTA awarded by the British public.
The winners in full:
FELLOWSHIP
ALAN PARKER
OUTSTANDING BRITISH CONTRIBUTION TO CINEMA
TESSA ROSS
BEST FILM
ARGO Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
SKYFALL Sam Mendes, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
BART LAYTON (Director), DIMITRI DOGANIS (Producer) The Imposter
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
AMOUR Michael Haneke, Margaret Ménégoz
DOCUMENTARY
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
ANIMATED FILM
BRAVE Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
DIRECTOR
ARGO Ben Affleck
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
DJANGO UNCHAINED Quentin Tarantino
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK David O. Russell
LEADING ACTOR
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS Lincoln
LEADING ACTRESS
EMMANUELLE RIVA Amour
SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPH WALTZ Django Unchained
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
ANNE HATHAWAY Les Misérables
ORIGINAL MUSIC
SKYFALL Thomas Newman
EDITING
ARGO William Goldenberg
PRODUCTION DESIGN
LES MISÉRABLES Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson
COSTUME DESIGN
ANNA KARENINA Jacqueline Durran
MAKE UP & HAIR
LES MISÉRABLES Lisa Westcott
SOUND
LES MISÉRABLES Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, John Warhurst
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
LIFE OF PI Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer, Donald R Elliot
SHORT ANIMATION
THE MAKING OF LONGBIRD Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson
SHORT FILM
SWIMMER Lynne Ramsay, Peter Carlton, Diarmid Scrimshaw
THE EE RISING STAR AWARD
JUNO TEMPLE