The awards keep piling up for "Being Julia" star Annette Bening, and "Extra" sat down with the star for an exclusive interview at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, where she picked up yet another honor for her acting achievements.

"It's so exciting," Bening insisted. "Part of it is ego gratifying, you just say, 'Oh it's me.'"

Still basking in the glow of her Golden Globe win and her third Academy Award nomination, Bening told us, "I was really excited. My husband told me, I kissed my husband. That's a pretty nice thing to be able to do."

Bening snagged notorious Hollywood bachelor Warren Beatty after they met filming "Bugsy," and nearly 13 years later, they have four children, and Bening says life couldn't be sweeter. "If things are going well and people like a film, you're getting attention, and it makes me in a way appreciate my life with my family more because that's so grounding and that is constant."

The 46-year-old beauty is aging gracefully in Hollywood, and unlike some 40-plus actresses, Bening says she doesn't feel she has to compete with younger starlets: "I'm lucky people are asking me to do things that really interest me, and a whole variety of things."

And you can tune in February 27th to the Academy Awards to see if "Being Julia" is as lucky.