Oscar Awards Announces Nominees; Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence Lead List

The Academy Award has released its list of nominees, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Sandra Bullock, and Jennifer Lawrence leading the list. Noticeably absent are past winners Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson, who many have thought that would get another Oscar nod.

It was almost predictable that Lawrence, who won the Best Actress gong in 2013 for “Silver Linings Playbook," would be nominated (and perhaps win?) again. She just won her second Golden Globe Awards trophy for Best Supporting Actress on Sunday, and many critics have expected her to bag the Oscar equivalent as well.

She is up against another past winner Julia Roberts (for “August: Osage County”) and Sally Hawkins (“Blue Jasmine”), June Squibb (“Nebraska”), and Lupita Nyong’o (“12 Years a Slave”).

Fresh from his Golden Globe win, DiCaprio is also nominated for an Oscar for Lead Actor. Will 2014 be the year that the 39-year-old star finally bags his own Oscar?

DiCaprio is the subject of Internet memes, which mock his lack of an Oscar trophy. He has starred in a number of heavily-nominated films, but he has never won one for his acting ability. And it’s not just the Oscars that has refused to formally recognise his talent. In fact, if not for his very recent Golden Globe win, his acting award would still have a total of zero.

But thanks to his portrayal of convicted fraudster Jordan Belfort in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” his luck has finally begun to change on Sunday with his first acting gong. So perhaps the Oscar would follow suit and just hand him a gold statuette already.

See more on Know Your Meme

Bullock might not have won the Best Actress – Drama award at the Golden Globes (she lost to Cate Blanchett for “Blue Jasmine”), but she has a good chance at the Oscar this time. Her performance in “Gravity” has received universal acclaim, and with her past win in the same Best Actress category for “The Blind Side” in 2010, her chances to win again are pretty good indeed.

Meryl Streep, meanwhile, has received her 18th Oscar nomination, a record number in the Academy. She is up for Best Actress for her performance in “August: Osage County.” With three wins under her belt, she has a good chance against other nominees Blanchett, Bullock, Amy Adams, and Judi Dench.

As for the Oscar snubs, Hanks, Thompson, and Joaquin Phoenix have been left out in the acting category even though they have received critical acclaim for their performance in their films “Captain Phillips,” “Saving Mr Banks,” and “Her” respectively.

“Saving Mr Banks” was also not nominated for Best Picture, and “Her” director Spike Jonze failed to get a nod for his directorial effort.

The 86th Academy Awards will be held on March 2 in Los Angeles.

Here is the partial list of nominees:

Best Picture:
“American Hustle”
“Nebraska”
“Captain Phillips”
“Philomena”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“12 Years a Slave”
“Gravity”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”
“Her”

Actor in a Leading Role:
Christian Bale, “American Hustle”
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
Bruce Dern, “Nebraska”
Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Actress in a Leading Role:
Amy Adams, “American Hustle”
Judi Dench, “Philomena”
Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”
Meryl Streep, “August: Osage County”
Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”

Actor in a Support Role:
Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips”
Jonah Hill, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Bradley Cooper, “American Hustle”
Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”
Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”

Actress in a Supporting Role:
Sally Hawkins, “Blue Jasmine”
Julia Roberts, “August: Osage County”
Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”
June Squibb, “Nebraska”
Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”

Directing:
David O. Russell, “American Hustle”
Alfonso Cuaron, “Gravity”
Alexander Payne, “Nebraska”
Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
Martin Scorsese, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Writing – Adapted Screenplay:
“Before Midnight”
“Captain Phillips”
“Philomena”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

Writing – Original Screenplay:
“American Hustle”
“Blue Jasmine”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“Her”
“Nebraska”

Visual Effects:
“Gravity”
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
“Iron Man 3”
“The Lone Ranger”
“Star Trek Into Darkness”

Animated Feature Film:
“The Croods”
“Frozen”
“Despicable Me 2”
“The Wind Rises”
“Ernest & Celestine”

Foreign Language Film:
“The Broken Circle Breakdown” (Brazil)
“The Great Beauty” (Italy)
“The Hunt” (Denmark)
“The Missing Picture” (Cambodia)
“Omar” (Palestine)