George Clooney (Michael Clayton)
George Clooney may be known for his good looks and on-set practical jokes, but this Hollywood heartthrob is receiving critical acclaim for his serious new role.
In Michael Clayton, George plays the in-house "fixer" at a powerful corporate law firm in New York City. When a multimillion dollar lawsuit comes across his desk, Michael faces the biggest challenge of his career. His intense performance has earned him a Golden Globe® nomination, as well as an Oscar® nod for Best Actor.
This isn't George's first taste of Oscar glory. In 2006, George received three Oscar nominations—two for directing and writing the film Good Night, and Good Luck and another for Best Supporting Actor in the film Syriana, which he won.
Though George's big-screen career has flourished with films like Ocean's Eleven, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Perfect Storm, many fans still know him best as Dr. Doug Ross, ER's
breakout star.
Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Recognized for his eccentric roles and commitment to his craft, many consider Daniel Day-Lewis one of the greatest actors of this generation.
In 1990, Daniel won an Academy Award® for his passionate portrayal of Christy Brown, an artist suffering from crippling cerebral palsy, in My Left Foot. Throughout the '90s, he continued to captivate audiences with roles in The Last of the Mohicans, The Age of Innocence and In the Name of the Father, for which he received a second Oscar® nomination.
After a short hiatus from acting, Daniel took on the villainous role of Bill the Butcher in Martin Scorsese's film Gangs of New York. His performance earned him his third Academy Award nomination and a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award® for Best Actor.
Now, critics are taking note of Daniel's gritty performance as Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood, the film adaptation of Upton Sinclair's novel Oil!. In the film, Daniel plays a dishonest oil
prospector who will stop at nothing to make his fortune.
Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)
Johnny Depp is a critically acclaimed actor whose résumé boasts many eclectic roles. Johnny hit the big screen in 1984 in the classic horror flick A Nightmare On Elm Street. In 1987, teen girls went wild when he landed a role on the hit TV show 21 Jump Street.
After his stint as undercover cop Tom Hanson, Johnny purposefully shredded his pretty-boy image by taking challenging, offbeat roles in films like Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
In 2003, he swashbuckled his way through Pirates of the Caribbean and earned his first Oscar® nomination for his portrayal of rogue pirate Capt. Jack Sparrow. Two years later, he was again nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, this time for playing Scottish author J. M. Barrie—creator of Peter Pan—in the film Finding Neverland.
Never one to shy away from eccentric characters, Johnny's latest turn as Sweeney Todd, a singing barber/serial killer in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, has earned him his third Oscar nod. This adaptation of
Stephen Sondheim's macabre Tony Award®-winning musical is Johnny's sixth movie
with director Tim Burton.
Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises)
Best Actor nominee Viggo Mortensen's career has spanned 20 years and more than 30 films, but most fans remember him as Aragorn, the sword-wielding star of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Before embarking on his journey through Middle Earth, Viggo appeared in films like 28 Days, G.I. Jane, A Perfect Murder and Crimson Tide.
In his latest movie, Eastern Promises, Viggo plays Nikolai, a ruthless
Russian mobster on the rise in London. This is his first Oscar nomination.
Tommy Lee Jones(In the Valley of Elah)
Tommy Lee Jones made his film debut in the 1970 hit Love Story, but it wasn't until the 1990s—with roles in movies like The Client, Batman Forever and Men in Black—that he catapulted up the list of Hollywood's most respected actors.
Tommy Lee was nominated for his first Oscar® for his performance as a businessman accused of conspiring to assassinate the president in the 1991 film JFK. Two years later, he took home his first golden statuette for his role as Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive.
After more than 40 years in the acting business, Tommy Lee is still wowing critics and moviegoers alike. Last year, he earned rave reviews for his performance as a sheriff on the trail of a hit man in the Best Picture nominee No Country for Old Men. But the role that earned him his third Academy Award nomination—and his first in the Best Actor category—was that of war veteran Hank Deerfield, a father searching for his missing son, in In the Valley of Elah.
