The 86th Academy Award nominations have been gaining attention as March 2nd, Live Oscar Sunday, approaches. Although each award category is subject to projection and predictions, the awards that go to individual actors and actress often gain the most attention. Based on the number of mentions on Twitter, as featured on the official Oscars website, the top picks for the best leading and supporting actor and actress are shown below.
Best Leading Actor
Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave, a free man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. 12 Years a Slave has been critically acclaimed as a film that takes an honest, hard look into America’s slave-owning past. This is Ejiofor’s first Oscar nomination.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays a hard-partying stockbroker in Martin Scorsese’ Wolf of Wall Street, which takes a look at the ludicrous lifestyle and morals of Wall Street finance. DiCaprio has been nominated three times before, and has the support of fans who believe he has earned an award.
Best Leading Actress
In August: Osage County, Meryl Streep plays Violet Weston, the monstrous matriarch of a dysfunctional family in Oklahoma. Her character has cancer and is addicted to every pill she can get her hands on, and as a result, Streep plays an incredibly manipulative, complex character with perfect ease. This is Streep’s 18th nomination.
In Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine, Cate Blanchett plays a socialite struggling with her past who moves in with her sister in Los Angeles. The film moves back and forth between past and present, contrasting two very different lifestyles. Cate Blanchett’s Jasmine perfectly embodies desperation and emotionality that connect the upper class to the human struggles of the rest of us. This is Blanchett’s sixth nomination for an Academy Award.
Best Supporting Actor
In Dallas Buyers Club, Jared Leto plays a transgender woman, Rayon, diagnosed with HIV who forms an unlikely friendship with a homophobic man. Dallas Buyers Club is especially relevant today, amidst change in social attitudes towards homosexuality.This is Leto’s first Academy Award nomination.
In Captain Phillips, Barkhad Abdi plays Muse, the leader of a band of Somali pirates who hijack a cargo ship. Captain Phillips is based off of true events. Muse was Abdi’s first role in his first year of acting, and his incredible life has taken him from his birthplace in Somalia to a limousine driver in the United States.
Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Lawrence played in American Hustle as the unstable wife of a con man, Rosalyn. Rosalyn’s manipulative, jealous nature was comedic as well as insightful to a host of psychological intricacies. This is Lawrence’s third nomination.
In 12 Years a Slave, Lupito Nyong’o plays Patsey, a slave who has become the target of her brutal master’s obsession. Her breakthrough performance has been critically acclaimed. Her talent for acting, as well as her beauty and fashion choices have made her one of the most-talked-about people on the red carpet. This is Nyong’o’s first nomination.
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