Day-Lewis, Clooney Top List of Academy Award Best Actor Nominees
2008 Academy Awards
Daniel-Day Lewis is the clear favorite to win the Academy Award for Best Actor this year, though George Clooney and Tommy Lee Jones will get their share of the votes. Speaking of which, take our poll below and tell us who you think will take home the Oscar Feb. 24.
The nominees, in alphabetical order:
George Clooney
Movie: Michael Clayton
Role: A lawyer who specializes in damage control.
Track record: This is Clooney's first Best Actor nomination; he won a Supporting Actor Oscar two years ago for Syriana.
Chances: Though Clooney will probably lose out to Day-Lewis, he's still my sentimental favorite. (Yes, I was an ER addict.)
Daniel Day-Lewis
Movie: There Will Be Blood
Role: A silver prospector-turned-oil man at the turn of the century.
Track record: Including this nomination, Day-Lewis has been nominated four times, winning once for 1989's My Left Foot).
Chances: Day-Lewis has the momentum going his way after Golden Globe and SAG wins in this category.
Johnny Depp
Movie: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Role: A barber with a bent for revenge.
Track record: Depp was previously nominated for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Finding Neverland.
Chances: This is Depp's best shot yet at an Oscar, but the movie's mixed reviews (and perhaps its being a musical) means it won't be good enough.
Tommy Lee Jones
Movie: In the Valley of Elah
Role: A war veteran searching for his son, a soldier recently returned from Iraq.
Track record: This is Jones' first Best Actor nomination. He has two Supporting Actor nominations, winning for The Fugitive.
Chances: I could see the Academy giving this to Jones as a "Career" Best Actor award.
Viggo Mortensen
Movie: Eastern Promises
Role: A driver and "cleaner" for the Russian Mafia.
Track record: None — Mortensen's first Oscar nomination.
Chances: Slim to none. Now if there was a category for sheer violence, though ...
Tommy Lee Jones photo by Tony Shek licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.
Viggo Mortensen photo used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
