Best Supporting Actor

Best Picture Best Actor Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Best Supporting Actress Best Director

While there’s no clear front-runner in the Best Supporting Actor category, it’s safe to say the race between first-time nominees Paul Giamatti and George Clooney (who scored a hat trick of nominations – not bad for a first-timer) is a squeaker. The fact that Giamatti didn’t score a nod for last year’s prizewinner Sideways could make him an even stronger contender for his role in the otherwise-overlooked Cinderella Man, while Clooney’s portrayal of a CIA operative in the politically-charged flick Syriana is far more meaty (especially given Clooney’s weight gain for the part) than your average supporting role.

While Jake Gyllenhaal brings the right amounts of bravado and sympathy to his portrayal of a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, he hasn’t earned the same recognition for his performance as costars Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, and despite some big wins, Brokeback has failed to land any major acting prizes to date anyway.

Matt Dillon and William Hurt (the only Oscar vet in the bunch) are this category’s long shots. Though he scored the only acting nod among Crash’s 74-member cast, the film simply features too many actors to enable Dillon to rise above his fellow nominees. And though Hurt, nominated for his mobster role in A History of Violence, added a note of brilliance to an already excellent film, considering that the role was little more than a cameo, it lacks the heft (no pun intended) of Clooney’s performance.