Posse of newcomers at Oscars
2006-02-24 07:42
Los Angeles - Nearly three quarters of the actors nominated for the 2006 Academy Awards are Hollywood newcomers or hugely popular stars who were previously snubbed by Oscar despite their box office triumphs.
Of the 20 actors competing for the four acting statuettes this year, 14 are first-time nominees while only six have previously competed for cinema's highest honours which will be handed out on March 5 in Hollywood.
"There are a lot of new faces at the Oscars this year, many of them people who paid their dues over the years with many roles and many films," said Gitsesh Pandya, founder of the movie website Boxofficeguru.com.
Among the new names to win recognition from the 5 800 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters are Terrence Howard, nominated as best actor for Hustle and Flow, and real newcomer Briton Keira Knightly, best actress nominee for Pride and Prejudice at the tender age of 20.
And the nominees are?
Other youthful new arrivals include Amy Adams, 26, nominated as best supporting actress in Junebug, and Britain's Rachel Weisz, 34, a supporting actress contender for the thriller The Constant Gardner.
Only four of this year's nominees for best leading and best supporting roles - 10 actors and 10 actresses in all - already boast Oscars on their mantelpeices.
They are four-time nominees William Hurt, Frances McDormand and British Dame Judi Dench, who won Oscars in 1985, 1997 and 1998 respectively, as well as South African star Charlize Theron, who won the best actress award in 2004.
Two others have earned nominations but have never taken home the coveted statuette: Joaquin Phoenix, who was a best supporting actor nod for 2000's The Gladiator, and Capote nominee Catherine Keener as best supporting actress in 1999's cult favourite Being John Malkovich.
This year's best actor nominee David Strathairn, 57, who won his nod for playing newsman Ed Murrow in George Clooney's political drama Good Night, and Good Luck, has had mainly secondary roles in more than 80 movies over the last 25 years.
Ledger's good looks a 'curse'
The favourite for this year's best actor Oscar, Capote star Philip Seymour Hoffman, 38, has acted in 40 movies and television shows since 1991, including hits such as 1997's Boogie Nights, Punch-Drunk Love and the 2004 Oscar winner Cold Mountain, but did not get a break-out role until Capote.
First time nominees Australian Heath Ledger, best actor hopeful for his role as a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, and Terrence Howard, have churned out scores of movies.
Ledger was first noticed by audiences in 2001's light comedy A Knight's Tale and in Mel Gibson's 2000 movie The Patriot, but found himself typecast as a "pretty boy".
"He's one of those actors who always did a good job in movies but was trapped by his own youth and good looks," said awards expert Tom O'Neil, who writes for the Los Angeles Times' website TheEnvelope.com.
Megastars first Oscar nod
Desperate Housewives actress and best actress nominee Felicity Huffman, 43, has been a Hollywood fixture for years and is even married to a big star, William H Macy.
But it wasn't until her stunning performance as a transsexual in Transamerica that she finally wooed Oscar.
Some of this year's nominees - such as heartthrob George Clooney and Legally Blonde actress Reese Witherspoon - are global megastars ranking among Hollywood's highest earning stars, but have never won the respect of awards juries.
Witherspoon, 29, is just behind superstar Oscar-winners Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman on the list of top-earning Tinseltown actresses, but won her first Oscar nod this year for her role in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.
Clooney's big-budget mega-hits such as Ocean's 11, Ocean's 12 and Intolerable Cruelty have raked in almost $1bn at the box office since 2001.
But it was only in 2006 that the former ER and sitcom star finally attracted Oscar's attention with a hat-trick of nominations as best director and best original screenplay for Good Night, and best supporting actor for Syriana.
"This year his career is shifting," Pandya said. "He's doing less of these commercial films and more of these smaller films that mean more to him as an artist. They are very risky movies and he's rewarded for taking those risks."