78th Annual Academy Award Nominations Announced

Theater veterans Judi Dench, Felicity Huffman, William Hurt, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and David Strathairn are among the nominees for the 78th Annual Academy Awards, which will be presented in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 5. The ceremony will be hosted by Jon Stewart and will be broadcast live on ABC-TV.

Hoffman, a two-time Tony Award nominee, and Strathairn were both nominated in the Best Actor category for playing real-life figures: Hoffman, winner of this year’s Golden Globe and SAG Awards, plays Truman Capote in Capote; Strathairn stars as crusading journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck.

Among the five women in contention for the Best Actress award are Dench, a Tony winner and a previous Oscar winner, for her role of a feisty theater owner in Mrs. Henderson Presents; and Huffman, a longtime member of the Atlantic Theater Company, for her work as the transsexual Bree in TransAmerica.

The Best Supporting Actress category is full of New York stage veterans: Catherine Keener (for Capote), Frances McDormand (for North Country), Rachel Weisz (for The Constant Gardener), and Michelle Williams (for Brokeback Mountain). In the Best Supporting Actor category: Paul Giamatti, who co-starred with his brother Marcus in the Manhattan Theatre Club production of The Blues Are Running, was recognized for his work in Cinderella Man; and William Hurt was nominated for A History of Violence.

The nominees In the Best Screenplay categories include Woody Allen (for Match Point), Dan Futterman (for Capote), and Tony Kushner (for Munich). In addition, playwright Martin McDonagh (The Pilowman) was nominated for Best Live Action Short Film for writing and directing The Shooter.

For a complete list of nominees, go to www.oscars.org.