Nominees

From his first role, in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun 25 years ago, to his latest character, in David O. Russell’s American Hustle, Christian Bale has always invested body and soul in his work, sometimes pushing himself “a little too far” as this British actor approaching the big 4-0 likes to say.

With her performance in Labor Day, English actress Kate Winslet received her 10th Golden Globe nomination. She won twice in 2009, as Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for Revolutionary Road, and as Best Supporting Actress for The Reader (for which she also won an Academy Award).

There are certainly many ways to define Leonardo DiCaprio, who began the year as Gatsby and ended it with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in the Comedy Motion Picture category (his 10th overall) for his performance in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. Although he is one of Hollywood’s undisputed superstars, some may still focus on the romantic liaisons that have tied him to enough stunning top models to fill a virtual swimsuit calendar.

At 23, she is the youngest actress to have three Golden Globe and two Oscar nominations and win one each. With David O.

Some great actors are as comfortable in front of a press line as they are in front of the camera; others, not so much. No one for instance has ever accused Joaquin Phoenix of answering journalists’ questions as effortlessly as he disappears into the characters he portrays onscreen.

Although she’s just turned 30 and has just been on the scene for a handful of years, there’s something about Greta Gerwig that both sets her apart from and makes her very emblematic of the Indie film scene. Her looks are more jolie-laide than beautiful and she embodies quirky, laid-back traits while exuding the kind of honesty and insecurity commonly associated with real-life scenarios.

Amy Adams, 39, lights up the room. The soft-spoken American actress thanks her parents, Richard Kent and Kathryn Adams, for her good manners.

Jared Leto could quite possibly be the ultimate showbiz chameleon. While Leto “rock star” might be a more familiar moniker these days as frontman to Thirty Seconds to Mars, whose current world tour and fourth album, “Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams” have taken the band to the stratosphere of success, his return to the movie screen in Dallas Buyers Club as the delicately spoken, transgender HIV-positive Rayon proves that when he is not zip-lining over a festival crowd at Rock in Rio, or directing his band’s MTV award-winning music videos, the 42-year-old is still one of cinema’s most intriguing actors and one with a consistent record of choosing challenging roles.

“Acting alongside Meryl Streep, in the role of her daughter, arguing with her about the film, screaming at each other, fighting with her! Osage County was the best acting experience I’ve ever had. ” Julia Roberts gets teary-eyed every time she talks about John Wells' August: Osage County, which has assured her a Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actress.

There is a school of thought that says that Emma Thompson should win every award under the sun so that we may have the pleasure of hearing her acceptance speech. She thanked the Academy this way upon winning Best Screenplay in 1996 for Sense and Sensibility – “Before I came, I went to visit Jane Austen’s grave in Winchester Cathedral to pay my respects, you know, and to tell her about the grosses.